A CDN, or Content Delivery Network, is a means of distribution that  both large-scale and small-scale websites incorporate into their website’s data transfer structure. This technology allows content, usually website files, to be replicated on various data centers around the world. This is, essentially, a means of caching files close to the visitor’s physical location. For example, when a visitor from Russia accesses a website hosted in the United States, there is a certain amount of latency incurred because of the distance between the networks. However, a CDN would first check to see if the file being accessed was already stored on a data center close to the visitor. If the file was found, it would be transferred from the nearest location and greatly reduce any network latency. In case the file was not found, it would be sent from the main server to a data center, ideally, in Russia. When another visitor from Russia accesses the site, the file would then be found on a data center near them and be delivered much faster. Read the full post