Important lessons
- Platform changes everything.
- The problem is transitioning from an enterprise architecture to a platform based on APIs and services is a tough change to make.
- Web scale changes everything.
- Personalization changes everything.
- Mobile changes everything.
- Partnerships are power.
Architecture
- Goal of ESPN.com is to serve sports fans anytime, anywhere, on any device, with accurate and timely data, with access to deeper content. Scores, stats, and deeper content must be accurate and immediate. No outages, just like TV.
- Do not consider themselves to be a technology company. They are a media and content provider. Owned by Disney, not publically traded.
- Key to handling high loads with a low hardware footprint is a sophisticated page and fragment caching system. Live updates like scores, stats, schedules, have a different caching system. Personalization also has its own caching system.
Architecture Is Organized Around Applications And Databases
- Dozens and dozens of logical databases.
- Process isolation.
- Not a monolithic architecture, there are different systems for different sports.
- Application service. In front of the databases is web application server with all the business logic for the sport.