Delivering data globally across the Internet is problematic if you want to ensure reasonable response times for anyone anywhere. That was the reason for the creation of Akamai's EdgeSuite services.

The next logical step was for Akamai to provide support for distributed applications which resulted in a product called "EdgeComputing Powered by WebSphere." The company describes that product as providing "one-button network deployment, embedded IBM database technology, and Web services caching capabilities."

This is all well and good as long as you are running WebSphere. If you aren't then you might want to check out Netli, a provider of distributed Web application service that requires no changes to your code and doesn't depend on using a specific development system. This service, called NetLightning, is built on something the company calls its Reliable Application Platform for Instant Delivery (RAPID) service architecture.

Now there are two other major differences between Netli's approach and service delivery networks such as Akamai's. Firstly, as a customer you still have to provide the computing power to drive your applications because, secondly, Netli is all about speeding up the pipework rather than shortening the pipes.

To achieve this Netli has 13 points of presence worldwide which it calls Virtual Data Centers (VDC). These VDCs are interlinked with high-speed connections and are the points to which customer's data centers and Internet user's browsers link. To use Netli's service customers redirect their server's DNS entries to point to Netli.

The way Netli works is interesting: When a browser requests content from a Netli customer's server, it is handled by a Netli server that acts as a proxy server, repackages the request in a proprietary protocol and dispatches it to the VDC that supports the customer. From there the request is sent to the target server. The server's response is returned to the VDC and sent using Netli's protocol to the originating VDC, translated back into TCP/HTTP/HTTPS and sent to the originating browser. 

What is really interesting is that Netli's proxy service strips out the protocol "chatter" from TCP and HTTP - that's the sequence of acknowledgements and controls that are simply overhead on a highly reliable network.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.