Delivering the Goods
Do CDNs Live Up to the Hype?
By Jay Lyman
Content distribution network (CDN) providers promise to make life easier for system administrators. CDNs will cut a company's bottom line by reducing the need for servers and bandwidth, while simultaneously pumping up profits through faster site performance—or at least that's the claim. But some administrators say that using a CDN represents nothing more than the denial of an underlying infrastructure problem—a crutch that will eventually become too expensive to support.
Those who stand by their use of CDN providers say it all depends on the deal you get. Indeed, few administrators seem willing to say they're closing their options when it comes to these networks. Although battered by the downturn, CDN providers like Akamai and Digital Island are working hard to make their offerings more attractive. By changing and consolidating with other managed services, these companies plan to remain prominent players in today's hosting market.
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In October, Cambridge, MA-based Akamai was being deployed on 1000 different networks, with some 13,000 servers in 63 different countries, according to Director of Product Management Kieran Taylor. Similarly, Tim Wilson, chief marketing officer for San Francisco-based Digital Island, says his company boasts 21 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies as clients, with more than 2600 servers in 35 countries.
Despite their evolution from the days of deep IT budgets, many services offered by these CDN providers remain essentially the same. However, there's good reason for the ongoing interest in the services they provide.<>
