infoTECH Feature

October 07, 2015

Big Brands Realize the Importance of Updated Content Delivery Networks

Google (News - Alert) and Alcatel-Lucent recently upgraded their content delivery networks (CDNs), demonstrating the increasing reliance on CDNs in the business world.

With a CDN, a business has data centers across the world that can share in the work of managing daily traffic. As companies like Google and Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) have increasingly shifted toward hosting data for businesses across the globe through cloud hosting, the need for highly-evolved CDNs has become crucial.

As one of the top tech companies in the world, Google requires a large content delivery network for its cloud platform. The company offers 70 content delivery locations in 33 different countries to host data for its cloud customers across the globe. To accomplish this, the company partners with CDNs in multiple locations and is now adding four new providers to expand its reach.

By expanding its CDN, Google hopes to cut prices for its customers while also improving service. The performance increase will be accomplished by moving Google cloud customers to its new CDN Interconnect program, with members charged only for outgoing traffic. By partnering with trusted providers, Google hopes to be able to keep up with increasing demand without pushing prices up.

Alcatel-Lucent is a French company that provides telecommunications equipment to businesses. The increasing demand for IP video storage has upped the amount of storage and speed needed by businesses located across the globe. As a result, Alcatel-Lucent has set up a new elastic CDN that will give businesses the flexibility they need when providing the technology to their own customers.

For smaller businesses, CDNs are usually reached through the third-party providers they’re now using for data storage. Instead of setting up a server onsite, many businesses now rely on providers like Google for cloud hosting. As a result, services have set up CDNs that can be accessed by resellers, who can then offer the accelerated speed to their own customers at a reasonable price.

In addition to cloud hosting of data and software, businesses are also becoming aware of the importance of having CDN-hosted websites. Google recently pointed out that the average website now exceeds more than 2MB in size and that number is increasing with each year.

“For developers to continue to offer fast page-load speeds, site developers and businesses must now rely on CDNs to handle the workload” explains Incapsula, a global CDN provider.

When a hosting provider can offer access to CDNs across the globe, website owners can proceed with confidence, knowing that customers will be able to connect to the closest data center for content, rather than spanning the globe. If that server can’t deliver the information, website owners know that customers will still be able to access the page from one of the many other data centers located in the CDN. The result is a high-performing website with guaranteed 24/7 uptime.

App developers have increasing demand, as well. Whether apps are merely for recreation, a business necessity, or for use in day-to-day personal management, they often require connectivity to a server to get information. When that server is faulty or untrustworthy, customers get frustrated and may stop using the app altogether.

For that reason, Google and other major providers are partnering with app developers to provide CDN services for the apps customers use every day. A customer accesses the closest server, with backup services provided if that server has issues. These CDNs help from the time the app is being downloaded to the file transfers required as the app is used. If an app uses high-definition video or audio, CDNs can help handle that workload as well, ensuring the app is viewed and heard as the app developer originally intended.

Content delivery networks already serve as an important part of the web, data, and app hosting environments used by businesses and consumers every day. With companies like Google and Alcatel-Lucent increasing their own CDN offerings, competitors will likely feel challenged to ensure they’re offering the fastest, most reliable CDNs available, to the benefit of customers everywhere.




Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
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