Quick Start Guide to Choosing Content Delivery Networks

Content delivery (or distribution) networks (CDN's) are computer systems which contain copies of data across several nodes of a network. The "nodes" of a distributed CDN are deployed in multiple locations - and often over several backbones. The nodes work together to satisfy end-user requests for content. CDN's work in the background to move content in an effort to optimize the content delivery process.

Optimization can take the form of reducing bandwidth costs, improving end-user performance (reducing page load times and improving user experience), or increasing global availability of content. If the website you are responsible for does not currently use a CDN but there is an obvious need,