Gumtree trials caching tech to support global growth

Gumtree.com will this week roll out a caching solution to its London sites, with the aim of implementing the technology to its other web properties if the trial proves a success.

The online classifieds site is already using the Smart Content Delivery service from managed hosting specialist NTT Europe Online, a subsidiary of communications giant the the NTT Group, across seven of its sites in the UK, but it now wants to make it easier and faster for visitors from other parts of the world to access the content they want by using more local caching solutions.

Gumtree.com now reaches visitors in 70 cities, spanning eight countries around the world. It boasts one million live ads at any one time and millions of visitors each month so is keen to support this rapid growth with technology that can ensure supply meets demand.

"Pending the results of that [London trial], we many push it out to the rest of the sites in August," said Phil Chambers, head of technology at Gumtree.com.

"The caching solution helps us scale much more easily and helps save on infrastructure costs in terms of making changes to the site and it's more economical than buying more machines so we can serve more customers with fewer servers," he said. "It should also improve performance as, for example, people living in Australia will be able to access images and static content if they have a cache nearer to them than if it were based in London."

The Smart Content Delivery service is a global network of cache servers that will help Gumtree.com to developer media-rich content to users by supplying additional on-demand bandwidth, according to Chambers.

"We like to set ourselves sights in terms of technology. We were the first and maybe are still the only site where you can embed YouTube videos into classified job ads. This means that people can play a video and get to meet everyone in the office before they apply for the job," added Chambers.

"We've also done one of the tightest Google Maps integrations and now get over half a million referrals from that as it has transformed the way people look for properties in London and other cities," he said. "We try to differentiate ourselves through technology."