What is a Content Delivery Network?

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is used to solve one really important issue, which a lot of us might not even think too much about. So what is a CDN? A CDN is a network of geographically dispersed servers that work together to reduce web page content loading delays.

So whatever type of content you’re consuming online, a CDN has probably been used to ensure it loads quickly for you. This network of highly-distributed servers reduces latency and improves performance by decreasing the distance between the server and the user.

Why is a CDN important

As we spend more time online, using the internet for practically everything, we’ve also become incredibly impatient. We’ve all experienced the irritation of videos buffering and webpages not loading quick enough, and that’s exactly what a CDN combats.

CDN services are becoming increasingly popular, with sites that experience a high volume of traffic, like Netflix and Amazon using CDNs to ensure low latency and high content delivery speeds – ultimately improving the user experience.

How does a CDN work

A CDN shouldn’t be confused with a dedicated server, or any other form of web hosting and doesn’t eliminate the need for web hosting services. A CDN is used in addition to hosting in order to enhance the performance and efficiency of your website.

CDN’s basically store a replicated, or cached, version of website content in multiple points of presence (PoPs) all around the world, so that users can access it from the PoP that is located within the closest proximity to them. So if you’re trying to access content in Cyprus, let’s say, you won’t have to wait for it to travel from a server based in Los Angeles.

Benefits of a CDN

Performance

As we’ve mentioned, one of the biggest benefits of using a CDN is the significant improvement in performance for the user. For businesses with worldwide users, outside of just one specific geographic location, a CDN is now essential.

High performance and speed has come to be expected and anything less can be detrimental to businesses. After all, you wouldn’t continue to pay for your Netflix subscription if all you got was buffering and compromised quality.

Security

A CDN is not only used to enhance performance, it’s also used as additional security. If your website is targeted by DDoS attacks or other security breaches, which can cause a serious impact and huge losses for a business, a CDN safeguards the source by redistributing the traffic to other data centres.

Using a CDN provides extra peace of mind, and ensures that in the event of such an attack, your website stays online. This is especially important for eCommerce, online casinos and other iGaming sites that are typically vulnerable to these attacks.

Availability

As a website owner you want your content to be readily available to your users all of the time. A CDN ensures that your website is constantly available, even if you’re experiencing issues with your server, by using the cached content.

SEO

As we know Google has a whole bunch of ranking factors, and one of those is how quickly a website loads. An improvement in page loading speeds, will also improve your SEO – making your website more visible and higher ranking on the search engine results page.

Overall, the performance and security of your website directly impacts the potential of your business. A CDN ultimately helps your business successfully reach a wider global market. With all of these benefits, a CDN is actually relatively cheap too!

CDN with NetShop ISP

NetShop ISP is an Award Winning Data Center Services & Server Hosting Provider with privately-owned Infrastructure in Cyprus, Malta, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Singapore, Los Angeles (US West) and Hong Kong.

For more information on our services or any other questions relating to this article, please contact our 24/7 Customer Service team.