If you are going to run few stores, would you rather have them on 1 BIG hosting server or have them on their separate VPS?
[font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif][size=3]Hello, mmt.[/size][/font]
[font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif][size=3]It is usually easier to use one VPS serving several similar projects. This facilitates maintenance and saves resources of the operating system. In such cases, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. However, in some cases it makes sense to separate the two projects from each other. For example, if your web service is targeted buyers on different continents, then it is wiser to buy one server closer to your customers. [/size][/font]
Depends on your business and where your expertise lies and how much you're willing to invest in performance tuning, monitoring and maintenance.
It your stores are similar (load features, etc.) then a multi-store, single server solution would be the most economical. It you sites differ in resource needs (traffic, imagery, product features, etc) then different servers makes sense.
I don't agree with the above statement about locality of service. With CDN it doesn't matter what the location of the source server is.
[font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif][size=3]Hi, tbirnseth.[/size][/font]
[font=lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif][size=3]Partially agree. CDN is only for static content: images, styles, fonts, scripts etc. But do not forget about the backend. [/size][/font]
Well, about 99% of stores I've encountered run their backends from a single country/location even when they have multiple stores There are a few that operate shipping in a distributed environment. But generally data is exported and sent to the fulfillment provider versus they accessing the admin directly. And even if they did access the back-end from a distant location, why would that drive someone to distribute their servers?