APAC CIOOutlook

Advertise

with us

  • Technologies
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Big Data
      • Blockchain
      • Cloud
      • Digital Transformation
      • Internet of Things
      • Low Code No Code
      • MarTech
      • Mobile Application
      • Security
      • Software Testing
      • Wireless
  • Industries
      • E-Commerce
      • Education
      • Logistics
      • Retail
      • Supply Chain
      • Travel and Hospitality
  • Platforms
      • Microsoft
      • Salesforce
      • SAP
  • Solutions
      • Business Intelligence
      • Cognitive
      • Contact Center
      • CRM
      • Cyber Security
      • Data Center
      • Gamification
      • Procurement
      • Smart City
      • Workflow
  • Home
  • CXO Insights
  • CIO Views
  • Vendors
  • News
  • Conferences
  • Whitepapers
  • Newsletter
  • Awards
Apac
  • Artificial Intelligence

    Big Data

    Blockchain

    Cloud

    Digital Transformation

    Internet of Things

    Low Code No Code

    MarTech

    Mobile Application

    Security

    Software Testing

    Wireless

  • E-Commerce

    Education

    Logistics

    Retail

    Supply Chain

    Travel and Hospitality

  • Microsoft

    Salesforce

    SAP

  • Business Intelligence

    Cognitive

    Contact Center

    CRM

    Cyber Security

    Data Center

    Gamification

    Procurement

    Smart City

    Workflow

Menu
    • Knowledge Management
    • Cyber Security
    • Hotel Management
    • Workflow
    • E-Commerce
    • Business Intelligence
    • MORE
    #

    Apac CIOOutlook Weekly Brief

    ×

    Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Apac CIOOutlook

    Subscribe

    loading

    THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING

    • Home
    Editor's Pick (1 - 4 of 8)
    left
    DMS: Foundation for Collaboration and Efficiency

    Barbara Kunkel, CIO, Troutman Sanders

    Beyond Alignment-Partnership is the Path to Delivering Business Value

    Scott Strickland, CIO, DMH Global

    Document Management is an Art

    Raghid El-Yafouri, VP, Director of Project Management, Team Detroit

    Will Cable Operators, CDNs, and ISPs Make or Break the Future of Online Streaming Video?

    Alon Maor, CEO and Co-founder, Qwilt

    Empowering the Next Wave of Innovation

    Chris Patterson, VP-Product Management, NaviSite

    Are you Enabled for the Next Disruptive Technology?

    Matt Gharegozlou, VP-IT, Progress Software

    Invisible Cloud: How IT Can Be More Strategic and Visible

    Eugene Kogan, Director of IT and Knowledge Management, Rainforest Alliance

    The Death of OF Knowledge Management

    Giovanni Piazza, Global Head-Information and Knowledge Management, Johnson & Johnson

    right

    Can Your CDN Handle a Cloud Based Web Application?

    Vikas Garg, SVP-Engineering and Operations, Aryaka Networks

    Tweet
    content-image

    Vikas Garg, SVP-Engineering and Operations, Aryaka Networks

    Content Delivery Networks have been around for almost two decades now. And their primary goal has almost always been the same—to deliver web resources faster to global end users.

    In the 90s, websites used to be a collection of static images and text. The legacy CDNs focused on accelerating such static content by caching on edge servers close to the end users. The first generation of CDNs spent millions of dollars building out caching infrastructure and investing in a large number of Points of Presence (PoPs) that were globally distributed. The key performance metrics were last mile latency (also known as, connect time) and cache hit ratio. CDNs spent most of their time tuning their caching algorithms to get to 99 percent cache hit ratios.

    Fast forward to 2015. The focus today is not on static websites but on dynamic cloud based web applications. The emphasis is a lot more on dynamic data (more on this later) and bi-directional traffic (user generated data).

    The real challenge that CDNs face today is not just being able to speed up static websites, but to enhance the performance of dynamic and interactive cloud based web applications. While the applications still have some static content, legacy CDNs that can optimize only a small fraction of the application (that is static) just don’t cut it anymore.

    Understanding Dynamic Content

    Dynamic content is content that cannot be pre-created and stored on the web server. Such content needs to be generated in real time, and is constantly being updated on the fly. This makes the legacy focus of caching solutions obsolete.

    An interesting caveat is that even dynamic content is of two kinds—“shared” and “personalized.”

    An example of shared dynamic content would be a stock market web chart that gets updated every few seconds (appears real time); however, all end users see the same chart. Shared

    dynamic content, while being cacheable, has the nasty side effect of reducing cache hit ratios as the Time to Live (TTL) is extremely small. Most legacy CDNs break into a sweat when the cache ratio goes below 90 percent. The performance deteriorates significantly at lower cache hit ratios.

    The other kind of dynamic content is what the industry calls personalized dynamic content. An example of this is your bank statement or your shopping cart. Such content cannot be cached. Every request needs to go all the way back to the origin server. In my opinion, personalized dynamic content is the only true dynamic content. Cacheable dynamic content is an oxymoron. If shared dynamic content causes legacy CDN vendors to break into a sweat, personalized dynamic content makes them tip over.

    The third piece of the puzzle is bi-directional content. This includes any and every kind of user generated content/uploads such as filling out forms on a website, commenting on a review site, shopping on an ecommerce portal, etc. Legacy CDNs simply do not understand the concept of a POST.

    What it Takes to Accelerate Dynamic Content

    Next generation CDNs need to be built from ground up to accelerate dynamic content. The approach taken by existing CDNs to bolt on ‘cacheable dynamic content acceleration’ capabilities to their legacy caching platforms, is really not an option. Next generation CDNs need to be able to:

    • Handle personalized dynamic content

    • Deal with low cache hit ratios without significant deterioration in performance for shared dynamic content

    • Provide stable and consistent performance and acceleration, for both downloads and uploads

    • Provide compression on the fly

    • Provide great performance for static content (all web applications have some fraction of content that is static and cacheable)

    • Ensure that high volume sites do not cause cache eviction for lower volume objects from a dynamic web application

    • Handle end-to-end persistent connections efficiently

    The ideal dynamic web acceleration solution must have a stable private network in the middle connecting all the POPs, so that the traffic can bypass the congestion on the Internet.

    What you Need to be Looking for, as a Buyer

    Over the years, CDNs have become so good at gaming performance tests for a single cacheable image file download, that you need an electron microscope to see the differences in response times across different vendors. For today’s web applications, however, what matters is the end-to-end performance, for a complete transaction, not the time it takes to download a single statically cached image from the edge servers.

    Before settling on a CDN vendor, make sure you measure the improvement in the time taken for a complete transaction, and not the time it takes to download a single cached image from the edge servers, from a page that has several complex user interactions.

    Enterprise buyers also need to evaluate the nature of their content prior to evaluating CDN providers, and decide what’s best for their needs. Static content delivery is a commoditized market space. But if you’re looking for a solution that can turbocharge premium enterprise content or personalized dynamic content, the list of vendors that you should be looking at, is quite short.

    Weekly Brief

    loading
    ON THE DECK

    I agree We use cookies on this website to enhance your user experience. By clicking any link on this page you are giving your consent for us to set cookies. More info

    Read Also

    Advancing the Chemical Industry through Digital Transformation

    Advancing the Chemical Industry through Digital Transformation

    Jan Mandrup Olesen, Global Head of Digital Business, Indorama Ventures
    Cultivating a Sustainable Future through Collaboration

    Cultivating a Sustainable Future through Collaboration

    Jiunn Shih, Chief Marketing, Innovation & Sustainability Officer, Zespri International
    Mastering Digital Marketing Strategies

    Mastering Digital Marketing Strategies

    Tasya Aulia, Director of Marketing and Communications, Meliá Hotels International
    Building a Strong Collaborative Framework for Artificial Intelligence

    Building a Strong Collaborative Framework for Artificial Intelligence

    Boon Siew Han, Regional Head of Humanoid Component Business & R&D (Apac & Greater China), Schaeffler
    From Legacy to Agility Through Digital Transformation

    From Legacy to Agility Through Digital Transformation

    Athikom Kanchanavibhu, EVP, Digital & Technology Transformation, Mitr Phol Group
    Change Management for Clinical Ancillary Teams: Aligning Practice with Policy and Progress

    Change Management for Clinical Ancillary Teams: Aligning Practice with Policy and Progress

    Ts. Dr. James Chong, Chief Executive Officer, Columbia Asia Hospital – Tebrau
    Digital Transformation: A Journey Beyond Technology

    Digital Transformation: A Journey Beyond Technology

    John Ang, Group CTO, EtonHouse International Education Group
    Building A Strong Data Foundation: The Key To Successful Ai Integration In Business

    Building A Strong Data Foundation: The Key To Successful Ai Integration In Business

    Richa Arora, Senior Director Of Data Governance, Cbre
    Loading...
    Copyright © 2025 APAC CIOOutlook. All rights reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy and Anti Spam Policy 

    Home |  CXO Insights |   Whitepapers |   Subscribe |   Conferences |   Sitemaps |   About us |   Advertise with us |   Editorial Policy |   Feedback Policy |  

    follow on linkedinfollow on twitter follow on rss
    This content is copyright protected

    However, if you would like to share the information in this article, you may use the link below:

    https://knowledge-management.apacciooutlook.com/cxoinsights/can-your-cdn-handle-a-cloud-based-web-application-nwid-1497.html