Deliver content with pace, power and performance

By Optus Wholesale

We’ve all been there. It’s the end of a long week, and you can finally sit down to catch up on your favourite TV shows using Video On Demand (VOD) services such as Stan and Netflix. Relaxed, you press the play button with anticipation. However, anticipation turns quickly to frustration. The stream is buffering and taking a lifetime to download. You question: why it is taking so long? The answer could very simple: demand.

Consumer demand for content-rich services stretches far beyond VOD, and will only continue to rise as businesses increasingly engage customers through digital channels – putting extra pressure on the network.

Extended loading time can have a negative impact on the customer experience, and the business impact of this is very real. Research from SAP shows consumers are more likely to remain loyal and share personal information in return for delightful digital experiences.

A solution to this growing threat is simple: Content Delivery Networks (CDNs).

CDN Benefits

A CDN allows users to locally cache high demand content – that is, replicate content from central servers at different points across the network to ease demand. The benefits for websites utilising CDN technology are huge.

• Faster delivery of content – quicker loading times can boost consumer satisfaction and brand reputation.
• Improved reliability – ensures transactions are made in a safe and secure environment without affecting speed and performance, plus helps protect businesses from large surges in traffic.
• Increased customer insights – discover how content consumption varies by geographical regions, empowering you to tailor the services delivered to specific areas and boost overall experiences.
• As more businesses harness the power of digital, it’s essential that there is network capacity to deal with the increase in traffic volume and complexity.

CDNs have the potential to improve business performance by seamlessly delivering uninterrupted content while gaining a better understanding of your customer.

What's under the bonnet?

A CDN is essentially a series of interconnected servers that leverage geographical proximity to delivering web content more efficiently. The closer the CDN is located to the end-user, the faster the content will be delivered. When a request is made for content, the CDN software allocates the nearest server to the user to respond. Content is then served to the user quickly and efficiently as there is little packet loss, much-reduced latency and minimised time-outs.

Service availability is assured thanks to the discrete components that make up the CDN. Should any one point fail due to technical difficulties or an attack, it won’t affect the entire network as the same information may be served by another redundant CDN server.

CDN rollout

According to John Castro, Head of Marketing and Strategy, Optus Wholesale, in order to grow businesses need assurance that their online and digital traffic will be managed effectively.

“In an increasingly digital economy, business depends on networks that will deliver uninterrupted delivery of services and will protect their assets and customer information.

“It’s also important for them to access support teams that deliver exceptional customer service to ensure the integrity of the CDN.

“This means businesses need to refocus their IT planning on the networks that underpin their operations,” John said.

“Optus Wholesale is working with Level 3 Communications, to deliver CDN infrastructure to our customers. We are the only provider in Australia to have Level 3’s CDN directly interconnected into multiple locations across our communications infrastructure. This means users can improve the delivery of online and digital assets.

“We have worked tirelessly to produce a network capable of satisfying the demands of today’s user and now you can reap the rewards.”

Optus Wholesale invites businesses to submit interest in being one of the first trial partners for its CDN offering, offering a fantastic opportunity to be at the forefront of content delivery in Australia.