Case Study: SFR achieves cost savings and a high-performance DIY CDN with Varnish Software

Using Varnish DIY CDN We Can Deliver On Our 100% Customer SLA

SFR, one of France’s largest telecommunications providers with millions of daily requests and a top-ten French website, faced rising CDN costs while operating an online store and media services at large scale. Using Akamai was reliable but expensive, so SFR set out to reduce OPEX by building its own CDN to handle heavy traffic in‑house and eventually offer CDN services to external customers.

SFR implemented a Varnish-based DIY CDN using Varnish Cache and the Varnish Massive Storage Engine, supported by direct access to Varnish core developers for configuration and optimization. The move eliminated external CDN costs, improved performance and reliability (leading to increased traffic and invoicing), enabled custom VCL/VMOD features for customers, and delivered strong ROI—SFR’s CDN has been highly ranked in independent benchmarks and continues evolving (planned TLS/SSL origin integration).

CacheFly

Matt Levine

Founder and Chief technology Officer