Launch of content delivery network intelligently routes user web traffic to geographically closest server.

Hostway, a web services provider, today announcing the launch of its content delivery network, which will improve user experience of the Internet by directing traffic to its customer's websites to the nearest, and consequently best-performing web server. By using a number of Foundry ServerIron 4G switches, the company says that it can route users to the server nearest to their location, ensuring that content is tailored to the user's location and providing valuable business continuity and redirection services.

Furthermore it articulates that, with increasing numbers of companies storing large images, videos and other rich content on their websites, it is important that these load as quickly as possible and do not have a negative effect on user experience. Accessing a website in Sydney from a PC in London, for example, can have a considerable effect on how quickly images load. By using the CDN, we can ensure that all content loads as quickly as possible, by storing it as close to the user as possible.

The company belives that the CDN can also detect whether any of the servers in the network have failed, and redirect users to the next best performing server, giving companies the assurance that even in the event of server failure, their users will still have the best possible experience, providing a level of business continuity.

"Almost all large companies have their website accessible on a number of servers around the world, but traffic to these servers is rarely intelligently routed," said David Foxley, Enterprise Technology Manager, Hostway UK. "For example, British customers logging onto a global concert ticketing site could be delayed by waiting for data to travel across the transatlantic link, instead of being redirected to the UK site, which might mean that customers do not get the seats they want, or worse still, miss out on a certain gig date."

"Although broadband speeds are accelerating, user experience is frequently far from optimal," concluded Foxley. "However, this isn't always down to connection speed –a great deal depends on the hosting environment and website itself. By introducing the content delivery network, we hope to give our customers a competitive edge by ensuring that their websites always load as quickly as possible and provide the best possible experience."