What Is A CDN, And Why Is It Essential For Companies

79% of users stop visiting a company’s website after a bad user experience, and 52% lose trust in a brand if they experience difficulties while using the site.

It is essential for users that the site loads in 2 seconds: each subsequent second of delay reduces customer loyalty by 16% and conversion by 7%. One way to speed up a site is to connect a CDN.

This article explains what a CDN is, how the technology works, and how it is helpful for business.

How Does A CDN Work?

Typically, websites on the Internet are hosted on servers in a specific physical location. A person connects to this server and exchanges information to access a resource. The farther the server is, the longer it will take to load the content in the user’s browser.

CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a content delivery network in the form of a geo-distributed server and network infrastructure. Its essence is that additional components appear between the central server and the user – intermediate nodes that store the necessary content. They are located closer to the user, so the speed of information exchange is higher.

If you use hosting without a CDN, content delivery occurs in four stages:

• The user opens the site;
• The browser sends a request to the server where the data is stored;
• The server processes the request and starts sending data to the user;
• The page is loading.

At the same time, the site is hosted on a server, for example, in the data center of Rostov-on-Don, and the site is used by Russians from all regions – from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. The further the user is from the server, the longer the data transfer takes – the site starts to hang.

A ready-made CDN can be connected on the VK Cloud Solutions platform. The provider’s geographically distributed network infrastructure is built on 400 data centers worldwide, allowing you to work with different types of content. The bandwidth for data transmission is 1.5 Tbps so that users will receive content from the server with minimal delay, even during peak loads.

When a CDN is connected to a web resource or site, the content is stored on intermediate caching servers in different geographical areas. And the user from Vladivostok connects not to Rostov-on-Don but his CDN server in the Far East. The path to the server is shorter, so the site loads faster.

Why You Should Use A CDN

After connecting the CDN for the site:

• The site loads quickly – users do not have to wait long for the pages to be displayed;
• The site increases throughput – it works correctly even with a large number of requests;
• The load on the source server is reduced – you do not have to buy additional equipment;
• Increased protection against DDoS attacks – it will be more difficult for attackers to affect the availability of your site because requests from a hacker are processed not by one server but by the whole network;
• Optimization for search engines improves – the site will display higher search results.

Who Can’t Do Without A CDN

CDN is indispensable when:

• You need to quickly and regularly deliver content to a large number of users;
• Users from different regions download static content from websites;
• The load on the infrastructure can dynamically change due to promotions or the growth of the project’s popularity.

CDN is suitable for any company with clients in different regions of the country or the world.

• Internet shops: Page loading speed affects sales and site ranking in search engines. When connected to a CDN, the site works faster and more stable even with increased requests, for example, during sales periods.
• Distributors of software and games: CDN helps to distribute application updates faster and streams the necessary content for online multiplayer games. With a CDN, all users receive content at the same time.
• Financial institutions and banks: For companies in the financial sector, website and application acceleration using a CDN helps improve online banking and eliminate transaction delays. In addition, the technology provides additional protection against DDoS attacks.
• Streaming services: CDN allows you to deliver high-quality content without delay, offload server capacity even at peak loads, and increase the fault tolerance of Live broadcasting services.

Also Read: Storing Backups In The Cloud: How Never To Lose Important Data