What Is A Content Delivery Network?
A Content Delivery Network could help speed up your website and increase traffic levels. But just how does it work?
A Content Delivery Network – commonly referred to as CDN – is an emerging technology which is boosting site traffic around the world, serving web content from and to all corners of the globe. It is essentially a network of servers, all of which store a replica of your data. When that data is requested, the intelligent system serves the content from the server which is the closest geographically to the site visitor. Think of it like a chain of high street stores: each branch will stock the same pair of shoes, allowing you to make your purchase from the closest store without having to visit the depot.
As would be the case with your shoe shopping experience, the process of data transfer from a server in the closest proximity to the user is faster than serving all data from a centralised server. Routing – the process of data transfer between server (data centre) and client (your site visitor) – is simplified in a content delivery network, as the number of hops between routers that your data will make is reduced. As a result, website loading times are dramatically reduced, as all the information your visitor’s computer needs to display your web page are delivered at lightning speed!
A content delivery network will reduce network redundancy, increasing the reliability of your services. In layman’s terms, this means that should any one of the servers in the network suffer from an outage or downtime, the requested data can still be served to your site visitors from another location, as each location stores their own version of the data.
When you purchase a web hosting package from UK2, your data is hosted in our fully owned London data centre. As a pillar of the global business community, London is a perfect location for businesses who serve data to or from our capital city. However, the beauty of the internet means that online business is not unbounded, and a content delivery network is the ideal way to speed up intercontinental data transfer, making your website work seamlessly both overseas and locally.
We recently announced our partnership with CloudFlare, a web performance and security company dedicated to improving the quality, speed and safety of online data transfer. CloudFlare is now free for those with a web hosting package with UK2; their content delivery network will host replicas of your data in 35 global data centres, making your site speedy for your visitors, no matter where they are.
In addition to a wide-reaching content delivery network, CloudFlare bubble wraps your website with their rigid security controls, keeping out malicious attackers and preventing spammers from posting spam to your website. Over 2,000,000 global websites are powered up by CloudFlare at present, and that figure is on the rise. This means a safer online business environment for webizens around the world. Increased trust in your site will boost customer confidence in your products and services, and supercharged data delivery speeds will create a positive customer experience. All this combined will have your customers returning to your site and recommending to their associates, friends and maybe even dogs of friends – your site could be that good.
You can find out more about just how CloudFlare could supercharge your website at UK2.net, and take advantage of its wizardry within your CHI control panel. Get started today and give your customers the best experience that the web has to offer.