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Fastly > Case Studies > Revolutionizing Content Delivery: Storytel's Experience with Fastly CDN
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Revolutionizing Content Delivery: Storytel's Experience with Fastly CDN

Technology Category
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Middleware & Microservices
Applicable Functions
  • Product Research & Development
Use Cases
  • Search & Rescue
  • Time Sensitive Networking
Services
  • System Integration
The Challenge
Storytel, a global leader in audiobooks, was faced with a significant challenge when developing their new homepage. The original homepage was built on an outdated tech stack, which was not conducive to the high-performing, optimized experience they aimed to provide their customers. The company wanted to leverage stale-while-revalidate cache control to ensure lightning-fast load times. However, during testing, they discovered that the page load times were over a second, which was unacceptable for a project of such high profile. The issue was traced back to their existing Content Delivery Network (CDN), which did not support the caching strategy they had designed. The CDN did not trigger the stale-while-revalidate process with every request, resulting in slow page loads. The vendor had no plans to change how this directive works, leaving Storytel in a precarious situation on the eve of a global rollout.
About The Customer
Storytel is a leading global provider of audiobooks and ebooks, offering a rich selection of stories across various genres. The company is committed to delivering a seamless and high-quality content delivery experience to its customers. Storytel's platform serves as the main gateway for customers to access their favorite stories anytime, anywhere. The company is constantly innovating and improving its platform to enhance customer experience and conversions. This commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement was evident in their decision to overhaul their outdated homepage and implement a new caching strategy to ensure lightning-fast load times.
The Solution
Storytel turned to Fastly CDN, which supported the stale-while-revalidate process in the exact way they needed. Fastly's CDN served the stale version of the page, ensuring clients received responses quickly without having to wait for the origin. This was a crucial factor in achieving the super-fast load times Storytel desired. The transition to Fastly was impressively quick, with the homepage up and running in just a couple of hours. Most of this time was spent resolving DNS names to avoid breaking anything. Fastly's CDN not only solved the problem at hand but also impressed the Storytel team with its speed and efficiency. The new CDN honored the cache headers that the origin replied, including stale-while-revalidate, making the process straightforward and seamless.
Operational Impact
  • The transition to Fastly CDN has had a transformative impact on Storytel's operations. The new caching strategy has significantly improved page loading speeds, ensuring a smooth and seamless user experience. The process of implementing Fastly's CDN was surprisingly simple, with no changes required to the origin. This not only saved time and resources but also minimized potential disruptions. The company was particularly impressed with Fastly's problem-solving capabilities and the speed at which they were able to rescue the project. The success of this transition has reinforced Storytel's commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in delivering the best possible experience to their customers.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Page loading time reduced to milliseconds, at least 100x faster than the response time from origin.
  • The transition to Fastly CDN was completed in just a couple of hours.
  • No changes were required to the origin, saving significant time and resources.

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