GigaOM Radar Edge Platform Leader & Outperformer 2024 | 
The days of one-size-fits-all online experiences are over. Audiences, content owners, advertisers, delivery providers, and technology providers demand better. They want more personalized, interactive user experiences and business value for organizations.
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) continue to be the vital connection for delivering at scale, making it possible for millions of people to enjoy streaming video and other rich media experiences. It’s no wonder CDNs will carry 80% of IP traffic by 2023. However, the next generation of these experiences requires intelligence in addition to delivery. The speed of the new experiences will vary on a user-by-user basis depending on the location of the computing resources that support the application.
That’s where edge compute comes in. Edge compute gives you a network of powerful servers distributed worldwide, network-connected and easily accessible as a pay-as-you-go service. In particular, edge compute services integrated with a CDN make innovative new services fast, easy and affordable. For each user, the content cached for CDN delivery and the edge compute resources can be located near the user. Latency can be reduced for each process in the overall experience, providing the responsiveness today’s users expect.
1. Deliver new innovative, interactive experiences
Interactivity makes many experiences more engaging. Sports and eSports are great examples. Traditional sports broadcasting sends the exact same program to everyone. Fans hunger for more, and providers are answering the call. Synchronized watch-together experiences with live chat successfully connect fans isolated in the times of Covid. Stats, camera angle selection and player profiles are examples of interactivity breathing new life into sports.
2. Deliver each user a personalized experience that’s highly responsive and reliable
Personalization is one of the best ways to engage with people and encourage them to spend more time with your services. However, even the most tailored experience must be fast. Consumers are less patient than ever and won’t wait long before moving on.
3. Scale those experiences and deliver across geographies
Growing a digital business and reaching more people in more places requires technology that supports and fuels growth. CDNs provide delivery at scale, and distributed edge compute provides intelligence at scale. The marriage of CDN and edge compute is an ideal combination.
4. Monetize content and experiences
Customized ads boost the bottom line compared to generic ads, and for a good reason. Consumers respond much better to ads targeted to their interests, and advertisers will happily pay for better results. Dynamic ad insertion provides the ability to deliver high-value targeted ads. Edge compute allows highly responsive targeting and delivery of these targeted ads.
5. Control and protect access
Many business models are based on creating or licensing content and then getting paid for delivering it. Authenticating users ensures that the content is enjoyed by valid users, and encourages new users to sign up. Mitigating piracy plugs the revenue leaks that can reverse growth.
6. Reduce cost
Edge compute can help manage costs in multiple ways. The pay-as-you-go, scalable nature minimizes CapEx and over-provisioning. In addition, processing in-region can significantly reduce transit costs compared to hauling large data sets to a single centralized location.
7. Improve management and analytics flexibility
With edge compute, developers and IT teams can focus on the applications and solutions that will move the needle on the business without needing to worry about managing the underlying infrastructure. It’s easy to deploy and manage. And the ability to make decisions, take action, and gather data near users or IoT devices streamlines management and data gathering.
