What cutting edge CDNs should deliver
Given today’s competitive content delivery environment, what features should today’s leading edge CDNs offer to set them apart from the pack and meet content providers’ requirements?
Content providers seek two primary features from their CDN. Speed is one of them—numerous studies reveal a direct correlation between a web site’s speed and the revenue it generates, and companies will pay top dollar to have their content delivered just a few milliseconds ahead of the competition. Therefore, performance monitoring tools from testing companies have become vital for analyzing site performance and demonstrating the CDN’s latency and download acceleration power.
The second requirement is reliability. As a content provider, you likely take 100% uptime, 24/7 customer service, and a global network for granted.
Speed and reliability are the first part of the story, but there are other essential features that you should ask your CDN about:
Comprehensive reporting and analytics: A recent streamingmedia.com survey found that advanced reporting and analytics tools are of high importance to today’s monetization-focused users. Customers want easy-to-read reports on transferred data, broken down into HTTP downloads, streams, countries, and cities. Many also require live event reporting tools to track and analyze audiences. Ask potential CDN vendors if their reports include audience location, bandwidth analysis, peak users, average tuning hours, and complete referrer information.
Super-fast network: Performance testing company Gomez’s last-mile testing shows dramatic differences in delivery speed among leading CDNs. Get network speed stats from CDNs to ensure that they’ll meet your requirements.
One price for all: Does the CDN offer Windows Media, Adobe Flash, and Microsoft Silverlight streaming all for the same competitive price? Have in mind the file type support you need when you start the conversation with the CDN vendor.
Pseudo-streaming via HTTP progressive downloading: Find out if they support flash fast-forwarding (FLV seek), which allows a user to fast-forward to an area of a file that has not yet been fully downloaded. Also check for bandwidth throttling, a feature that detects an abandoned download and terminates that download before completion, thus saving bandwidth and expense.
Security features: A CDN should keep their customers’ files safe with security features such as token authentication, which is used to prevent hot-linking and to block access to specific IP addresses or countries. These features are essential for securely selling digital media online and to prevent the hijacking of content and bandwidth.
We’ve recently partnered with CDN EdgeCast Networks, and customers using the resulting integration are getting all the streaming, caching, storage features, and functionality they need to deliver their content quickly and reliably. To learn more about the EdgeCast Networks’ CDN solution, visit their site or email them at sales@edgecast.com.
Find out more about how our system works with CDNs in our mpsManage white paper. For additional information on selecting a CDN, you can also download our CDN Cost Reduction white paper.
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