The new “Hybrid CDN PoP Architecture” will disrupt existing infrastructure business models involved in the compute, storage, and delivery of content. Google Cloud, AWS, Azure, Facebook, Netflix, CDNs, and so on, will need to rethink the infrastructure strategy. Some more than others. Technology innovation is moving so fast that even the likes of Amazon can’t keep up. Being in the content delivery infrastructure business is exciting yet scary, because all it takes is one innovation from the many to out-date an existing business model.
Emerging Hybrid CDN PoP Architecture
The current line of thinking is “lets build SuperPoPs at the major peering exchanges” and deliver content to the masses. The counter strategy is lets build MiniPoPs for regional end users at the last mile edge, and go from there. It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out that the SuperPoPs + MiniPoPs strategy is superior, especially in the day and age where each millisecond counts.
Being able to deliver content in the last-mile edge, Tier 2 market like San Diego and Nashville reduces latency, because the need for content to travel long distances over the long haul network is avoided. To think otherwise would be very interesting, cause baby, its all about the last mile, and whoever controls the last mile controls the customer experience. In one way, Akamai has been using this form of architecture for a while now, kinda sorta, but the latest developments happening now will supersede everything used in the past.