Let's start at the beginning

Fundamentals

What's a web cache?

A web cache is simply a system that lets us store HTTP objects dynamically.

A web cache can be found on the client side (web browsers) or on the server side (intermediate proxies or web servers).

These systems significantly improve performance in terms of loading HTTP objects, reducing the load times of web pages and thus optimizing the end-user experience.

The system works by saving local copies of the web objects requested by browsers, so that when the browser requests an object that's in the cache, it is served directly from there without needing to go back to the destination server to generate the object again, saving time.

What is a CDN?

A CDN is a content delivery network. In basic terms, a CDN is a system of geographically distributed caches that can serve content from the cache server nearest to any end user’s location. This reduces network latency and page load times.

Many people think that CDNs are only used to reduce network latency and bring content closer to end users, but that’s not the case. The true potential of a CDN—and what really enables it to improve load times beyond network latency—lies in its caching techniques: serving a cached object from memory is infinitely faster than generating a web page from scratch by calling its database.

# Request goes to origin server 
curl  --tlsv1.3 -s -o /dev/null -w "%{time_total}\n" -H "User-Agent: Chrome" https://www.transparentcdn.com/?p=random
0,596708

# Request is serve from CDN server
curl  --tlsv1.3 -s -o /dev/null -w "%{time_total}\n" -H "User-Agent: Chrome" https://www.transparentcdn.com/
0,167391

As shown in the example, there is quite a significant time improvement. In this case, it's 3.6 times faster to serve the content from the CDN.

Other benefits of a CDN

In addition to the above, a CDN has many other benefits, including:

• Optimization of resources on the origin platform. Because most traffic is cached and served from the CDN, the origin platform where the client hosts its web pages sees its traffic fall by 80-90%, reducing the number of necessary resources like servers, bandwidth, and even maintenance staff.

• Cost savings. The resource optimization generated by the CDN results in cost savings on infrastructure, meaning that the cost of the service more than pays for itself.

• Increased website security. The distributed nature of a CDN makes it possible to hide the origin servers from the final user, improving security. Transparent Edge also has additional security services like the Transparent Secure Layer.

• Absorption of big spikes and traffic volumes. A CDN allows you to handle large volumes of traffic and spikes that would be very difficult to manage on the origin platform.

• Easy implementation. Implementing a CDN is as easy as making a simple change in the client’s DNS so that any website that wants to pass through the CDN no longer points to the origin web server and instead points to the CNAME provided by the CDN.

Transparent Rocks!

Transparent Edge is the first and only Spanish content delivery network, with infrastructure in over 30 countries. Based on Varnish Enterprise software, it’s the only CDN in the world to offer this Varnish mode with its full potential. Plus, we are a Varnish Open Partner, giving our product an additional level of guarantee.

We created our CDN in 2011 with the idea of building the CDN we would have liked to have had as clients. That’s why our main asset is the people who work at Transparent Edge, and our main value is our proximity to end users.

The goal of this site is not to sell, but to make our clients’ lives easier. So, if you’re reading this, you already know who we are and you’re probably familiar with what makes us great. In fact, you might already be a client. In any case, on our website you’ll find everything you need to know about Transparent Edge. And you can always send an email to the sales team.