Start-up Turbobytes has launched a multi-platform meta-CDN service that allows medium-sized businesses to sign one contract to use four different CDN networks, with real-time switching to improve cost and performance.
CTO Sajal Kayan explained that existing sites need the addition of just two lines of non-blocking JavaScript code. An engine will analyse data in real-time and makes intelligent decisions whether or not to switch to another better performing CDN.
“We are targeting the large sites. The huge ones can take care of themselves and write their own systems,” he said.
Those two lines of code will report the speed and performance from the end-user experience for a given region and CDN. A dashboard will report in real time how different CDNs perform and if a certain CDN’s performance drops at different periods of time.
The actual switching is done through updating DNS records and can be done at a regional, country or, for the United States, state-level.
CDNs deployed are Level3, EdgeCast, Internap and NetDNA with more to be added over the next few months.
Kayan explained that while multi-CDN optimization is not new, the competition requires the customer to sign individual contracts with each CDN and only provides the switching logic. This means the cost of entry is much higher compared to the zero monthly-fee, no commitment, cancel any time approach he offers.
Turbobytes uses Dyn for DNS and optimisation is by re-configuring the DNS settings. If by chance all the systems go down, it has absolutely no impact on customers’ content delivery.