CDN Featured Article

Content – it’s all the rage. Whether it’s digital, written or animated, we want access to the latest and greatest. Those that have developed powerful distribution networks are leading the charge when it comes to innovation and revenue generation. At the forefront, of course, are Comcast and Amazon Web Services (News - Alert) (AWS).

A recent Investors post suggests that these power players in next gen CDN are giving content delivery network (CDN) leader Akamai Technologies a run for its money. In a research report, Goldman Sachs analyst, Heather Bellini suggests that the focus Amazon has placed on growing its Cloudfront CDN and shifting its video delivery away from third party partners and onto its own network is helping to grow revenues in 2016.

Aside from the streaming that we as consumers enjoy, CDNs also help to increase the speed of eCommerce transactions and business software downloads. Amazon continues to grow its cloud computing business at a staggering rate. And, according to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon stock surged to an all-time high on Tuesday after it reported that Salesforce.com (News - Alert) is building a new service replying on AWS.

Does this mean that Amazon will rule the CDN space or simply make it more attractive for competitors? We do know that Akamai is worried, especially as companies like Facebook (News - Alert) and Apple are shifting more of their data away from Akamai offerings and into their own CDNs. Plus, startups are starting to gather momentum, taking some of the share away and focusing on the smaller companies that want more focused attention.

But you can’t discuss next gen CDN without including some space for Microsoft and the role the software giant wants to play in this space. Not to be outdone by the likes of Google, Facebook or Apple (News - Alert), Microsoft’s Azure CDN platform is powered by Akamai and launched on Wednesday to general availability.

Azure customers will be able to enjoy speed and reliability benefits through content acceleration and caching, delivering on the promises of next gen CDN. Give that 90 percent of global Internet users are a single network step from a Akamai CDN server, there are certainly benefits to Microsoft’s (News - Alert) strategy in leveraging the Akamai technology.

“We are excited that the combined strength of Akamai and Azure creates a complete solution with global reach for developing, deploying and delivering – as well as protecting – web, mobile and media cloud-based applications,” said Akamai VP of media product and operations Michael Fay, in a Talk in Cloud piece.

This move also makes sense for Akamai, breathing new life into the platform and extending its reach. And, while Microsoft developed its own CDN years ago, leveraging Akamai in Azure extends the “no downtime” promise while also giving users a choice. It’s the best of both worlds.