Five CDN trends that enterprises need to track

Surging video traffic, a surge in work-from-home operations and security services acquisitions have driven the expansion of the content delivery industry as its core capabilities increase network advantages.

Content delivery networks (CDNs), which were created in the days of e-commerce sites and video delivery, have come a long way.

The CDN market has witnessed rapid expansion in the past few years, with cloud giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon joining industry pioneers such as Akamai Technologies, Limelight Networks and Mirror Image. Some early CDN providers were acquired by telecommunications companies, while Fastly and Cloudflare are newer entrants.

What is a CDN?

A content delivery network (CDN) is basically a global collection of servers that speed up the delivery of web content by bringing it closer to users. Data centers use caching, a process of temporarily storing copies of files so that users can access internet content faster from their web devices or browsers through servers near them. Content in the cache includes web pages, images, and videos from proxy servers closest to the user. A shorter route from origin to destination saves bandwidth, improves performance, and reduces costs.

Global video volume is rising

Video as a percentage of total global network traffic continues to soar, with Cisco predicting that IP video will account for 82% of all IP traffic in 2021, up from 73% in 2016. Globally, ultra-high-definition video will account for 20.7% of IP video traffic in 2021, up from 1.8% in 2016.

CDN providers are now more popular than ever. The unprecedented popularity of streaming services, social networks, and online gaming has significantly increased the load on data centers.

CDN applications are booming

Today, as part of a rapidly growing list of use cases, content delivery network (CDN) operators are focused on providing security services, mobile applications, gaming software delivery and firmware updates, while supporting emerging streaming video TV services and helping enterprises navigate the rapid transition of large-scale work-from-home employees every day.

Five major development trends of CDN

So what emerging trends should IT managers be tracking with their CDN providers in 2022?

1. Rapidly growing number of CDN providers and possible consolidation

Akamai is the industry pioneer of CDN vendors. In addition, there are competitors in the market such as Limelight Networks, Level3 Communications, Edgecast Networks, Mirror Image, CDNetworks, etc. However, telecommunications companies have acquired some of these operators in order to provide CDN functions to their customers.

Cloud computing giants Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have also entered the CDN industry, launching CDN products for businesses of all sizes, all of which are built on their powerful global computing and distribution networks. Fastly and Cloudflare have also improved their innovative services. Of course, the more of these companies there are in the industry, the better.

2. Expanding safety focus

Early CDNs were designed to help companies deal with unexpected traffic and DDoS attacks by distributing content requests across their vast networks. That still continues today, but seeing CDN operators like Akamai offering additional security services to their customers, which cost them $1.5 billion last year, is an emerging trend that IT managers need to keep an eye on.

• Last month, Akamai announced plans to spend $900 million to acquire Linode, a developer and provider of core cloud services. Linode’s services include compute, block and object storage, managed databases, load balancers, and a managed Kubernetes product that supports running containerized applications.
• Last September, Akamai announced plans to acquire Guardicore, a maker of micro-segmentation solutions, for $600 million, adding its solution to Akamai’s Zero Trust security portfolio. Akamai claims it will be particularly well-suited to provide enterprises with comprehensive protection against threat actors and the spread of malware and ransomware.
• About a year ago, Akamai acquired Inverse to better adopt the Internet of Things and mobile devices, including connected HVAC, lighting systems, robotics, medical devices and printers in the enterprise.
• During the fourth quarter 2021 earnings call, Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said the company's security revenue reached $1.33 billion in 2021, up 26% from 2020. Security accounted for 39% of the company's revenue last year, up from 33% in 2020.

In the CDN space, security features extend far beyond DDoS attack protection to include:

• Web Application Firewall.
• Bot mitigation and screen scraping protection.
• Data security.
• DNS protection.

3. Edge computing helps remote work

CDNs are becoming a major driver and use case for edge computing, and delivering content from edge devices as close to the customer as possible is largely the same approach providers use to move content closer to end-user devices. Cloud CDN providers are adding more capabilities, such as processing power, to the increasingly intelligent edge of the network.

The architecture of CDNs plays a leading role in supporting work-from-home offices. After all, early CDNs were built on edge computing technology long before the term was coined.

4. Single CDN or multiple CDNs?

Businesses looking to live stream video need more event capabilities, whether for domestic or global audiences. In fact, businesses in an event group use multiple CDNs (one as primary and another as backup) in case the primary server experiences performance issues or outages.

Advanced packages from companies like Conviva enable customers to switch back and forth between CDNs in real time to ensure the best viewing experience. This is also important if there are Internet Service Provider (ISP) capacity issues and the content needs to be delivered at a reduced bandwidth in order to be delivered on time. In addition, CDNs have stronger coverage in some continents, countries or regions than others.

5. Build vs. Buy

There was a time when large companies considered building their own CDN networks rather than relying on the services of existing providers.

Netflix, the world's leading content streaming service, has begun building a global CDN, which the company claims has spent more than $1 billion to ensure that the movies, TV series and variety shows on its groundbreaking subscription video-on-demand streaming service are as close to customers as possible and load as quickly as possible.

Disney, which has launched its own subscription service internationally to compete with Netflix Inc and a growing roster of rivals, spent billions of dollars in 2017 to buy a majority stake (estimated at 85%) in BAMTech.

Major League Baseball created the streaming technology company in 2015. This provided Disney with the CDN and related assets to quickly launch the ESPN streaming service and its Disney+ consumer streaming service in late 2019.

Conclusion

In the run-up to the Winter Olympics, CDNs are increasingly being used by businesses of all sizes outside of the media and entertainment vertical.

The key to the CDN trend is that its use extends far beyond streaming video. Microsoft uses CDN to cache static assets for its Office 365 software suite closer to the browser, which will speed up downloads and reduce latency perceived by end users. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized businesses now use CDNs to support work-from-home applications, and corporate IT departments use CDNs to distribute patches for their products.