Over the last few months, we’ve analyzed dozens of CDNs, WAN as-a-service providers, CyberSecurity startups, OVPs, B2B Video File Delivery Networks and others. With all the research and analysis in-hand, we can now try to predict the future CDN business model of 2015 and 2016. We’ll call these new breed of CDNs the Software Defined Content Delivery Network. Instart Logic, Incapsula and Aryaka Networks have redefined the traditional CDN business model, breaking the boundaries of the traditional CDN mind-set. I have taken their approach a few steps further, predicting what the CDN of 2015 will look like, and visualizing it via the SD-CDN diagram below.
The SD-CDN diagram is the first visualization we’ve done, so it’s a bit rough, but the diagram will improve overtime. The main theme of the SD-CDN is application intelligence. Whatever feature the SD-CDN creates, it will be an algorithm based intelligent application that analyzes content/traffic patterns in real time, and makes decisions in real time. In a way, it’s like the APT platform FireEye, that uses real time intelligence to make real time decision for achieving a desired outcome. This applies whether its security, caching, rendering, switching, storing, securing, and so on. The bullets represent the elements of the next era SD-CDN.
The CDN of the Future: SD-CDN
- Security: Comprehensive DDoS Mitigation Services at Layer 3, 4 and 7
- Security: Advanced Threat Platform (APT) that detects and stops zero day DDoS attacks and Advanced Malware
- Business Models: B2C and B2B CDN Capabilities
- File Upload: High Performance Large File Upload (UDP or Multi-TCP)
- New Tech: SDN and Big Data Security
- Database: Hybrid Database Architecture combining SQL and No-SQL technologies will be used
- Reporting: Real time reporting
- Browser Caching: Improve page downloads within the browser through intelligent VM layer working within browser
- Switching: Switches used in the data center will be SDN based
Birth of SD-CDN Diagram v1
