CDN Usage vs Direct Server Serving

An online store runs its servers in Virginia, in the United States. A customer in Sydney, Australia, opens a product page. The browser requests the page, its images, and its scripts.

Each request crosses the Pacific Ocean, and each response crosses back. One round trip takes about 200 milliseconds before the server does any work. A page load needs several round trips, so the customer waits more than a second. A faster server cannot fix this. The delay comes from the distance itself.

There are two ways to serve this customer