One of the historical challenges of building real-time, distributed applications has been state. The missing piece is state – the contents of its memory that allow the application to run. Serverless has always been implied as a stateless process. So is the term "stateful serverless" a contradiction? Not anymore.

Macrometa's Justin Johnson and Redmonk analyst Kelly Fitzpatrick discuss how to build a real-time distributed application on Macrometa’s stateful serverless platform. Check out the demo below.

Build geo-distributed apps with the Macrometa CLI

What Is Stateful Serverless?

Edge Side Tag Management Series

Welcome back to our series on tag management! In our 

, we looked at traditional tag management approaches including their benefits and limitations. Now, we’ll explore edge side tag management - and how it aims to provide improved flexibility, speed, scale, and control.

In this post, we’ll examine the benefits of edge side tagging, including instant iteration, built-in redundancy, and enhanced performance. Let’s dive into the potential opportunities edge side tag management enables for digital teams and then cover Macrometa’s PhotonIQ solution.

Massive opportunity of edge side tag management

 - offers a vastly superior approach compared to browser-based and centralized server side models.

With edge side tag management, tags are executed within cloud functions distributed globally at the network edge: By running tags as close as possible to 

, edge side architecture provides unmatched benefits:

Tags can fire at the first network request before anything is sent to origin servers. You get full insight into the entire 

No more tag traffic needs to flow back to central servers. Pages load faster.

- Custom code can be executed at the edge to customize tag logic and capabilities.

 - Data stays within your controlled edge environment instead of leaking to external tags or central servers.

 Changes deploy at the edge in seconds without centralized release processes.

 - Stateless edge servers easily scale to handle spikes without provisioning delays.

- Edge networks provide native redundancy across data centers and regions.

For all these reasons, leading digital organizations are adopting edge side tag management to achieve new levels of flexibility, performance, scale, and cost efficiency.

Introducing PhotonIQ - edge side tag management from Macrometa

Macrometa provides a cloud native edge side tag management called PhotonIQ as part of their dynamic site performance acceleration suite built on its 

With PhotonIQ, tags execute within isolated secure edge functions distributed across 

 globally. This geo-distributed architecture brings tag management to the edge near end users.

 PhotonIQ executes tags in <50ms at the edge for real-time data flow.

 - Send tag data to tools like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Snowplow, Segment out-of-the-box.

 (streaming and complex event processing engine within Macrometa) with Javascript capability allows edge side tags to do things impossible in browser solutions.

- Deploy tags across global regions to keep traffic local and redundant.

 - View tag performance, traffic, errors, and more through PhotonIQ dashboards.

 Update tags and business logic in seconds without any backend deployments.

For digital teams, PhotonIQ provides an enterprise-grade edge side tag management system that's simple, flexible, and affordable. Organizations gain fine-grained control without the DevOps overhead.

Benefits of edge side tag management with PhotonIQ

Migrating to PhotonIQ edge side tag management creates tremendous business value including:

 - Capture every user action from the first network call for perfectly accurate 

 by 50% or more by eliminating excess tag requests and trips to central servers.

 - Roll out new tags, experiments, and experiences in seconds without engineering bottlenecks.

 - Gain visibility into tag performance, sequencing, and data to build organization-wide trust.

- Reduce developer time spent on tag management by 90% or more. Focus talent on innovation.

 - Keep data within your controlled edge environment to meet 

 - Scale to billions of tag executions per month without architecture limits or DevOps delays.

 - Distribute tags globally to cut latency and keep traffic within regions.

Tag management has evolved from early browser-based solutions to centralized servers and now next-generation edge side models like Macrometa's PhotonIQ.

For organizations where customer experience, developer productivity, and marketing agility are critical to growth, PhotonIQ 

By executing tags at the edge globally, PhotonIQ overcomes the constraints of legacy solutions to provide flexibility and scale not possible just 24 months ago. For digital teams racing to convert, engage, and retain users, PhotonIQ edge side tag management is the future. Learn more today by chatting with a 

Unlocking Speed With Edge Side Tag Management

In our modern era of digital commerce, customer expectations have never been higher. Whether browsing from a desktop or smartphone, users demand fast, seamless experiences when they visit eCommerce websites. If a site falls short, the cost can be steep. 

Before we delve into the potential eCommerce business impacts, it's important to understand some key performance metrics:

Time to Interactive (TTI): TTI is especially crucial because it directly impacts a user's ability to engage with your site. If a page looks visually complete but isn't yet fully interactive, users can experience frustration when they try to interact with unresponsive elements. This can lead to higher bounce rates as users might leave out of frustration. Additionally, a long TTI can give the impression of a sluggish site, damaging your brand's perceived quality. 

First Contentful Paint (FCP): FCP is one of the first tangible signs for users that a page is loading. If the FCP is delayed, users may perceive the site as slow or even broken, leading them to abandon the page before it fully loads. In the fast-paced online shopping world, every second counts. A delay in FCP can significantly impact the perceived performance of your site, leading to lower user engagement and potentially lost sales. 

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): LCP is a vital metric as it relates to the loading of the largest, and often most critical, part of the webpage. These elements are typically the ones that hold the most significant visual or informational value, like the main product image on an eCommerce product page. If the LCP is slow, users might not wait around to see what your site has to offer, resulting in lower engagement and conversion rates. 

Time to First Byte (TTFB): This measures the duration from the user or client making an HTTP request to the first byte of the page being received by the client's browser. This is a key indicator of the responsiveness of a web server or other network resource.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS measures the sum total of all individual layout shift scores for every unexpected layout shift that occurs during the entire lifespan of the page. A layout shift occurs any time a visible element changes its position from one rendered frame to the next. High CLS can lead to a frustrating user experience as it often causes users to click on the wrong element or lose their place on the page.

Blocking Time: Also known as Total Blocking Time (TBT), it measures the total time between First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Time to Interactive (TTI) where the main thread was blocked for long enough to prevent input responsiveness.

Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate is often a symptom of an unappealing or slow-to-load website.

Search Performance: This refers to the functionality and efficiency of the search feature within the website. Good 

 performance means users can quickly and accurately find what they are looking for, while poor search performance can lead to users leaving the site out of frustration.

These metrics, among others, give us an understanding of how quickly users can interact with a site and whether they have a smooth or frustrating experience.

How load times and performance metrics can affect eCommerce shoppers

indicates that a delay in page load from one to three seconds increases the bounce rate probability by 32%. This means one third of potential customers might leave your website before they even see your products. As page load time increases, so does the bounce rate.

 businesses, a slow TTI can be particularly damaging. If customers can't interact with your site quickly, they are likely to abandon their purchase. LCP and FCP, though less critical than TTI, still significantly impact user experience. A poor LCP might cause users to perceive your site as slow, even if other elements load quickly. Similarly, a delay in FCP might give the impression that the site isn't loading at all, prompting users to navigate away.

By optimizing TTFB, you can ensure that your website begins loading quickly, which can drastically improve the perceived 

 of your site. Optimizing CLS will ensure your site is stable as it loads, leading to a better user experience. Reducing Blocking Time ensures that your site remains responsive and usable while loading, further enhancing user experience.

Having a low Bounce Rate indicates that your site is engaging and that users are having positive interactions with your site. And finally, by optimizing Search Performance, you can ensure users find what they're looking for, which is especially important in eCommerce sites with a large catalog of products.

By optimizing these performance metrics, eCommerce businesses not only improve user experience and 

 but also increase their chances of appearing higher in search engine rankings. This can result in increased organic traffic, visibility, and ultimately, better 

The impact even extends to established brands

Even well-established brands are not immune to the consequences of poor 

. In fact, they might have more to lose because of the high expectations customers have for their online experiences. If a popular eCommerce business has a slow website, it risks losing customer loyalty and damaging its brand reputation.

One might assume that established brands with loyal customer bases would be less susceptible to performance-related issues, but the opposite is true. A customer who has a poor experience on a favorite site is likely to feel disappointed and may question the quality of the brand as a whole.

 indicates that the average conversion rate is almost 40% when pages load in 1 second. The conversion rate drops to 34% at a 2-second load time, and is down to 29% at 3 seconds.

Website performance, particularly for mobile users, is a critical factor in the success of eCommerce businesses. With the expanding realm of mobile commerce, a poor-performing website can lead to significant losses, even for well-established brands. Key metrics like TTI, FCP, and LCP are essential in understanding and improving the user experience, ultimately driving increased conversion rates and revenue.

Investing time and resources into optimizing your site's performance can help you reduce bounce rates, improve customer satisfaction, and secure your place in the competitive digital marketplace. It's important to remember that your website is often the first point of contact between your business and your customers. A well-performing website not only satisfies customers but also serves as a reflection of your brand's commitment to quality and service.


In this fiercely competitive digital world, a marginal gain in website performance can make all the difference. The effort invested in these optimizations will pay dividends in the form of 

, and ultimately, a more successful eCommerce business.

Macrometa’s Real-Time eCommerce Platform

Macrometa is a converged platform designed to deliver fast, personalized customer experiences for

organizations. With site acceleration and optimization for fast load times and seamless navigation, you can reduce bounce rates and improve your 

 to deliver accurate and relevant search results that can help you drive engagement and increase sales. With instant personalization and recommendations, you can deliver tailored experiences and product suggestions to your customer. If you want to boost site performance and improve your Google Lighthouse score, request a 

Website Performance Key Metrics And Their Ecommerce Impact

, data is processed closer to the source of the data at the edge of a 

. This can be particularly useful for gaming companies in a few different ways:

Reduced latency: By processing data closer to the source, edge computing can help reduce latency and improve the overall performance of games.

Improved network performance: Edge computing can help reduce the load on central servers and improve network performance, especially in areas with a high density of players.

Enhanced security: Edge computing can help protect against cyber threats by processing and analyzing data locally rather than sending it over the internet to a central server.

Better scalability: Edge computing can help gaming companies scale their systems more efficiently, allowing them to add processing power closer to the data source.


Take Your Gaming to the Edge: Unlock the Ultimate Gaming Experience with Macrometa

Edge computing is rapidly emerging as the go-to technology for businesses requiring the highest performance, scalability, and security levels. This includes gaming applications requiring the best 

, response time, and data processing power. Macrometa’s edge computing platform is leading the way in 

 on edge, allowing gamers to unlock the ultimate gaming experience. Here’s a look at how edge computing is revolutionizing gaming and how Macrometa is taking it to the next level.


Macrometa’s edge computing platform is leading the way in gaming on edge. The platform is designed to provide gamers with the ultimate gaming experience by reducing latency, improving response times, and providing a layer of security.


It provides gamers with the highest levels of security. Gaming applications can keep data secure by processing data at the edge and preventing it from being shared with third parties. This can help protect gamers’ data and ensure that it is only used for the purposes intended.

To learn more about Macrometa’s edge computing platform and how it can revolutionize gaming, check out 

 on YouTube. In this video, Alan (our Principal Technologist) showcases a first-person shooter game demo with real-time insights and a liveops dashboard on the Macrometa platform.


From this demo, you’ll learn how edge helps gaming and esports companies keep gamers engaged and maintain gamers' experience at a global scale while managing in-game data. You can also know more about:

Gaining insight into the gamer journey and experience

How to maintain gamer experience at scale

Gain insight and control game mechanics in real-time

At Macrometa, we’re committed to providing gamers with the best in gaming on edge. Our edge computing platform is designed to provide gamers with the ultimate gaming experience by reducing latency, improving response times, and providing a layer of security.


Check out the tutorials, QuickStarts, and 

 to quickly get started with Macrometa. You can actually build a streaming app in 10 mins or less! 

Enhanced Gaming Experience on Edge: Macrometa in Action

Bots are a growing menace for eCommerce businesses across sectors including retail, travel, gaming, and more. Automated attacks hurt sales, steal data, and damage site infrastructure. Legacy defenses relying on behavior analysis and signatures fail against today's highly sophisticated bots mimicking human patterns.

A smarter approach is strategic deception using honeypots - traps that lure bots but have no production value. Integrating deception tactics into your defenses can divert and reveal attacks early while frustrating bot efforts.

Current good and bad bot detection falls short

 management solutions. These use various techniques to classify traffic as human or bot:

 - Bots get flagged for inhuman patterns like high click rates.

 - Known bot tools and patterns are recognized.

- Check for suspicious fingerprints like headless Chrome.

However, these approaches have severe limitations against modern bots:

Behavior analysis fails once bots mimic humans well.

Signatures only detect known bot tools. Newer tools go unnoticed.

False positives from incorrectly flagged humans disrupt business.

Updating detection patterns is complex and slow. Bots evolve rapidly.

Reactive approaches allow bots to attack before detection.

Due to these gaps, sneaky bots bypass legacy systems and hurt eCommerce businesses.

Ineffective bot management leads to major risks like:

Scalper bots quickly snap up limited inventory of hot products before real shoppers can buy them. This leads to PR backlash.

Scraping bots steal vast amounts of pricing data, product catalog information, customer reviews, and other original content. This undercuts competitive advantage.

Gift card fraudster bots check the validity of stolen card numbers and monetize active ones before merchants can react.

Bots attempt stolen username/password pairs on login forms to take over accounts and steal payment data.

Malicious bots overload servers with junk traffic, hurting site availability and performance.

Clicker bots generate fake ad clicks to inflate display ad costs.

Ticket scraping - Bots rapidly scrape ticket pricing and availability data from airline, hotel, and event sites. This undercuts competitive pricing strategies and drives up query costs.

Blocking seat/ticket inventory - Bots book seats or tickets en masse without purchasing, preventing real customers from accessing limited inventory and driving up prices.

Distorting analytics - Bots viewing listings without booking distort metrics like visitor counts used for marketing decisions.

Enabling account takeovers - Compromised loyalty program accounts let bots improperly access and use customer miles and points.

Reliance on OTAs - Airlines rely heavily on online travel agency bots for bookings, increasing their bot traffic and complexity.

Here are risks faced by the ticketing industry that can be faced with large volumes of traffic for key events:

Ticket scalping bots - Bots rapidly purchase tickets the moment they go on sale, making it difficult for real fans to buy tickets before resellers mark them up drastically. This draws public criticism.

Fake ticket botnets - Networks of bots impersonate customers to trick ticketing systems into issuing valid tickets that are sold illegally. This defrauds both ticketing companies and fans.

Price scraping - Bots continuously scrape ticket prices and availability to undermine competitive pricing strategies.

Ad click fraud - Bots generate fake ad clicks on ticket sale pages to artificially increase advertiser costs per click.

 to detect, deflect, or analyze malicious bot activity. As bots parse pages, execute links, and fill in forms, they can be detected and analyzed using honeypots. These honeypots are isolated, monitored traps mimicking real environments. These honeypots exist right on web pages as bots and users come to visit. Real users will not see the honeypots, but bots will detect and interact with a link or an additional button hidden in the web page, or through another honeypot trap. When bots interact with honeypots, it reveals their behavior so security teams can take defensive action.

Today’s honeypots are designed with advanced deception technology that complement legacy defenses. They are implemented by creating fake application pages like product listings and databases and making them highly visible to bots via links on real pages or SEO optimization. Bots will attempt to interact with these honeypots as they crawl and scrape sites, unaware they are fakes. Meanwhile, all activity with the honeypot is closely logged and analyzed. Based on what traps the bot falls for, mitigation responses can be crafted.

Here are some techniques honeypots use to attract and detect malicious bots:

Fake login page links to catch credential stuffing attacks.

Product pages with inaccurate data to divert scraping.

Fake gift card generators with valid codes to lure fraud bots.

Pages with spun content that seems unique to distract content scraping.

Bots aim to interact with as many application pages as possible to scrape valuable data or find vulnerabilities. Bots will hit fake product pages trying to extract pricing data, hit fake login forms with stolen credentials, and access fake databases. Without sophisticated logic to detect honeypots, bots fall for these traps revealing their presence and inner workings.

Why do honeypots have huge advantages over legacy detection?

 real users don't find or access honeypot areas

Bots get distracted exploring high-interaction honeypots instead of attacking production systems.

Attack footprints are captured as bots interact with traps. No need to wait for damage.

Easy to quickly deploy new traps mimicking latest targets. Bots get frustrated finding no value.

Low performance impact since traps are served selectively to suspicious visitors.

Honeypots provide 360-degree protection against various threats:

- Fake product and inventory pages divert scrapers. Generated content with spun text wastes scraper time and resources.

 - Honeypot login forms catch credential stuffing without locking out real users.

 - Fake gift card generators lure fraud bots allowing merchants to track and blacklist them.

 - Bots get distracted trying to scalp fake limited inventory honeypots.

 - Traffic to honeypots reduces attack load on production servers.

Most sites already use commercial bot mitigation services. The ideal approach is to complement legacy defenses with honeypots:

Handoff hard to detect sneaky bots to honeypots for diversion.

Reduce dependence on ineffective behavior analysis.

Detect more attack variants to update legacy tool signatures.

Retain backup protection if any bots get past the traps.

The advantages of the PhotonIQ Honeypot Service

Honeypot services like PhotonIQ Honeypot Service, powered by the 

, handle the complexity of building, deploying, and managing sophisticated traps tailored to each business's needs at the edge. PhotonIQ lets eCommerce businesses take a dynamic approach to outsmarting bots by using honeypot trap triggers to detect bots in real time.

Honeypots utilize various traps that are dynamically created and managed to attract and deceive bots. For example, unused form fields called "honeytokens" can be embedded within real applications. Enticing "honey files" like PDFs or documents are also deployed as bait for bots.

These honeypot traps are randomly placed across different pages. Their links, forms, fields and cookies are generated dynamically to stay one step ahead of bots and prevent them from learning to avoid the traps.

By continuously monitoring bot interactions with the honeypots in real-time, analytics can correlate which honey triggers to use to block future bots. These insights are applied to create and deploy new unpredictable traps as needed.

Bots are a complex and constantly evolving threat. But their own techniques can be turned against them using smart honeypots that lure and deceive them.

Adding this potent deception capability can help 

Proactively divert attacks instead of waiting to get hacked.

Outsmart persistent bots frustrating their efforts.

Extract valuable insights into emerging bot behaviors.

Strengthen defenses by complementing legacy tools.

Honeypots deliver a crucial edge against the bot menace. Fight back against bots on your terms with strategic honeypots. If you would like to learn more about how the PhotonIQ Honeypot Service can bolster your bot defenses, please schedule a chat with an 

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." - Sun Tzu

Outsmarting Bots: How Honeypots Can Boost eCommerce Security

In today's data-driven world, seamless data connectivity is essential for businesses and organizations that want to harness the full potential of their data. Connectors play a pivotal role in enabling seamless data flow between various systems and databases.

In this blog post, we will explore Macrometa Connectors that allow you to extract and send data to and from existing collections in different databases and services. Whether you're working with BigQuery, MongoDB, OracleDB, PostgreSQL, or Snowflake, Macrometa Connectors have you covered. We'll go over each connector type and how to get started. But first let’s talk about how data works within the Global Data Mesh, a component of the Macrometa Global Data Network (GDN).

 is a hyper distributed cloud that has three components: 

. Macrometa takes a new approach to data by combining free-flowing data, analytics, and low latency for real-time insights.

The Global Data Mesh breaks down data silos to make information easily discoverable, accessible, secure, and usable anywhere. Connectors further simplify the data mesh approach, allowing companies to connect data from common databases and other sources. Edge Compute puts that data into action, and Data Protection offers data privacy and sovereignty.

 bridge your data across a variety of databases or Macrometa document collections. These connectors are designed to facilitate data extraction and data transfer, making it easier to work with your existing datasets.

empowers you to seamlessly interact with your BigQuery collections. You can effortlessly extract data from or send data to an existing BigQuery collection, streamlining your data workflows.

 allows you to work with data from any Macrometa document collection, regardless of its location within a 

 or even in a different tenant. This connector provides the flexibility you need to access and manage your data efficiently. You can send data to and from a Macrometa document collection.

, Macrometa offers a dedicated connector to extract data from or send data to your existing MongoDB collection. Seamlessly integrate your data for more comprehensive insights.

 simplifies data transfer from your OracleDB collection. Enjoy efficient data management with this connector.

, Macrometa's connector is here to assist. Extract data from or send data to your existing Postgres database with ease.

 users can take advantage of Macrometa's connector to extract data from or send data to their Snowflake collections. Ensure your data operations are seamless and efficient.

Macrometa Connectors are a valuable resource for simplifying data workflows and ensuring efficient data management. Macrometa customers can get started by contacting 

 to have it added to their tenant, since the feature is currently in beta.* Be sure to check out 

 for more information on the fields, functionality, and other options. If you need more information about Macrometa, please reach out to 

. We look forward to speaking with you!

*See 

Bridging Data With Macrometa’s Connectors

As we wrap up the summer season and check off the back to school list, the countdown is on to the busiest sales period in US eCommerce. Traffic can surge up to 

 during Cyber 5. Retailers risk losing millions if sites experience disruptions or delays over the Black Friday weekend.

and shoppers ready to splurge, Cyber 5 can account for a significant part of annual revenue. A 2021 

 showed shoppers plan to spend 50% of holiday budgets during Cyber 5. However, consumers can’t buy when a site goes down. And 50% won’t stick around if pages take 

The Cyber 5 peak shopping period puts eCommerce infrastructure through the ultimate stress test and any consequences can have a long lasting impact. The key is taking action now to improve website resilience, get control of bots, optimize virtual waiting rooms, safeguard coupons, and improve performance even at scale.

Say bye to "bad" bots, DDoS attacks, and peak traffic crashes

Modern eCommerce landscapes often experience overwhelming traffic surges during promotions, pushing websites to the brink of crashing. Virtual waiting rooms emerge as a remedy by effectively regulating user access and preventing overloads, ensuring stability even during peak demand. This proactive approach safeguards smooth user experiences and cultivates loyalty by reducing frustration during spikes.

While managing traffic is a necessity, it's worth noting that not all visitors are genuine customers. In the midst of the Black Friday shopping frenzy, virtual waiting rooms play a pivotal role in filtering out approximately 

 attributed to bots and fake users, conserving valuable computing resources for authentic customers. Furthermore, these waiting rooms act as a deterrent to bots attempting to hoard limited-stock items for resale, preserving fair access for actual shoppers.

, exploiting legitimate traffic to mask malicious activities. By distinguishing and filtering out such traffic, virtual waiting rooms bolster the overall security of platforms.

 seek discounts and offers when deciding to buy from a retailer or brand. This trend intensifies during the holiday season, as 

What Is Stateful Serverless?

Featured Posts

Recent Posts

What Is Stateful Serverless?

Featured Posts

Unlocking Speed With Edge Side Tag Management

Website Performance Key Metrics And Their Ecommerce Impact

Enhanced Gaming Experience on Edge: Macrometa in Action

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Outsmarting Bots: How Honeypots Can Boost eCommerce Security

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Holiday Countdown: Optimize eCommerce Defenses & Performance