CDN Featured Article

The market for content delivery networks (CDNs) is expanding exponentially, thanks to aggressive investment in the space and a need to deliver large amounts of content efficiently and cost effectively. Markets and Markets predicts the global CDN market will reach $15.73 billion by 2020, fueled by an increasing number of cloud content service providers, growing consumer demands and an overriding need to move content at high speeds without compromising quality.

Growth and activity in the space are driving change, specifically in how cloud content providers deliver massive amounts of data to their customers. Traditional CDNs are typically not architected for the cloud, and SD-WANs are optimized for enterprise connectivity. Being able to apply the efficiencies and functionality of software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) to CDNs serving cloud content is the key to optimizing CDN for today’s crowded networks.

Teridion is one of the pioneers in this space, and the company’s Global Cloud Network utilizes the principles of SDN to create one or more private overlay networks for cloud content providers. That means providers can avoid the inherent latencies of the Internet and take advantage of real-time routing and scalability based on demand, end users, devices and type of connectivity.

The solution is comprised of Cloud Routers, which are virtual routers that may be deployed and scaled dynamically at any cloud provider’s facility, acting as traffic gateways. Measurement Agents offer real-time metrics about overall Internet performance, while the Teridion Management System provides an end-to-end view of the entire network. The system is used to make dynamic performance-based routing decisions and continuously updates optimal routes for content providers.

“We’re not a software defined network (SDN) per se, even though we separate the control and data plane,” explained Elad Rave, founder and CEO of Teridion, after the company received a $15 million funding round last year. While SDN networks typically have a set amount of nodes, Teridion’s solution adds and deletes nodes on the public cloud dynamically. “We want to use public infrastructure. We’re doing SDN with an infinite number of nodes with some of them coming and going.”

Those dynamic capabilities are quickly becoming a necessity as more and more content and services are delivered through the cloud. Traditional CDNs are simply not architected to handle cloud traffic and latencies and speed and quality ultimately suffer, driving away end users. In an increasingly competitive cloud content market, providers are searching for the most cost efficient and flexible ways to differentiate their services. A next-generation CDN solution that applies the principles of SDN and virtualization to cloud content is an extremely valuable proposition for service providers across the board.