In this post we are going to:
- Unlock a specific trend in the developer tools world called Edge Computing.
- Look at how it affects a specific index company - Cloudflare
- Understand the business implications, technology perspective, and risk attached to it.
Most of you already know Cloudflare from their captcha verification system (“I am not a robot”). You’ve probably also seen screens like this before:
Cloudflare is a cloud service company that offers clients a specific cloud service called Content Delivery Service (CDN).
CDNs are like express lanes on the internet highway.
They ensure that the digital content (a website, video, or game) you're trying to access reaches you in the fastest and most secure way possible.
Imagine a worldwide network of speedy couriers, each holding a copy of a website's content. When you want to visit that site, the closest courier rushes over to deliver it to your screen. Cloudflare is one of the maestros conducting this digital symphony.
It may sound simple, but a kind of high-tech magic show is going on behind the scenes. To make this a reality at the internet’s current scale, Cloudflare operates roughly 300 data centers in over 100 countries.
Alongside the CDN service, Cloudflare offers many other benefits. These range from security features like DDoS protection and Web Application Firewalls to developer-centric services like load balancing and serverless computing.