CacheFly: Making Content Delivery an Inimitable Experience

In the world of media and entertainment, companies are now seeking for hassle-free and real-time content delivery and high performing distribution networks. Highly-reliable Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) address issues related to real-time distribution and operational scalability of media and entertainment organizations with the network of servers. In order to achieve best throughput and latency time, CDN companies strive for proximity of their servers to peering point.

Focused on providing best throughput time, CacheFly, headquartered in Chicago, serves the media and entertainment organizations with services like Video and IPTV delivery, and podcast and audio delivery. The company has built up infrastructural facilities to handle traffic surge and ensure quality content delivery. To secure faster content delivery, CacheFly servers are stationed near major interconnection points of the internet across the globe. With focus on throughput time—measured as time to first byte—and TCP anycast CDN technology in place, the company distributes content in shortest possible manner as datagrams from sender are routed to nearest node in a group of receivers. Video, being the most desired media format, CacheFly distributes video by adhering to few measures in practice such as highest throughput delivery and interoperability with various media formats. The company employs all the set standards of video delivery for audio distribution and integrates the service with audience measurement tools like feedburner and PodTrac.

Media and entertainment companies focus on providing quality video content, but often lack the infrastructure to deliver it. Banking on the systematically built infrastructure and services related to delivery of various media formats, CacheFly seizes the opportunity aptly. “Our customers broadcast videos and audios and also the content they want to deliver over the internet speedily,” says Levine. One of the clients, TWiT.tv is a netcast network covering technology related topics via podcasts. The client has viewers and listeners across the world and it was difficult to deliver audio and video content to more than 5 million members. The network sensed the risk of losing audience due to deferred broadcast of content and high latency time that could be credited to servers only installed in its location. Based on benefit of cross-promotion and service, CacheFly was chosen as the CDN to accommodate surges in traffic and simplify the content delivery. In sync with surge in traffic to Twit.tv, bandwidth has been made available from CacheFly’s facilities. Now, the client’s content gets effectively transferred and podcasts and HD Video content are easily available to viewer based in any part of the world.

CacheFly’s network of servers, based in 40 locations around the world, aptly addresses the challenge of scalability as faced by TWiT.tv. “As the content is being stored locally, users can experience faster downloads,” says Levine. However, the company majorly focuses on throughput time for continuous performance enhancement. Gzip compression, a file compression and decompression method is used as data compressor in order to optimize web transfer. The compression method speeds up the delivery and also decreases the bandwidth cost at the client side. With the inbuilt real-time reporting tools, the client has insights to estimate traffic spikes in the future.

Today, media and entertainment company distributing their content through internet, want to scale up and want to know return on their efforts. The obvious corollary to the trend is the need for highly performing content delivery network, which provides real-time analysis. The company’s clients include Cartoon Network, Economist, and other major organizations in media and entertainment sector. With experience in providing services to large enterprises, CacheFly looks forward to make content delivery a pleasant experience for its clients.