diff --git a/kernelci/api/__init__.py b/kernelci/api/__init__.py
index 360d40c211..22bc4d804d 100644
--- a/kernelci/api/__init__.py
+++ b/kernelci/api/__init__.py
@@ -382,7 +382,11 @@ def find(
 
         @abc.abstractmethod
         def stats(self, attributes: Dict[str, str]) -> list:
-            """Get aggregated telemetry statistics"""
+            """Return aggregated telemetry statistics for matched events.
+
+            The result contains grouped counters only; it does not run any
+            anomaly detection.
+            """
 
     @property
     def telemetry(self) -> Telemetry:
diff --git a/kernelci/api/latest.py b/kernelci/api/latest.py
index 488e32ef51..637217c52f 100644
--- a/kernelci/api/latest.py
+++ b/kernelci/api/latest.py
@@ -168,7 +168,11 @@ def find(
             return self._get_paginated(params, 'telemetry', offset, limit)
 
         def stats(self, attributes: Dict[str, str]) -> list:
-            """Get aggregated telemetry statistics"""
+            """Return aggregated telemetry statistics for matched events.
+
+            This endpoint only performs grouped aggregation of telemetry counters
+            and does not perform anomaly detection.
+            """
             params = attributes.copy() if attributes else {}
             return self._get('telemetry/stats', params=params).json()
 
diff --git a/kernelci/kbuild.py b/kernelci/kbuild.py
index 0dacb8c683..dfba730529 100644
--- a/kernelci/kbuild.py
+++ b/kernelci/kbuild.py
@@ -903,6 +903,9 @@ def _get_storage(self):
         '''
         Get storage object
         '''
+        if hasattr(self, '_storage') and self._storage is not None:
+            return self._storage
+
         storage_config = kernelci.config.storage.StorageFactory.from_yaml(
             name='storage', config=yaml.safe_load(self._storage_config)
         )
@@ -911,7 +914,8 @@ def _get_storage(self):
         storage_cred = os.getenv('KCI_STORAGE_CREDENTIALS')
         if not storage_cred:
             raise ValueError("KCI_STORAGE_CREDENTIALS not set")
-        return kernelci.storage.get_storage(storage_config, storage_cred)
+        self._storage = kernelci.storage.get_storage(storage_config, storage_cred)
+        return self._storage
 
     def map_artifact_name(self, artifact):
         '''
diff --git a/kernelci/storage/backend.py b/kernelci/storage/backend.py
index e164198f7c..ae68a31c9f 100644
--- a/kernelci/storage/backend.py
+++ b/kernelci/storage/backend.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import time
 from urllib.parse import urljoin
 import requests
+from requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter
 from . import Storage
 
 
@@ -20,6 +21,8 @@ class StorageBackend(Storage):
     This class implements the Storage interface for the kernelci-backend API.
     It requires an API token as credentials.
     """
+    _HTTP_TIMEOUT = 300
+    _HTTP_POOL_SIZE = 20
 
     def _close_files(self, files):
         """Helper to close all file handles in the files dictionary."""
@@ -27,6 +30,10 @@ def _close_files(self, files):
             if hasattr(file_tuple[1], 'close'):
                 file_tuple[1].close()
 
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        self._session = None
+
     def _handle_http_error(self, exc, attempt, max_retries, retry_delay):
         """Handle HTTP errors during upload with retry logic."""
         # Only retry on server errors (5xx status codes)
@@ -57,7 +64,17 @@ def _handle_network_error(self, exc, attempt, max_retries, retry_delay):
             print(f"Upload failed after {max_retries} attempts")
         return exc
 
+    def _connect(self):
+        if self._session is not None:
+            return
+        self._session = requests.Session()
+        adapter = HTTPAdapter(pool_connections=self._HTTP_POOL_SIZE,
+                             pool_maxsize=self._HTTP_POOL_SIZE)
+        self._session.mount('https://', adapter)
+        self._session.mount('http://', adapter)
+
     def _upload(self, file_paths, dest_path):
+        self._connect()
         headers = {
             'Authorization': self.credentials,
         }
@@ -78,8 +95,9 @@ def _upload(self, file_paths, dest_path):
                 }
 
                 url = urljoin(self.config.api_url, 'upload')
-                resp = requests.post(
-                    url, headers=headers, data=data, files=files, timeout=300
+                resp = self._session.post(
+                    url, headers=headers, data=data, files=files,
+                    timeout=self._HTTP_TIMEOUT
                 )
                 resp.raise_for_status()