Solving Edge Delivery and AEM Performance in China: Comparing Approaches & Results

Recorded at #adaptTo() 2025 https://adapt.to/2025/schedule/solvin... Tad Reeves, Arbory Digital Kamil Chociej, StreamX by Dynamic Solutions Delivering performant digital experiences in mainland China remains one of the most technically and operationally-complex challenges for global web platforms, with all too many site owners resigning themselves to poor performance in China. This talk presents hard-earned lessons and architectural tradeoffs from efforts to improve the real-world performance of AEM Edge Delivery Services (EDS) and AEM Cloud Service sites specifically targeting audiences in mainland China. Our talk will detail the challenges we all face for any AEM site in China, and then detail the results & trade-offs we experienced in launching the first customer Document Authoring (i.e. Dark Alley)-powered Edge Delivery sites with userbases in China. The aim of the presentation will be to enable AEM engineers to know what can be done to effectively and dramatically improve performance for the over one BILLION internet users who presently (probably) time out when trying to reach your site. 00:00 Intro 00:52 Why You Should Care About China 01:44 What Makes China Challenging 05:36 AEM-Specific Challenges in China 08:35 What are your options? 11:05 Our Solution 21:18 Content update 24:34 Q&A