In the Cloud, Location Matters

The cloud’s reputation for improved performance and massive speed gains is a key driver for many enterprises to bring their mission-critical sites and apps to the cloud. But when their development teams actually bring their data and code to the cloud, a new question emerges: How can  cloud assets get even faster?

As true in real estate as it is in the cloud, location is everything. A recent study conducted by EdgeConneX and Cedexis looked at the performance of different cloud applications in different locations and, crucially, under different conditions. Unsurprisingly, the distance between the app and the server being used played a crucial difference in response times, with the relatively more remote cloud services in Washington State and Florida charting at 66% slower and 109% slower respectively.

While it’s impossible to simply eliminate away miles of distance, there are a few shortcuts. A content delivery network (CDN) is one of the most effective ways to improve the speed of a cloud-based site or app. CDNs with local points of presence (within the same state) bring the data closer to the users, shrinking the distance and the response time. Another effective solution is utilizing an edge data center, which provides a direct connection to the internet (and the cloud) within the same city or county of the cloud user. So if a cloud user is based in Los Angeles but is pulling data from Oregon, connecting to an edge data center that is located in Palo Alto or Santa Barbara can shave a response time by 30% or more. By taking advantage of localized resources, the bleeding edge speed of the cloud becomes far more attainable for mission critical sites and apps.

Learn more about speeding up a cloud service on networkworld.com.