Content Delivery Networks
Introduction
Content Delivery Networking (CDN) solutions allow enterprises and service providers to optimize the management, distribution, and delivery of static Web content and streaming audio/video content. While CDN services can take many forms, the overall goal of these services is to increase revenue opportunities, improve end-user performance, and drive cost savings. Our CDN solutions are comprised of products that allow enterprises and service providers to efficiently deploy high-performance CDN networks for business gain.
Content Cache Device
Content Cache improves application performance by storing frequently requested content closer to end users of the content and by offloading servers from repetitive requests. Benefits to enterprises include greater productivity and higher customer/partner satisfaction through better access to content, bandwidth savings, and reduced infrastructure costs. Caching is particularly valuable for bandwidth-intensive, streaming media applications.
Features
- Highly scalable caching and streaming Implements client acceleration (transparent-proxy) mode
- Support for QuickTime, Microsoft Media, and Real Networks streaming media applications
- RTP/RTSP Live Stream Splitting with time shifting ("Tivo-like") capability
- Support for content quality of service with Content Pinning and IP Type of Service tagging capabilities
- Supports filtering subscription services such as N2H2 and Web Sense
Content Manager
The Content Manager controls distribution, pre-positioning, and privatizations of static and streaming content for up to 2,000 Content Caches in a content delivery network (CDN); provides centralized configuration, provisioning and monitoring for caches and cache groups; and provides accounting management capabilities for tracking and billing content delivery and network utilization.
What is a Content Delivery Network
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) facilitate and optimize the management and delivery of static or streaming content over IP networks-corporate intra nets, extra nets, and the Internet. By ensuring that content is distributed and delivered closer to end users, CDNs overcome network bottlenecks and performance issues-while providing greater accounting and management control over how IP networks are used. The need is more critical than ever. The last two years have brought a 45 percent increase in companies using streaming audio/video, an 86 percent increase in spending on streaming content, and a 230 percent increase in total hours of content delivered. In 2002, some 80 percent of the Fortune 500 will be streaming corpo- rate communications from their Web site (Streaming Media Research, August 2001). For all the productivity benefits gained, streaming content puts unprecedented pressure on enterprise networks that are already squeezed by shrinking IT budgets and higher performance expectations. That's where CDNs come in. CDN caches store static and streaming content and deliver the content to users on request. Caches are typically placed at the edge of a network-such as a branch office-to efficiently deliver content, or in a data center to provide server acceleration
Benefits of a Content Delivery Network
- For enterprises seeking to optimize their own networks to handle streaming media, and for service providers wanting to offer content delivery as a managed service, CDNs offer key advantages.
- Built on scalable components, CDNs can grow as needed to match the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as eLearning and corporate Webcasts.
- By pre-positioning content close to the users likely to request it, CDNs significantly reduce bandwidth usage on the wide area network (WAN).
- By providing faster and more reliable access to content, CDNs improve employee productivity and acceptance of new applications.
- Optional content filtering enables the enterprise to block objectionable content.
- Through caching, load-balancing, routing optimization, and other strategies, CDNs increase content availability and protect against server overload.
- By empowering the network to manage, share, and distribute content more effectively, CDNs are designed to reduce server hosting costs at enterprise data centers.