A content delivery network (CDN) is a system of distributed servers (network) that deliver webpages and other Web content to a user based on the geographic locations of the user, the origin of the webpage and a content delivery server. This service is effective in speeding the delivery of content of websites with high traffic and websites that have global reach. The closer the CDN server is to the user geographically, the faster the content will be delivered to the user. CDNs also provide protection from large surges in traffic. Use a Content Delivery Network to Reduce Page Load Time
CloudFlare’s network spans thousands of servers in more than 40 countries, and it grows bigger every day. Just by adding your site to CloudFlare, you can dramatically reduce page sizes and improve load times, thanks to the service’s web content optimization and caching features. You’ll also get the benefit of load balancing, which spreads the load across the entire CloudFlare network and can help your site better handle traffic spikes and surges.
Akamai’s expansive reach, spanning 216,000 servers in more than 120 countries*, provides an unrivaled platform for critical sites, and Akamai is responsible for between 15 and 30 percent of all global Internet traffic. In fact, Akamai’s servers are positioned across more than 2,000 of the world’s networks, utilizing applied mathematics and complex algorithms to monitor the Internet in real time and gather information about traffic, congestion, and trouble spots to ensure the availability, performance and security of your data as it travels.
*This number is constantly growing