Microsoft (MS) CDN
Microsoft’s content delivery network (also known as Azure CDN) is a global CDN solution that delivers high-bandwidth content. Microsoft’s CDN is available from Azure and any other location. Both cached and uncached static objects can be delivered easily. Cached static objects can be loaded from Azure Blob storage, which acts as a storage cloud for online assets. It can also be loaded directly from any web application or other publicly available web server with the help of the nearest geographical point-of-presence server. Azure CDN accelerates uncached dynamic contents by using various network and routing optimizations.
Microsoft has been around for a while. It’s important to know the basics to understand why Microsoft decided to create an independent content delivery network.
Content Delivery Networks
A CDN, or Content Delivery Network, is a group of servers that are geographically distributed and work together to speed up content delivery. A content delivery network’s main function is to quickly transfer assets between servers when they are needed to load online content. This includes stylesheets, videos and images as well as javascript files and other online goodies. CDN services are becoming more popular, as they serve the majority of web traffic, including that from sites such as Amazon, Netflix, and Facebook.
Three main thrusts of content delivery networks are to help your online presence: caching, helping to reduce bandwidth and preventing interruptions in service. They also provide security improvements for personal or private data. While content delivery networks can’t replace traditional web hosting and aren’t exactly the same, they do help alleviate major problems with web hosting. A reliable CDN caches relevant resources, reducing the time it takes to load a user interface that is interactive.
CDNs have many benefits
The three types of people who benefit from content delivery networks are the users, domain owners, and network service providers.
A CDN can dramatically improve user experience due to significantly reduced loading times, less lag and waiting. A CDN is essential for search engine optimization (or increasing your online rank), which is a practice that is common among content owners. It allows you to have a faster loading time and provides a better user experience, which can help keep your website in the top tier. It distinguishes between those sites that fail and those that succeed.
Domain owners are the ones who stand to benefit the most from the content delivery network. A domain owner should consider using a content distribution network from trusted service providers like Microsoft CDN to increase user engagement, decrease abandonment rates and improve conversions.
Service providers are now also deploying their own content delivery network. Microsoft’s Azure CDN is an example of this. This is to meet higher user expectations and keep up with richer media services. Deploying content delivery networks reduces subscriber loss, reduces traffic on the network, and even enables operators to sell CDN services to third party operators.
The CDN in action
Let’s focus on one aspect of a network to understand the importance of a CDN in the overall performance of a domain or network. It is bandwidth.
Although the term bandwidth has many meanings, the internet and technology have made it easier to understand. It refers to the amount of information that a medium can transmit per unit time. A transmission medium that has a higher bandwidth can carry more data faster and more efficiently than one with a lower bandwidth.
Reliable CDNs like Azure Microsoft CDN can help lower bandwidth consumption costs. Bandwidth costs constitute a primary expense for web hosting. CDNs can help alleviate this problem by caching and other optimizations. They reduce the data that an origin server must transmit, which in turn lowers hosting costs for website owners.
Conclusion
Today’s online world is reliant on content delivery networks. CDNs provide efficiency, security, and ease-of-use for the end user. CDNs reduce bandwidth costs by caching and other optimization methods. This makes life easier for both the domain owner and the user.
