Cisco targets web content delivery

Cisco has formed a new alliance to help speed up web content delivery by developing standards and protocols to advance content networking and delivery services.

The group, which includes content providers Cable & Wireless, Digital Island, Genuity, GlobalCenter, Mirror Image Internet, NaviSite, PSINet and ServInt, as well as technology vendor Network Appliance, will examine a number of emerging areas, including content peering whereby website owners work with their preferred hosting service provider to expand the reach of their combined peered networks.

The Content Alliance will also test and endorse a content peering standard among its members and will submit the draft standard to the Internet Engineering Task Force later this year.

As part of the announcement, Cisco unveiled Content Delivery Network (CDN) which the company claims will clarify network management, performance and reliability.

The system comprises five technology areas: content distribution and management; routing; content edge delivery; switching; and intelligent network services. All new products will be available by October.

Cisco claims that CDN allows service providers to distribute content closer to the end user and overcome issues such as network bandwidth availability, distance or latency obstacles, origin server scalability, and congestion issues during peak usage periods.

CDN also enables enterprises to accelerate the deployment of ebusiness applications such as e-learning and live video streaming.

"Cisco is aggressively moving into the content delivery market with a solution geared to enable network service providers to deliver CDN services as well as equipping enterprise customers to deploy their own private CDNs," said Greg Howard, principal analyst with consultancy, The HTRC Group.