CDN Providers Take on Applications

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CDN Providers Take on Applications
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Rawlson O’Neil King, theWHIR.com
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June 11, 2004 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY
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REVIEW) — Rampant content delivery competition has created a race
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among providers to incorporate “application logic” within their service
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offerings. While typical CDNs have traditionally cached static and
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dynamic data and propagated delivery nodes so that Web content can be
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delivered to Internet surfers faster, the new generation of CDNs has
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begun to incorporate the capacity to cache Web programming.
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Mirror Image (mirror-image.com),
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a content delivery network provider, has developed a managed solution
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that not only allows the delivery of personalized Web content based on
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geography, language, connection speed, or device, but also permits the
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‘offloading’ of server scripts and programming onto its network. The
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firm’s advanced application delivery network lets its customers
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outsource requests for Web pages normally generated by costly
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application servers to its own architecture, enabling customers to
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manage traffic surges and growing demand without massive and costly Web
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infrastructure investments.
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“Application logic that is normally
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executed as middleware can be run directly from within our edge
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network,” states Robert Hammond, Mirror Image’s chief technology
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officer. “Our rule-based environment allows our customers to deploy
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logic directly in our network or concurrently allows us to code up
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their logic for them.”
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One of the firm’s customers, Poindexter Systems Inc. (poindextersystems.com),
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has elected to deliver its entire ad-serving tool through Mirror
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Image’s adaptive network. The tool provides publishers and advertisers
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with trafficking, campaign management and full-detail reporting.
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“In order for growing advertising service
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providers to be successful, it is imperative they have the on-demand
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capacity necessary to handle varying traffic loads as well as rich and
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dynamic content,” says Frank Brilliant, Mirror Image’s vice president
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for sales and marketing. “Our model allows them full control.”
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Brilliant claims that full control is
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afforded to Mirror Image customers due to the aggregated model that the
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company employs. Instead of using a hugely distributed computing
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platform like its competitor Akamai (akamai.com),
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which has over 14,000 servers deployed in 1,100 networks in 70
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countries, Mirror Image has aggregated all of its network resources in
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23 specific “content access points” around the world.
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“Our customers stated that they want full
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visibility and control over the resources,” says Brilliant. “We feel
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that only the aggregate model provides a high level of control,
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security and manageability.”
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Akamai, in contrast, provides a
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distributed model, but one that also supports the execution of Java
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Server Pages, servlets, and JavaBeans on the edge of the Internet, thus
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avoiding network latency and the need for costly infrastructure
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over-provisioning, while improving the performance and reliability of
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mission critical enterprise applications.
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Under the firm’s “EdgeComputing” model,
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applications are separated into two layers: a centralized origin layer
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and a distributed edge layer. The edge layer is deployed onto the
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Akamai network and is composed of presentation and business components
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optimized for the edge. The developer selects these components based on
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the interfaces supported and the data access patterns, helping to
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minimize the communication between the edge and the enterprise data
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center. This allows the developer to offload infrequently changing data
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and interface components to the edge, reducing expensive roundtrips to
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the origin site. Components such as product catalogs, dealer
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information, and shopping carts can be cached and processed locally to
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deliver fast and reliable applications.
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Another CDN competitor, Speedera Networks (speedera.com)
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also recently deployed a distributed application hosting service for a
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select number of its preferred clients. The service, entitled “flex
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computing”, will allow the provider to incorporate application logic
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into its own distributed global network. The company expects to
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formally announce the new service within 30 to 60 days.
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“Given that the delivery of Web content
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and applications has become so critical, our company has dedicated
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itself to providing customized and tailored solutions that are very
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much adapted to our customers’ industries and their specific needs,”
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says Speedera marketing chief Gordon Smith. For this reason, the
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company has embarked on a mission to deploy its flex computing
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initiative.
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The service rollout will occur with a
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lawsuit pending against the company. A sure indication of rampant
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competition within the industry, Mirror Image recently announced it
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filed suit against Speedera, claiming that it infringed on two patents
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concerning content delivery technologies.
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Mirror Image contends in the suit filed
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in Delaware’s US District Court that Speedera infringed on one patent
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related to “the use of a collaborative server system and methods for
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efficient allocation of delivery of content from multiple servers,
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enabled by use of embedded object references in Web pages.”
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It also claims that Speedera infringed on
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a second patent related to “methods of using alternative addresses in
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distributed delivery of content to end-users, particularly in
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intercepting requests for content and automatically serving requested
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content from alternative servers.”
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Mirror Image originally filed the suit
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last fall and then amended and re-filed it in January. Though the
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lawsuit is public record, it was not reported in the press until
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recently. The suit is scheduled for trial in July 2005, and will add to
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the already heated, competitive conditions within the CDN marketplace.
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Speedera is actively opposing the action.
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