As a content site owner, your resources need to be focused on your core business. Yet as your site becomes richer in content, you need to address the challenges of growth and scale. At some point, you will need to incorporate a CDN provider into your network infrastructure who can offer the depth and breadth of a content delivery network.
When evaluating a CDN provider, you need to evaluate the following components of their service:
Capacity and Reach:
Does your CDN offer an expansive infrastructure that will get you as close to your end-user as possible while offering you true global reach at the same time? Here the distribution of a CDNs’ servers, backbone infrastructure and peering relationships with ISP’s can make a dramatic difference in your end user’s experience.
Reliability and Deliverability:
Does your CDN have the software intelligence and monitoring capabilities to deliver your content based upon real time internet conditions that effect routing, load balance and congestion? The CDN’s ability to optimally move content will impact your site upload time and customer satisfaction.
Burst Capabilities:
It is important to understand your CDN provider’s burst capabilities. How quickly you can change your capacity requirements as well as the billing ramifications when you burst beyond your commitment have a significant impact on your ability to scale and network costs. With more than 60 CDN’s in the marketplace today, it is important to recognize that underlying network capacity varies substantially. A tier 1 CDN can handle whatever size flash crowd you have while that same audience on a smaller, new CDN might stress its infrastructure to the point of failure.
Traffic Monitoring:
Does your CDN offer a easy to use portal to monitor your traffic for optimal performance and distribution? It is critical that you can evaluate real time traffic volumes, overall website usage, abandon and error rates as well as historical data trends to make the necessary upgrades within your network.
Format Delivery:
Not all CDN’s are created alike when it comes to their ability to support different delivery protocols. Some are better at HTTP Caching while others excel at Streaming. Some CDN’s are good at handling small objects while others are better with large size objects. Rarely do you find a CDN who can support both well. Choosing the best protocol can make all the difference in the world for your content’s ultimate quality and should be a major factor in your selection criteria.
Security and Authentication:
Is your content protected? Does your CDN offer the right authentication tools to meet your needs? Whether it is token based authentication (URL and client checking), Geo Blocking, Referrer Blocking, IP Blocking or DRM (just to name a few), you need to ensure that you have highly scalable options at your fingertips.
Customer Service:
Response time is critical in this business. Do you receive the appropriate level of support for your needs? Do they have a knowledgeable NOC staff that understand and resolve your issues quickly?
Provisioning and Installation:
Does the CDN understand the complexities of your applications to provision your service correctly, the first time? Do their engineers sit down with you for a pre installation evaluation and design the appropriate configuration?
Competitive Pricing:
You get what you pay for. Yes, the cost of content delivery has come down in price over the past months and year but price should not be the only factor in your final decision. Certainly choose a CDN provider who is competitive and will continue to be responsive to your future financial requirements.
Maybe you are not ready for a CDN. Use this time to prepare yourself by setting up an account and using it as a safety net under your IP Transit for the unexpected spikes in your traffic or unforeseen outages. What better way to learn the true capabilities of a provider.
At the end of the day, you have more choices for your content delivery than ever before. Everyone says they are the best and have all the bells and whistle. Take the time to really evaluate the platform that will serve you best. Find a CDN who will not only work with you now but will help you determine your future requirements. This is a partnership that has a significant impact on your website and company’s success.