Content Delivery

Fig. 1: Content Delivery

When people are trying to access something on the internet, they want it fast. Slow connections irritate a lot of users, and oftentimes cause them to stop the connection. For a company that thrives on internet consumers, this could be detrimental. In order to avoid that problem, many sites have resorted to becoming static, non-interactive sites. Many others have doled out big bucks to buy additional servers and load balancing hardware. (Sweeney) While that is one way to provide quicker content, there is a better way: with a content delivery service.

Content delivery is a way for websites to provide its users the quickest access, regardless of their location and the number of users that are accessing the same site. The concept is simple enough: the user can access, from the closest of several servers located all around the world, and can give the user access to the server that is closest to them the same webpages, rather than having to connect to a server a continent away. A company that wants to utilize content delivery would buy server space from a content delivery service. Then, the company would run special software that bookmarks all of the graphics, animations, and other such files, and uploads them to one of the content delivery service’s servers. Whenever these files are requested by a user, the company server sends the files to a server closest to the user. If the server nearest the user had a power outage, the files would simply be redirected to another server that was performing correctly. With no central control architecture and multiple pathways to take, content delivery will always deliver the content to the user and ensure that no power outages or other server problems would interrupt the user’s Internet experience. (Willis)

Another special feature of content delivery is its performance in heavy traffic. Flash crowds — many users who request the same content at the same time — can easily receive the same quick performance from servers that light crowds have. The content delivery service is able to spread the users across many servers instead of burdening one server, forcing it to take care of all of the users. The workload — the users’ requests — are distributed over multiple servers for faster processing. In effect, content delivery uses the principle of distributed computing.

The two top providers of content delivery, Akamai and Digital Island, are located in Hawaii — not because of the beautiful landscape, but for the location. Using underwater telecommunications cables, the content delivery companies can have each of their servers within acceptable communication range. Hawaii has clear access to North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. Europe is reached as well, but not as easily. (Cho)

	Akamai is one of the leaders in providing content delivery. Its content provider service, FreeFlow, is one of the most powerful on the market. Akamai states that "web objects such as animation banner ads, Java applets, and graphics comprise nearly 70% of a typical page in overall bytes." (Akamai: "Free Flow Overview") With their FreeFlow technology, the time it takes to access those web objects could be greatly reduced. Most customers see "performance improvements of two-to-ten times or more." (Akamai: "Free Flow Overview") Akamai currently has over 4,000 servers and 160 networks to cover 45 countries. Customers of Akamai include Yahoo! and Apple.
Fig. 2: Akamai — www.akamai.com — offers fast, reliable service in more than 45 countries...

Digital Island is another content delivery specialist. They enhanced the content delivery market by providing secure transactions. Their service, called Footprints Secure, allows e-businesses to take advantage of content delivery as well. Previously, secure documents had to "be delivered from centralized servers" which oftentimes wouldn’t be located near the user. Encrypted documents can now be sent across Digital Island’s servers. Digital Island currently covers 25 countries and will expand in the future. ("Digital Island...")
	Fig. 3: ...while Digital Island — www.digisle.com — is concentrating on becoming the top e-Business delivery network.

Content delivery is an innovation in Internet access. Most large websites that attract millions of users utilize a content delivery service, and it is likely that many more will sign up in the future as the Internet population grows.

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