The important and unseen role that content delivery networks play in our daily lives

In today’s highly digital world, media and content of all kinds are voraciously consumed every day. Everyone knows the publishers of said content: streaming giant Netflix, sports broadcaster ESPN, even developers like Apple that deliver software updates. But how does content actually make its way to our screens?

This is where content delivery networks (CDNs) come in. They play a key role in delivering the web pages we visit to stream movies, the games we play online, the ecommerce sites we frequent, and the ads we come across while surfing the internet.

The importance of CDNs has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. A study conducted by Media Partners Asia found that online video-streaming minutes in Southeast Asia went up by 60%. Global services such as Netflix saw a 115% increase in usage, and Viu and other regional streaming services also saw significant growth.

“Almost everyone uses CDNs daily. We’re just not really aware of it,” says Peter Löfling, general manager for APAC at Varnish Software, a pioneer in high-performance content delivery.

Peter Löfling, general manager for APAC at Varnish Software / Photo credit: Varnish Software

What are CDNs?

A CDN is a system of distributed servers that delivers web content to a user, Löfling explains. It was created in the late 1990s as a means to alleviate performance bottlenecks in the internet, which, at that point, was starting to become a mission-critical medium for people and enterprises.

By making a copy – or caching – of in-demand content, CDNs minimize the distance between end users and a website’s server. The cache or saved content is stored in local CDNs across different points of presence (PoPs). Within each PoP lies various servers charged with delivering content to visitors within its area of reach. “In essence, CDNs put your content in many places at once, providing superior coverage to users,” Löfling says. “They make the internet smaller.”

For example, if someone in Indonesia hops on a site to stream a movie, the CDN would capture this action, make a copy, and store this cached item in a local CDN. Subsequent viewers in Indonesia would then be able to access the cached movie, delivered by CDNs in the PoP closest to their location.

The overall viewing experience is then elevated as users enjoy improved response times and reduced bandwidth consumption. Hosting websites are also able to handle higher traffic and protect themselves against cyberattacks.

Minimizing delay is key for both users and publishers as latency can cost businesses their customers. According to Google’s RAIL performance model, 1,000 milliseconds of delay can already cost the attention of users. CDNs help sustain this and, subsequently, overall user retention.

No one-size-fits-all CDN solution

However, there’s no set solution when it comes to CDNs. Instead, there’s a rule of thumb that the industry observes: 20% of content accounts for 80% of requests. For example, for a streaming service with 100 movies on its platform, 20% of its titles will garner 80% of its viewership. As such, it makes sense to store the 20 most popular movies in local CDNs, as these will be accessed by viewers at higher rates.

But there are plenty more ways to go about it. To get the most out of CDNs, publishers must first take a step back and study their offerings. For some companies, tapping a third-party commercial CDN will suffice, but for others, setting up a local CDN would be a better solution.

“For example, for a company whose audience is mainly in Indonesia, it doesn’t make any sense to use a global CDN provider that does not have a good coverage in the country. It’d be better to build a local CDN,” Löfling notes. “But if it’s a company that does business all around the globe, it is more important to have global coverage with servers in Paris, New York, Stockholm, and so on.”

A hybrid approach is another possibility, especially for publishers that want to distribute their local content with both breadth and depth. Korean dramas, for example, are produced in-market but are widely distributed around the world. In this case, it makes sense to build a CDN locally while also relying on third-party global CDNs to reach viewers abroad. “This can make costs more predictable and offer more control and opportunities to optimize resource usage locally and globally,” says Löfling.

Photo credit: 123RF

But these aren’t the only options. Going DIY is another one, and it gives publishers full control and ownership over their content delivery processes without worries about vendor lock-in or being boxed in technology-wise, price-wise, and location-wise by third-party CDNs.

Why DIY?

By using a simple and fully customizable CDN toolkit, publishers have better control over their content delivery. “These pre-built, pre-optimized origin protection and edge-caching components are flexible and customizable within Varnish,” says Löfling. “It helps deliver content in a finely tuned and tailored way, giving publishers a competitive edge while satisfying users with maximum performance.”

For example, when it comes to broadcasting a football match, a global CDN provider would distribute the match from just the one or two PoPs it has in the country. The farther the PoPs are from viewers, the higher the chance for latency and other issues.

By using a DIY approach, businesses would be able to control the locations of PoPs and even tweak them to match the cities where sports fans live or where the games are projected to rack up the most views. They have the power to modify, virtualize, and change the content according to specific content delivery requirements.

“If you rely solely on a third-party CDN, you would be stuck with their content delivery processes,” which might not cater to your specific needs, points out Löfling.

This DIY approach also allows publishers to build positive and authentic relationships with end customers, whereas having a third-party player in the mix means they don’t have full control of how things are done and how content is delivered. By going DIY, companies get to manage, evaluate, and grow together with their customers in a way that’s difficult to achieve when relying on an outsourced solution.

Löfling also found that many businesses that have taken this approach save money on their end. Because they have the power to scale up or dial down performance according to demand or necessity, businesses can manage costs by paying only for exactly what they need.

Looking ahead

With 5G networks on the horizon, CDNs are preparing to adapt to an increased bandwidth, capacity, and speed. “Edge caching and storage are going to be necessary both for protecting the core network and for ensuring that the near no-latency performance promise of 5G is fully realized,” Löfling says. He points out that these solutions would also need to be compatible with current 4G networks.

“[Publishers] should be able to implement them today and then slowly migrate over eventually [to 5G]. And, once again, they should take control and make sure they have full control – from an economical perspective, quality perspective, and more.”

To learn more about Varnish Software and its DIY CDN offerings, visit its website.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.