Timeline of content delivery networks
This is a timeline of content delivery networks, attempting to describe its evolution, growth, and merge of organizations providing the service.
Contents
Big picture
Time period | Development summary |
---|---|
1990s | The original CDN is conceived in the late decade, a few short years after Tim Berners-Lee invent the world wide web.[1] Around the time, technical leaders realize that the internet could not handle the rapidly increasing level of network traffic without more intelligent methods for managing the flow of data.[2] Some technological innovations preceding the generation of CDNs, such as server farms, hierarchical caching, caching proxy deployment and so on, are crucial for paving the ground of the future infrastructure of CDNs.[3] Akamai Technologies, the first company to build a large-scale business around CDNs, is founded. |
2000s | Large-scale internet service providers start building their own CDN functionality, providing customized services. Thousands of companies start using CDNs. |
2010s | CDNs evolve from hundreds of megabits per second to tens of terabits per second, in terms of capacity, and from millions to billions to trillions of transactions and requests per day.[1] |
Numerical and visual data
Mentions on Google Scholar
The following table summarizes per-year mentions on Google Scholar as of May 22, 2021.
Year | content delivery network | content delivery network architecture | content delivery network security | content delivery network method |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | 3,120 | 292 | 975 | 1,820 |
1985 | 4,100 | 423 | 1,350 | 2,480 |
1990 | 7,160 | 1,070 | 2,370 | 4,350 |
1995 | 15,800 | 2,730 | 4,770 | 8,920 |
2000 | 63,300 | 7,720 | 11,900 | 28,300 |
2002 | 93,500 | 11,500 | 16,200 | 40,100 |
2004 | 118,000 | 15,800 | 20,700 | 54,300 |
2006 | 145,000 | 19,300 | 25,800 | 70,800 |
2008 | 176,000 | 24,100 | 31,100 | 92,000 |
2010 | 217,000 | 30,000 | 37,800 | 112,000 |
2012 | 227,000 | 36,300 | 39,200 | 135,000 |
2014 | 255,000 | 40,000 | 45,800 | 141,000 |
2016 | 226,000 | 43,500 | 48,800 | 133,000 |
2017 | 197,000 | 44,600 | 48,000 | 127,000 |
2018 | 152,000 | 45,100 | 46,300 | 103,000 |
2019 | 117,000 | 41,300 | 41,900 | 81,800 |
2020 | 72,300 | 29,800 | 34,500 | 50,000 |
Google Trends
The image below shows Google Trends data for Content delivery network (topic) from January 2004 to January 2021, when the screenshot was taken. [4]
Google Ngram Viewer
The chart below shows Google Ngram Viewer data for Content delivery network from 1990 to 2019.[5]
Wikipedia Views
The chart below shows pageviews of the English Wikipedia article Content delivery network on desktop, mobile-web, desktop-spider, mobile-web-spider and mobile app, from July 2015 to December 2020.[6]
Full timeline
Year | Month and date | Event type | Details |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | Prelude | British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee develops the World Wide Web while working at CERN.[7] | |
1998 | January 5 | Organization | Level 3 Communications is founded. It would later provide CDN, enterprise software, and web hosting.[8][9] |
1998 | Organization | CDN provider Rackspace is founded.[10] | |
1998 | Organization | Akamai Technologies is founded. It is the first company to build a large-scale business around CDNs.[2] | |
1998 | Organization | ChinaCache launches. It is the first CDN provider in China.[11] | |
1999 | Organization | Speedera Networks is founded. By 2008, it would be the largest CDN in Asia and the third largest CDN in the world after Akamai and Limelight Networks.[12] | |
1999 | Product launch | Akamai launches its first commercial product.[1] | |
1999 | December | Financial | Akamai reaches an annual revenue of almost US$ 4 million and the company manages 3,000 servers across the globe.[1] |
1990s | Technology | The Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP) is developed[13][14] to provide an open standard for connecting application servers.[15] | |
2000 | Organization | CDN service provider CDNetworks is founded.[16] | |
2001 | September | Crisis | The September 11 attacks occur, spurring a sudden, unanticipated mass of Internet users trying to access news sites, simultaneously. This causes severe caching problems, and finally more money invested in developing CDN hosting to provide protection from the flash crowds for the websites.[3] |
2001 | Evolution | Broadband Services Forum (BSF), ICAP forum, Internet Streaming Media Alliance organizations start taking initiatives to develop standards for delivering broadband content, streaming rich media content – video, audio, and associated data – over the Internet.[3] | |
2001 | July 1 | Organization | CDN provider Limelight Networks is founded.[17][18] |
2002 | Organization | CDN provider CacheFly is founded. It would develop the world's first TCP-anycast based CDN.[19] | |
2002 | Organization | American CDN provider Imperva launches.[20] | |
2002 | Growth | Large-scale internet service providers start building their own CDN functionality, providing customized services.[3] | |
2004 | Growth | More than 3000 companies are found to use CDNs, spending more than US$20 million monthly.[3] | |
2004 | Product launch | Coral Content Distribution Network is initially released.[18] | |
2005 | Growth | CDN revenue for both streaming video and Internet radio is estimated to grow at 40%.[3] | |
2005 | Growth | The combined commercial market value for streaming audio, video, streaming audio and video advertising, download media and entertainment is estimated at between US$ 385 million to $ 452 million in the year.[3] | |
2005 | Organization | Medianova launches. It is a leading CDN service provider in Turkey, Europe, Middle East and Africa markets.[21] | |
2006 | August | Organization | CDN provider EdgeCast Networks (later Verizon Digital Media Services) is founded.[22] |
2008 | Product launch | Amazon CloudFront is launched as a CDN that integrates with other Amazon web services.[3][18] | |
2008 | July 26 | Literature | Content Delivery Networks by Rajkumar Buyya, Mukaddim Pathan, and Athena Vakali is published.[23] |
2009 | July | Organization | Cloudflare launches and starts offering content delivery, security and analytics.[18] |
2009 | November | Organization | CDN provider Incapsula is founded.[24] |
2009 | Organization | CDN provider MaxCDN is launched in California.[25] | |
2011 | Product launch | AT&T announces their new cloud-based Content Delivery Network that enables content to flow from its 38 data centers around the world to reduce transit and latency times.[3] | |
2011 | February 15 | Organization | Australian cloud-based CDN company MetaCDN is founded.[26] |
2011 | February | Organization | Indian telecommunications company Tata Communications acquires BitGravity, a US-based CDN provider, as part of a strategy to enhance its global CDN.[27] |
2011 | March | Organization | American CDN provider Fastly launches.[18][28] |
2011 | October 1 | Organization | CDN77.com launches. It has 30 data centers available on five continents.[29][30] |
2012 | Product launch | QUANTIL launches their CDN services.[31] | |
2012 | Organization | CDN provider BootstrapCDN is founded.[32] | |
2012 | March | Organization | CDN provider SwiftServe launches.[33] |
2012 | Organization | CDN provider Kingsoft Cloud is founded.[34] | |
2012 | Product launch | JSDelivr is initially released. It is a free multi-CDN for open source projects hosted on npm.[35] | |
2012 | In-house CDN | Netflix announces Netflix Open Connect CDN as a response to the ever-increasing scale of Netflix streaming.[36] | |
2012 | Growth | Akamai’s stock revenue is reported to be US$ 345.32 million.[3] | |
2012 | Growth | Cisco projects Video CDN revenues at around US$ 1 billion with growth for 2013 between 40% and 45%, and the complete market to grow from $6 billion to $12 billion by 2015.[3] | |
2013 | Mid-year | Organization | Leaseweb launches its CDN service.[37] |
2013–2019 | Growth | The Middle East and Africa CDN market is estimated to grow from US$ 0.18 billion to US$ 0.45 billion in the period, while the Brazilian CDN market is estimated to grow from US$ 88.25 million to US$ 192.4 million.[10] | |
2014 | July | In-house CDN | Apple activates in-house CDN, and begins offloading traffic onto it.[38][39] |
2015 | April | Organization | CDN provider BaishanCloud is founded.[40] It is one of the fastest growing companies in the CDN space.[41] |
2015 | Organization | BelugaCDN launches as a pay-as-you-go, low-cost CDN provider.[42] | |
2015 | Organization | American CDN provider StackPath is founded.[43][44][18] | |
2016 | March | In-house CDN | On the eves of the global release of Season 2 of Marvel's Daredevil to 190 countries, Netflix announces moving all streaming global traffic to its Netflix Open Connect CDN.[36] |
2016 | July | Merge | StackPath acquires MaxCDN, among other companies, merging with the CDN developer.[45] |
2016 | Growth | Akamai posts US$ 2.3 billion in revenues with a market cap of more than $10 billion.[18] | |
2017 | July 20 | Literature | Content Delivery Networks: Fundamentals, Design, and Evolution by Dom Robinson is published.[46] |
2017 | Growth | The CDN market reaches an estimated $7.5 billion dollars.[1] | |
2018 | Growth | The CDN market is valued at US$ 9.24 billion in the year.[47] | |
2018 | January | Expansion | Verizon extends the reach of its CDN to South Africa, Mexico, and France, now spanning over 56 countries for the company.[48] |
2019 | Growth | According to globaldots.com 2017 publication, the CDN Market is estimated to grow to US$ 12.16 billion by 2019, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.3% from 2014 to 2019.[10]
| |
2024 | Growth | According to marketsandmarkets.com publication in May 2019, the CDN market is expected to reach a value of US$ 22.1 billion by 2024.[47]
|
Meta information on the timeline
How the timeline was built
The initial version of the timeline was written by User:Sebastian.
Funding information for this timeline is available.
Feedback and comments
Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:
- FIXME
What the timeline is still missing
Timeline update strategy
See also
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Three Ways CDNs Have Changed Since Akamai's First Content Delivery Network". medium.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Content Delivery and Distribution Networks (CDN)". lifewire.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 "The History of Content Delivery Networks (CDN)". globaldots.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ↑ "Content delivery network". trends.google.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ↑ "Content delivery network". books.google.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- ↑ "Content delivery networks". wikipediaviews.org. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ↑ "The birth of the Web". home.cern. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ↑ "Level 3 Communications". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Level 3". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Content Delivery Network Explained". globaldots.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ↑ "ChinaCache". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Who Is CDNetworks?". networkworld.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ Elson, J., Cerpa, A.: "Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP)," April 2003.
- ↑ ICAP Forum
- ↑ "Content Delivery Network (CDN)". firstsiteguide.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ↑ "Who Is CDNetworks?". networkworld.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Limelight Networks". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 "Discontent and disruption in the world of content delivery networks". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ↑ "CacheFly". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Imperva". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Medianova". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "EdgeCast Networks". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ↑ "Content Delivery Networks". books.google.com.ar. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ↑ "Meet Alon Alter: On Growing a Global Cloud Services Business". imperva.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "MaxCDN". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "MetaCDN". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Tata Communications completes acquisition of BitGravity - Livemint". www.livemint.com. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ↑ "Fastly Launches Streaming Media Service". fastly.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "CDN77.com". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ↑ "13 content delivery networks to speed up your website". mashable.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ↑ "QUANTIL". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ↑ "BootstrapCDN". bootstrapcdn.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "SwiftServe". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Kingsoft Cloud". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "jsDelivr". producthunt.com. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 "Netflix moves all global traffic to Open Connect CDN Read more: Netflix moves all global traffic to Open Connect CDN". rapidtvnews.com. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ↑ "Leaseweb". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "Apple's in-house CDN efforts spell trouble for Akamai as infrastructure biz warns of losses". appleinsider.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ↑ "Apple activates in-house content delivery network, begins migrating content downloads - report". appleinsider.com. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ↑ "BaishanCloud". crunchbase.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "BaishanCloud". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "BelugaCDN". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ "StackPath Launches Next Generation of Platform and Services". stackpath.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ↑ "StackPath". cdnplanet.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ↑ Lunden, Ingrid. "Security-as-a-service startup StackPath nabs $180M, 4 acquisitions including MaxCDN". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ↑ "Content Delivery Networks: Fundamentals, Design, and Evolution". wiley.com. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- ↑ 47.0 47.1 "CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK (CDN) MARKET - GROWTH, TRENDS, AND FORECAST (2019 - 2024)". mordorintelligence.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ↑ "Global Content Delivery Network Market 2018 to Boom $29.48 Billion Value by 2023 at a CAGR of 26.1% – Orbis Research". reuters.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.