Content distribution service twists
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Content distribution service providers over the past year have been bringing content geographically closer to business as a means of improving performance on individual Web sites.
Companies such as Sandpiper Networks, Digex, Akamai and more recently Adero have been rolling out servers that let business users cache or replicate their Web site content around the country or around the world. This is designed to reduce the time it takes to download content, or more importantly, make purchases over the Internet.
If your main Web site is hosted in New York and someone in Alaska is surfing your site and decides to make a purchase, that's a long way for the pertinent data to be sent back and forth. Content distribution allows the Web site owner to cache certain or all parts of their site on additional servers in Seattle or San Francisco, for users in the West.
This is really the first generation of content distribution services. Companies such as Akamai and Adero are rolling out initiatives that will also let users bring e-commerce transactions closer to end-users around the Internet.
Adero is enhancing its AderoWorld content distribution service by teaming with security vendor nCipher. Adero plans to roll out nCipher nFast digital certificate authority security servers throughout many of its 40 data centers around the world.
These servers will let business users offer more secure e-commerce features on their Web sites by supporting x.509 digital certificates for user authentication. The digital certificates also contain software encryption keys that are used to securely transmit data such as credit card information over the public Internet.
Just like caching, bringing the digital certificate authentication process geographically closer to users is expected to improve Web site performance for end users that make purchases over the Internet.
Read our next ISP newsletter for information on how Akamai is beefing up its content distribution offerings.
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Denise Pappalardo is a senior editor for Network World, covering ISPs, VPNs and related topics. Reach her at denisep@nww.com.
Internet Services archive
Past newsletters.
How it works: Adero's GeoTraffic managers
Exodus bringing Web content closer
Network World, 9/13/99.
