CDNetworksWhat’s the Difference between an Application Delivery Network and a Content Delivery Network?

Static or Dynamic Content If your site primarily features static content, a CDN is your “go-to” delivery network.

Static or Dynamic Content If your sites features dynamic content, an ADN or web acceleration add-on to a CDN is a good option.

Web Traffic PatternsCDNs are ideal for sites that have to connect users that are far from the hosting server. Any company who is looking to reduce load time should consider using a CDN. Global brands with a heavy ecommerce presence are prime candidates, as holiday shopping traffic spikes can put significant stress on the website.

For example, Target crashed twice in six weeks in 2011 shopping and back-to-school surge. Retail Online Generation reported, “…for every 1,000 electronics shoppers that experience three errors, the cost to the site is nearly $100,000. Target’s website averages 1.3 million visitors a day this time of year, therefore it presented repeated errors to over 1.2 million consumers on Sept. 13. You can start to get a sense of how that adds up.”

Enterprise-level CDNs are equipped to handle as much or as little traffic as is thrown at them, even at Target’s scale (and others). They use Points of Presence (PoPs) or edge caches to mirror the static content at the server origin and reflect it to a closer end user. Bringing the data closer reduces network latency, which is one aspect of poor site performance.

ADNs, on the other hand, are primarily implemented to work with dynamic content or content that’s generated on the fly (online gaming, online trading, etc.) To speed up end-user delivery, an ADN reduces server latency by distributing the data load evenly across multiple servers. This reduces the possibility of any one server getting overloaded.

GolfWeek utilized the CDNetworks video acceleration service for robust video delivery and integrated reporting for its international presence. This option worked for them because it meshed the strengths of both CDN and ADN services, and provided the customer support GolfWeek desired to lead the way.

Web Traffic Patterns

Location of End UsersBoth CDNs and ADNs address the latency issues that slow down loading time. If 1) your site has, or is aiming for a global presence; and 2) it features rich dynamic content; a combination CDN with ADN acceleration will generate the fastest response times and the best global security.

As mentioned with GolfWeek, combining the powers of CDNs with their ADN dynamic content acceleration can ensure that users get a quality experience every time they visit a site, no matter where in the world they call home. Shopify boosted user experience globally to ensure they could compete in growing markets. They put it best: “With CDNetworks local points of presence, our Australia-based merchants get the same performance as in North America. Neither Shopify nor our customers have to invest in datacenters or co-hosting.”

Above all, it’s important to choose your CDN/ADN provider based on the extent of their (global) resources as well as how able and willing they are to work to develop specific goals. Your site performance and content acceleration depends on it, as well as help with the answer to “What does my site really need?” Keep this in mind while deciding which route to take.

Location of End Users

CDNetworks Products

Web AccelerationContent AccelerationChina AccelerationRussia AccelerationDynamic Web AccelerationDynamic Network AccelerationMedia AccelerationMobile CDN

Cloud ServicesCloud DNSCloud StorageCloud Load BalancerCloud Portal

Cloud SecurityWeb Application FirewallDDoS protectionEnterprise Application Security

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CDNetworks Cloud Acceleration & SecurityNetwork of 200 Points of Presence in 100 cities

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