Verizon Launches CDN Geared Specifically for E-Commerce

Since it acquired Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider EdgeCast Networks, Verizon Digital Media Services has undertaken major expansion of the CDN network, having added presence in São Paulo and more than 20 other cities around the world. The company has also introduced an integrated solution targeted specifically at e-commerce customers with EdgeCast at the core.

At the time of acquisition, EdgeCast had more than 6,000 accounts and served some of the largest web brands for global media delivery and acceleration services. Under the Verizon Digital Media Services umbrella, more investment was pumped into the quickly growing CDN.

The performance of an e-commerce website ties directly to revenue. Slow browsing and check-out can often lead to shopping cart abandonment and lost dollars. There are also credit card data security issues to consider.

Customers are checking out retail websites on a variety of devices, meaning a misconfigured page might look awful on a particular mobile device. Verizon's new e-commerce solution enables retailers to cost-effectively accelerate transactions with faster loading of websites, efficient video streaming, accurate content targetting based on shoppers’ geography and redirecting mobile users to mobile website versions.

There are several vendors that solve these individual problems, but for the most part, the market that provides various services around security and performance is fragmented.

The package heavily leverages the EdgeCast CDN Verizon acquired last December and takes a page out of the EdgeCast playbook.

EdgeCast launched Transact, an e-commerce-specific CDN just a short time before it was acquired. Verizon's new service looks a lot like Transact with additional bells and whistles.

It includes VDMS products delivering acceleration, security, edge intelligence and device detection. Verizon Transact is at the core of the solution, a global PCI-certified acceleration network dedicated to e-commerce customers and partitioned from the global Internet for extra security. The pieces of the solution include:

New cities with the CDN network points of presence include Warsaw, Stockholm, Milan, Vienna, Melbourne, Helsinki, Kaohsiung, Batam, Jakarta and São Paulo. The company also expanded its presence with additional PoPs in many cities already served, including London, Madrid, Paris and Amsterdam.