CloudFlare: Optimize Performance, Security, and Reliability

Every internet-bound user seeks faster content delivery. The load times cannot be slow as it increases higher bounce rates, shorter time spent on the site, and lower conversion rates—ultimately affecting bottom line. It is not just that, the content should be rendered faster for any device. CloudFlare, based out of San Francisco, CA, remains committed to speed up and protect millions of websites, APIs, SaaS services, and other properties connected to the internet. The company provides global CDN with unique performance optimization capabilities for caching static content, accelerating dynamic content, and making it easy to outbound content. Going beyond long-established CDN, CloudFlare is bringing content closer to site visitors, optimizing content for device, browser, and bandwidth needs. This increases customer satisfaction, and potentially drives conversion rates up.

The company is empowered by 111 data centers operating throughout the world, delivering web content and enabling the firms to process web requests efficiently. The company’s global network stands out from legacy CDNs in both performance and security. The traffic is inspected by operating as a reverse proxy to ensure that the security measures are integrated into each layer touching high speeds for better experience. With massive horizontally scaled architecture in every node, the company’s CDN performs DNS requests, security checks, and performance transformations.

Matthew Prince, CEO and Co-founder says, “Our hosting partners don’t treat the company’s CDN solution as a “product” but a performance tool that enhances services while reducing the cost by helping them extract more from the existing infrastructure.”

Once the website is a part of CloudFlare’s CDN, its web traffic is diverted through the global network using the data centers. Distributing the static content with CloudFlare’s CDN leads to faster page loading times for website visitors. In addition to caching static content, CloudFlare allows to cache HTML content for specific URLs into administrative control panel. With CloudFlare’s CDN, custom page rules and caching settings are easily managed in both administrative interface, and the API. “CloudFlare’s CDN caches content across the global network, bringing it closer to visitors from every region,” explains the CEO.

In the lieu to fulfill dynamic content requests that are to be sent to origin server for processing, CloudFlare’s Railgun accelerates and caches previously uncacheable web pages. Even if the origin server must be consulted, web pages are delivered quickly. When a request is being made to CloudFlare server for a page that is not in cache, CloudFlare makes an HTTP connection to the origin server to request the page. Railgun works for rapidly changing pages like news sites and personalized content. With a vision to optimize the website performance, Luxury Link—a web-based auction model for luxury travels, opted for CloudFlare’s CDN solution that caters to the company’s need to deliver greatest value to its audiences for their luxurious vacation experience. To optimize its website for smooth functioning, Luxury Link could bring down its security and CDN expenses to $160, from $4000 per month. Luxury Link also witnessed 42 percent decrease in the average loading time of the webpage as well as a 40 percent reduction in bandwidth usage.

With an urge to build better internet, CloudFlare encompasses a strong workforce of passionate people, working hard to solve internet’s toughest challenges in CDN landscape. CloudFlare is backed by some of the most respected companies including Microsoft, Google, and Fidelity. The company is on the mission to grow quickly to embrace openness and contribute to open source software as well.