Supportsoft Glossary

Distributed Hosting for Faster Delivery

A CDN is essentially a distributed group of multiple servers located in different geographic locations that help speed up the delivery of digital information. Instead of having a single, centralised server that everyone connects to for data retrieval, a CDN will have stored at each of the edge servers cached versions of various types of content (e.g., images, videos, scripts, etc.) and even entire pages of content.

When you visit a website that uses a CDN, the CDN will automatically route your request for information to the nearest edge server. This minimises the time it takes to get the information you want and allows for quicker page load time, creating a more fluid browsing experience, especially for users located far away from the central server. CDNs are not optional for global companies; they are a necessity for providing consistent service levels across the globe.

In addition to speeding up content delivery, CDNs provide enhanced security and reliability. Many CDNs provide built-in DDoS attack and traffic spike protection, as well as outage protection for servers. If one node goes down, traffic can be repositioned to another node, providing uninterrupted service. By taking a significant portion of the website's traffic away from the origin server, CDNs enable more efficient use of the infrastructure of an origin server.