To speed up content delivery, we must ensure that the data source is very close to the end user. By minimizing the distances between the content and the user, the speed of the website can be significantly improved to improve the user experience and improve business prospects.

Understanding CDNs (content delivery network)

The content delivery network (CDN) is primarily designed to mitigate latency by bringing content closer to end users. Imagine that you have placed content on servers located in the US and it is aimed at users in Asia. There will be significant latency due to the multiple hops that may be required for content to reach users in Asia. However, if the same content is available on servers located in Asia, delivery will be much faster.

Content Delivery Network consists of a distributed network of web servers that aim for faster delivery of web content, thus improving the availability and speed of web sites. Since the original content is available in the form of copied content across the network, end users can access the content from a CDN server closest to them. This significantly reduces the loads on the original server because the number of users requesting content from a single server is greatly reduced.

CDN improves the optimal utilization of network resources while greatly enhancing the user experience. CDN operators are contacted by media companies or e-commerce companies to expedite the delivery of their content to their end users. CDN service providers need to contract hosting provider services to host CDN servers in their data centers in various locations according to the presence of the end users.

Important features of CDN services

As mentioned above, the location of the CDN servers plays a vital role in building a highly efficient network that effectively improves the availability and distribution of content with reference to the target audience. Since the basic goal of a content delivery network is instant delivery of requested content, delivery nodes contain cached content that is run by one or more delivery applications and placed close to end users.

The fundamental purpose of storage nodes is to supply data to delivery nodes in the form of cached content and to protect origin servers by implementing the content in a hierarchical model to facilitate tiered caching. The master nodes that store the content are known as source nodes. The number of source nodes can be increased to enable scalable and resilient operations. All CDN components, including routing, monitoring, and management, are housed in the control node.

Deployment of CDNs is typically run in multiple locations covering multiple backbones to mitigate bandwidth costs and improve page load times as well as overall content availability. Different forms of CDN architectures can be designed to suit workloads according to individual requirements.

CDNs can mainly handle three types of content, including static content, dynamic content, and streaming content. Static content is produced by using standard programming languages, including java, php, or ruby, while static content such as CSS, images, and JavaScript are not associated with any changes. There is a growing demand for streaming content that includes audio or video files.

Importance of CDNs for improved optimization

Today’s users need to search for content on their mobile devices. Latency is an important factor to consider when delivering content to mobile devices. Delivery to these devices must be supported by an aggressive optimization strategy. CDNs help reduce latency for an improved user experience.

All websites should love to improve the user experience by promoting interactive and informative content. This requires web optimization efforts to improve the speed of vital website elements such as file formats, images, and pages, among others.

The performance of commercial websites has a direct impact on revenue gains and overall brand perception. Website performance can hardly be overlooked because more and more online shoppers are using mobile devices and, according to one forecast, by the end of 2017, up to 26 percent of ecommerce sales will be attributed to smart phones.

It is also interesting to note that customers who are prepared to wait around 15 minutes in supermarket queues are likely to leave an e-commerce site that takes more than four seconds to load.

Role of CDNs in improving user experience

CDNs make content reach the world much faster to improve conversion rates and user experience. These are also very efficient in solving problems related to latency. Modern CDNs leverage cloud acceleration and global location points of presence to accelerate global content delivery.

CDNs (Content Delivery Network) improve performance by reducing network load. Multiple edge servers reduce bottlenecks and traffic congestion at the central server by intelligently distributing visitors to the closest CDN POPs. CDNs also improve the reliability of content delivery regardless of distances between the central server and end users. These are also well known for their load balancing effect as the network load is effectively redirected to the servers.