SoftLayer has launched its own content delivery network (CDN), joining a handful of hosting companies that have used multiple data centers to build a CDN platform. The new CDNLayer service will deliver video and rich media files for a flat fee of $20 a month for the first 200 gigabits of data transfer, with a fee of 20 cents per GB beyond that.
"CDNLayer is one more way we provide enterprise-class services to customers of any size," said Nathan Day, Chief Technology Officer at SoftLayer. "Consumer demand for online video and media-rich websites is exploding. Companies and individuals in every industry, from entertainment and gaming to social networking and e-commerce, will benefit from using CDNLayer to optimize their content management and delivery."
SoftLayer joins Hostway and Voxel.net as hosting providers who have created their own content delivery services, offering even more options in a rapidly-growing CDN market that now includes at least 31 other providers.
Rather than serving content directly from the host server to the end-user, CDNLayer moves content from the host server to a node that is geographically closer to the end-user. This minimizes the distance the data has to travel, avoiding network traffic jams, and decreasing latency.
"The Internet originally was not designed to deliver content that requires large transfer rates, leading to poor performance, interruptions, and failed downloads," said Day. "CDNLayer changes that. Content is delivered faster and more reliably, creating an improved user experience
