Content Delivery Network Services

Content Delivery Network Services (CDNS) efficiently and rapidly delivers customer content to Web browsers worldwide. CDNS caches content on geographically dispersed servers on the Internet. When a request is made from one location for specific content, the server that can most rapidly and efficiently provide the content is dynamically identified. CDNS reduces the Internet infrastructure required to provide a domestic or global Web presence, and alleviates the need for substantial investments in Web servers, firewalls, LAN switches, application software, and colocations services.

Verizon has selected Akamai, a leader in CDNS, as a partner to provide CDNS to Networx customers. This partnership provides access to a global distribution platform that ensures that all content and applications are delivered with industry leading performance, scalability, and availability. Customers will benefit from proven service and dramatically reduced risk. Akamai currently supports over 1,500 clients, including most major Federal Agencies.

Key features of our CDNS solution include:

• The (Comprehensive) Leading Edge. With Akamai, Verizon operates a large on-demand distributed computing platform for an intelligent "edge-based" CDNS solution that delivers content and applications through a network of more than 15,000 servers in more than 1,100 networks in 70 countries. Verizon provides managed services on top of this network to customers at the application layer. In what is essentially an overlay of the Internet, Verizon places Web and portal content, streaming services, and applications at the "edge" of their network, where it is delivered quickly and reliably.
• Self-Healing Networks that Overcome Inherent Internet Weakness. Verizon understands that the Internet is not inherently robust if each component network is examined separately. Datacenters have outages, routers may experience congestion, and backbones may not be able to handle the bandwidth surges. To address this, we have designed our network with automatic self-healing properties, such as the ability to route around congested points and divert traffic away from down datacenters. These fundamental engineering practices ensure resiliency in a constantly changing environment of continuing growth.
• Preparation for the Worst. Verizon provides flexible Continuity of Operations and Disaster Recovery options, as well as enhanced security, information assurance, and infrastructure hardening to ensure that e-government is never compromised. Our solution has advanced failover features combined with persistent storage functionality so that we can provide 100% uptime even if the source systems are not available.
• Pull Architecture for Reliable Streaming. The Verizon network employs a Pull Architecture - content is replicated in streaming server caches in response to user requests. The streaming servers only cache what the users' view, not the entire file. The platform balances loads among our streaming servers to ensure that no single machine is responsible for delivering all content. The HTTP protocol is employed to deliver on-demand streams to edge streaming servers. As a result, streaming is reliable and can tunnel through firewalls, while eliminating the need for a streaming server at the client site. This approach delivers a perfect copy of the stream to our streaming server and the end-user.
• EdgeControl Dashboard Management. Our CDNS solution provides comprehensive and continuous monitoring and reporting functions through our EdgeControl Management Center Enterprise Portal. This "dashboard" tool gives customers the visibility and control to see exactly how their extended Web infrastructure is functioning at all times.