Traditional CDNs

Traditional CDNs were designed for 1990s Internet platforms and are known for their highly distributed, decentralized architecture in which fewer servers are housed in many, widely dispersed geographic locations. These content delivery networks store content closer to the end user and are best suited for website caching, small file offload, HTTP delivery and progressive download. This model has limited storage and consequently, when the content expires from the edge servers' cache, the files must be pulled from the origin server and re-cached.

Some analysts see the legacy architecture, compared to an infrastructure designed in today's market, as a hindrance on the providers position in the marketplace due to old equipment, dated hardware and inefficiencies. Many traditional CDN players have been consolidated and have evolved their models to meet the demand of today's delivery standards.

PRO: Distributed model works well for full site offload and static file delivery. Web acceleration technologies layered with CDN have proven very effective.

Streaming Media CDNs

Developed for today's network infrastructure, streaming CDNs are catered to best deliver large files, true streaming, gaming, web casting and other rich media. CDNs that do real streaming operate under a centralized architecture which entails fewer and more strategic geographic locations housing a larger number of servers. This allows for greater storage capabilities and closer access to direct peering where content is placed near the last mile.

With over 30 CDN providers in the industry, many providers fall into a centralized model.

PRO: "Mega" and "super" pops with extensive storage on strategic network hubs. Peering is also leveraged by this model to provide traffic direct to consumer networks.

Enterprise CDN - Behind The Firewall

Forward thinking business owners, IT managers and corporations can now take advantage of new services that provide CDN capabilities internal to the organization. Advanced download technologies proliferate efficiency and enhance end user experience to increase usage of sales training among employees and partners.

Content delivery within the Enterprise enables companies to publish, deliver, and manage digital assets internally and is ideal for corporate training, communications, file delivery, software updates and virus patches. This provides impressive capabilities for global companies to improve communication, reduce travel costs, reduce production/distribution costs, provide efficiency to process work flow and overcome many of the network and application difficulties.

PRO: Secure, internal, efficient, and very effective for global companies.

P2P & Hybrid CDNs

P2P and CDNs come together to combine CDN infrastructure and architecture with P2P technology thus creating hybrid CDN. There are a number of content delivery networks who have partnered with P2P companies and layered the technology into their offering to capture the market buzz.

The key market driver behind hybrid CDNs has been that it provides a lower price point as cost is shifted from content owners to the end users and network providers. While this is a valid point to consider, we have found the real value of P2P enabled CDN services is more in performance benefits and increased reach offering.

PRO: Access to large "virtual" CDN, sometimes with lower cost of entry. Increased efficiency and geographic reach.

Media Platform Providers

An Internet media platform, at the core, is a vehicle for companies to upload, brand, manage, publish, distribute and monetize online video content. Additional value added features may include ad services, interactive features, social and community tools, content protection, subscription services and advanced reporting.

Platform providers are essentially end-to-end video content management systems that are fully outsourced, and provided in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Provider services and offerings range in terms of CDN integration and compatibility, feature set and functionality, support, reporting, and cost structure.

This is a hot and busy market, with many players and new providers entering the space on a regular basis. A careful evaluation is critical to selecting the right platform provider; we work with many providers and are constantly evaluating new vendors in this space on behalf of our customers. We provide buying advice to help our customers understand the pros and cons of working with Media Platform Providers verses CDN companies.

PRO: Video content management, distribution and integrate advertising.