In the past, global content distribution meant higher costs and complications with less success. However with the advancement in technology, a content delivery network can be established for efficient sharing of information. Businesses are increasingly moving towards Content Delivery Networks as there is a greater need for reliable sharing and exchange of large volumes of data with their global associates, business partners and customers. A content delivery network is an emerging technological platform that enables affordable and efficient sharing of content to numerous end points. These end points may comprise of anything ranging from mobile devices, web browsers or gaming consoles. A content delivery network has the capacity to scale your web presence and enables you to accelerate the delivery of all the web based content through a global infrastructure. Through the use of an efficient content delivery network, visitors spend more time on your website.
The main reasons why a Content Delivery Network is preferred are mentioned below:
Internet Speed
This is one of the moist crucial factors in the popularity of a content delivery network. With every passing day, the web content is becoming more resource intensive and therefore it requires more bandwidth to deliver the efficiency and speed. Today all the content is based on video, animation, and even live content. In case you want more visitors for the website, content has to be delivered at a faster speed – and a CDN is a perfect way to do that!
User-friendliness
Many online business owners are intimidated when it comes to web hosting and web based technology. The phrase “content delivery network” might immediately confuse them. However with the use of a CDN delivering your content is not as hard as you may think. In most cases, you can set up your CDN in 3 easy steps.
Scalability
A content delivery network is highly scalable and it makes financial sense to the website owners as they do not have to pay for any additional server hardware or routing in case there is an increase or decrease in the website size.
Data Integrity
Whenever new content is updated or published, the changes made will be directly copied to the servers. This ensures the integrity of your files and information in every server present in the CDN.
Faster Downloads
If you are using a CDN, your website visitors will be directed to the nearest cache server that contains a replica of the exact content present in the original server. This will enable your visitors to download the files from the nearest mirror with the shortest distance.
The features of a content delivery network include the following:
* On-demand storage for backing up, caching or for general storage
* Dynamic site acceleration for accessing a database server and creation of on-the-fly web pages
* Media delivery that includes HD_Quality video, audio and other media
* Electronic software delivery
* Some CDN’s also provide with analytic software for tracking the usage statistics
A complete content delivery network architecture comprises of various individual components that work towards the common goal of delivering service to the end-user community. A consolidated file server is a common example of a CDN, this consolidated file serves as a user application and data file warehouse. The most common functions associated with the content delivery network include file accessibility, application processing, multimedia delivery and caching. A content delivery network has the same importance as that of a Web Hosting UK package that you select for your website.
A content delivery network enables faster website loading speed. How is that? A CDN network is spread across a number of hosts that can be located at different strategic locations worldwide. Anytime a user needs to setup a website, the website is loaded up from a server that is certainly closest to the user geographically. This results in less loading time as every piece of information is made available to the consumer from the nearest server. Even though the website might be having a flash content video, audio or images, a CDN network works effectively for increasing the website loading time. The most classic example of a website based on content delivery network is the iStore. It is fast and fetches data in the least possible time.
The main function of a Content Delivery Network is carrying out the information for web acceleration. The CDN technology can be used if the servers are located in different geographical locations. In order to increase the efficiency of a content delivery network, it is essential to ensure that the servers are hosted in the close vicinity of large connection points between the Internet service providers (ISPs) or they can also be located in the same data centers as a popular website or gaming/application provider. This web acceleration strategy has evolved from the past to a state of a complex form as a result of the fact that the internet connectivity offered by ISPs has much restrictions and therefore it is not successful in terms of covering larger areas. In order to achieve web acceleration along with an efficient web delivery, the content has to be cached at numerous locations. This results in a requirement of a nation-wide diverging of multiple servers hosted at multiple data-centers. Peer to peer content delivery networks are also becoming very popular with large corporations making the use of this technology for sending large amounts of data without using as much centralized bandwidth and server load. A peer to peer content delivery network balances the load evenly, making it easier to deliver content like streaming HD video.
CDN for Large files/Applications/Videos
The most common purpose for which a CDN is used includes delivering on-demand video content comprising of large files like applications, games or any other heavy file.
In the recent times it has become essential for a video delivery to be delivered from special high configuration streaming servers. These servers could deliver the content when the request is placed, however there is a drawback, it will only deliver the bits requested instead of the complete video file. This usually happens as there is a limitation to the CDN services when it comes to inverting in costly steaming servers and the software required to run the network. Therefore CDNs were not considered up to the mark. This led to a selection of direct downloads, wherein the full video clip had to be downloaded to the local computer of the requester so that it can be viewed. This is exactly what was required for downloading large files, however it became strenuous for the requester to wait for a longer time until the process was completed. As there was an increase in the demand of progressive download, content delivery networks came into the picture. A CDN made it possible to reduce the waiting time to a great extent and thereby the requester could view the content in just a few seconds.
A content delivery network has transformed the way in which data is transferred across multiple locations. It is a network backbone that works for maximizing the potential of servers; thus connecting diverse locations.
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