Introduction
The Intershop Commerce Platform natively supports multiple organizations, countries, brands, and business models on one platform. However, considering network latencies, amount of data, data processes, traffic, and the number of development teams, different options are available.
Options
One Central System
One system is serving multiple regions and/or multiple organizations, brands, and business models.
This is the standard included in the Intershop base subscription. The Azure region for the central system can be selected.
Latencies
Network latencies may affect the end user experience. Especially latencies between continents can matter (see examples below). Therefore the central system is typically located where the main user base is located.
A CDN is recommended to reduce loading times especially for images, etc.
Example First Page Load Times
Page load times from different locations can be measured using tools like https://tools.pingdom.com.
An overview about latencies between Azure data centers can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/networking/azure-network-latency. This does not reflect one-to-one in end user response times, but still gives a good impression.
Test results for Demo PWA SSR located in Azure region West Europe
Test from | Load Time |
|---|---|
Europe - Germany - Frankfurt | 1,17 s |
North America - USA - Washington D.C. | 1,68 s |
North America - USA - San Francisco | 2,69 s |
Pacific - Australia - Sydney | 4,28 s |
South America - Brazil - Sao Paulo | 3,62 s |
Code Base/ DevOps Processes
The central system uses one code base for ICM, one code base for IOM, and one code base for PWA.
Different ICM channels can still use different cartridge sets.
Deployments can be made independently for ICM, IOM, and PWA. However, an ICM deployment, for example, will affect all channels (countries, brands, etc.)
Mass Data Tasks
All data is stored in one database for ICM and one for IOM. Mass data processes are running only on one system. There can be side effects between the mass data processes of different channels, e.g., long running replication times or high load caused by imports of large amounts of product data.
Multiple Systems
The platform is separated into two or more systems.
Generally, to have multiple hosting infrastructures is suitable if eCommerce generates high revenue in all regions to cover running costs for double or triple hosting architectures. The higher costs are not only because of more infrastructure, but also because of higher license and application management costs.
Latencies
Systems are located in two or more regions to reduce latencies:
latencies to end customers (e.g., trans-Atlantic requests)
latencies to backend services (systems of record, e.g., ERP systems, Order Management Systems)
Code Base/ DevOps Processes
Separation of code bases and release cycles to reduce dependencies between multiple development teams:
independent deployments
independent maintenance windows (e.g., at night)
working with multiple implementation partners or multiple teams
code sharing (ICM cartridges, Java libraries, etc.)
Mass Data Tasks
Separation of data of different organizations to reduce data processing times for large amounts of data:
imports
search index build
staging
jobs
Additional Options
Additional options are not included in the standard base subscription and must be booked separately.
CDN
As an additional option a CDN can be used to reduce loading times, especially for images.
CDN is service provided by a third party which caches in multiple regions the static eCommerce resources like images, CSS or JavaScript files.
Using CDN is the “best practice” to cover multiple regions using only one central system. Usually Intershop integrates CDN service providers Akamai or Cloudflare, but also other CDN service providers can also be used.
CDN integration advantages are:
Low latency for static resources -> faster load times
Reduced infrastructure load caused by static resources traffic
No developement needed on the platform side
Saving costs by avoiding double infrastructure
Could be a benefit for other markets too (Russia, Brasil, USA)
Other CDN services like mobile image optimization or DDoS protection are possible depending on selected CDN provider
CDN has the following disadvantages:
Open issue with Great Firewall of China
Performance for dynamic content not improved, because dynamic content is not cached by CDN
CDN service generates additional costs
Additional Job Servers
Dedicated job servers can be added to improve performance of jobs.
Additional PWA SSR Instances
It is possible to run multiple PWA code bases in order to separate the development and release cycle for separate front ends.