LeaseWeb extends CDN infrastructure into Asia

The SSD-powered infrastructure of LeaseWeb CDN, a solution aimed at high-bandwidth file and video distribution and live-streaming/broadcasting now consists of strategically placed PoPs in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The CDN SuperPoPs, so named by LeaseWeb because of their extensive capacity, have a direct connection to one of the world’s largest IP networks, which has a total bandwidth capacity of 4.0 Tbps and utilises smart routing as well as load-balancing methods.

The addition of an Asia-based CDN SuperPoP to the existing SuperPoP locations in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. has increased the LeaseWeb CDN total bandwidth capacity to 500 Gbps.

In-house design
The LeaseWeb CDN utilises leading-brand technologies and a unique open source-based architecture, designed end-to-end by LeaseWeb’s engineers. To establish the SuperPoP in the Singapore-based data center, LeaseWeb transported a variety of high-end equipment from Europe to Singapore, including multiple database, storage, and edge servers, as well as load balancers, routers, and switches. LeaseWeb engineers set up the SuperPoP-specific configuration locally and added the PoP to the global CDN infrastructure.

“As you can see, the magnitude of hardware infrastructure is quite impressive compared to regular network PoP setups,” said Ignacio Manrique de Lara, Manager CDN at LeaseWeb. “Our innovative CDN SuperPoP configurations, with scalable solid-state drive (SSD) powered caching capacity and 100 Gbps of extra bandwidth volume in Singapore, adds significant capacity to the overall scope of our global CDN solution. It will contribute to perfecting our current CDN reach in Asia, serving LeaseWeb customers around world with the same high quality CDN experience.”

100% SSD powered
The SSD-powered SuperPoPs and high bandwidth capacity of LeaseWeb’s global CDN infrastructure make the solution an exceptional fit for large file distribution on a global level—for applications such as software security and patch updates, video distribution, and live-streaming.

“Unique to the CDN solution is its 100% SSD-powered storage characteristics,” said Maurits van der Schee, CDN Innovation Engineer at LeaseWeb. “Most of the time, CDNs use SSD technology only for a small part of the solution. We decided to give full power to our CDN and make use of SSD technology only, in order to maximise caching effects and prevent videos worldwide from buffering.”

“Uniquely designed storage tiering modules add to the redundancy and resilience of the LeaseWeb CDN,” Van der Schee added. “The intelligent hierarchical management of our storage infrastructure, optimised for file sharing, video distribution, and streaming, ensures that client data has multiple storage options on a variety of storage levels and locations, which greatly benefits user experience. High scalability is ensured by double-deployed infrastructure and Geo-DNS.”

Pay-as-you-go vs. Enterprise
LeaseWeb CDN supports HTTP live streaming (HLS) and pseudo streaming for video on demand (VoD). The codecs currently supported include HLS / HSS, MP4, H264, Flash Video (FLV), VP8 (WebM), VP9 (WebM), and Smooth Streaming.

LeaseWeb’s CDN infrastructure is an open source-based solution, developed in-house by LeaseWeb’s engineers. It’s not only a high-speed, high-capacity CDN infrastructure. Other important features of the solution include real-time monitoring statistics to optimise content distribution; instant purging to ensure accurate data delivery; advanced origin protection to shield against DDoS attacks; and API-driven feature development to ensure enterprise integration. The CDN engineering team is continuously working on broadening its set of features with innovative new capabilities matching evolving client needs.

LeaseWeb CDN is available in two options, Enterprise and Pay-as-you-go, serving enterprise clients with tailored solutions as well as smaller customers looking for instant CDN functionality against minimal upfront costs. The Enterprise version offers high-volume CDN customers substantial cost savings over the Pay-as-you-go option. A 100% uptime service level agreement (SLA) is included with both options.