I am trying to get a better handle on these Local Content Managers(LCM). Here is the April press release that indicated they were available/being built:
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DIGITAL ISLAND ANNOUNCES ADVANCED NETWORK
ARCHITECTURE TO MIRROR AND CACHE WEB SITES
WORLDWIDE
New Local Content Managers that Mirror and Cache in Multiple
Countries Improve Price and Performance of Global Application
Hosting and Distribution
San Francisco, April 19, 1999 - Digital Island, a leader in global
application hosting and content distribution, announced today an
advanced network architecture to mirror and cache Web sites
directly in different countries, providing a significant improvement
in the price and performance of secure application hosting and
content distribution worldwide.
The new content distribution sites, called Local Content
Managers, incorporate several industry breakthroughs (see
related Digital Island press release at
digitalisland.net. They
complement the existing two components of the company's
global architecture: the distributed-star network and four
carrier-class Data Centers. Digital Island's Local Content
Managers are strategically located in different countries to:
Deliver a fast, reliable and consistent end-user experience.
Enable high-volume content distribution to millions of users
simultaneously.
Accelerate time to market.
Lower operational costs by simplifying administration of
business-critical applications and reducing bandwidth costs.
"E*TRADE is committed to global ubiquity, and Digital Island's Local
Content Managers provide us with an elegant solution that helps
us grow in an efficient and cost-effective manner," said Doug
Nassaur, E*TRADE's vice president of technical operations. "The
concept of locally housed content is critical for long-term customer
satisfaction on a global scale."
"We believe this new advanced network architecture raises the
bar in network scalability, performance and overall content
delivery," said Tim Wilson, Digital Island's vice president of
marketing. "Because our intelligent network generates reports on
traffic flows to different countries, we can use this knowledge to
deploy Local Content Managers where appropriate, enabling our
customers with a scalable and cost-effective content-distribution
fabric."
Local Content Managers consist of high-performance processing,
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) storage, routers
and other equipment residing at hardened Data Centers
worldwide. They also incorporate Digital Island's unique
usage-based pricing model that supplies a cost-effective and
flexible payment structure.
With this advancement, Digital Island improves e-Business
applications that require high-volume delivery of
bandwidth-intensive content to multiple markets. Examples
include streaming audio/video files, digital products such as
software releases, MP3 audio files and online publications.
Digital Island's Local Content Managers are active in the United
States (Honolulu, Silicon Valley and New York), the United
Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Japan; with next-phase
expansion to France, Sweden, Singapore, China (Hong Kong)
and Brazil by summer 1999.
Digital Island®, a leader in global application hosting and content
distribution, provides multinational corporations with a significant
time-to-market advantage. Through the integration of applications,
patented technologies and intelligent network services, Digital
Island's platform accelerates the deployment of e-Business
solutions to key markets worldwide. Founded in 1995 in Honolulu,
Hawaii, the privately held company is headquartered in San
Francisco, California.
Digital Island is a registered trademark of Digital Island, Inc. in the U.S. and
certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the
property of their respective owners.
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Do these replace the need for multiple data centers? I will need more guidance, but if so, this makes ISLD much more valuable than other companies in this sector that are pumping out large volumes of cash to build so many of them. Then there is Traceware, which is certainly an innovation unique to ISLD.
Here is more off the technical aspect of the ISLD website regarding these LCMs as part of the "Intelligent Network": digisle.net
Local Content Managers
Overview
Digital Island's Local Content Managers (LCMs) are distribution
sites strategically placed around the globe. LCMs bring content
closer to end users worldwide, enabling multinational corporations
to improve their customer service and provide a “local” online
experience. LCMs represent a breakthrough in e-Business
outsourcing solutions because they allow customers to quickly,
consistently, and reliably deliver high-volume content to millions of
end users worldwide simultaneously. LCMs improve
bandwidth-intensive applications such as streaming audio/video
files, software releases, MP3 audio files, and online publications,
allowing our customers to better service their end users.
Locations
Digital Island's LCMs are active in the United States (Honolulu,
Silicon Valley and New York), Australia, France, Germany, Japan,
Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Our next-phase expansion,
targeted for Summer 1999 is to Brazil and Sweden.
Features
LCMs simplify administration and significantly reduce operational
costs by utilizing several features, including caching, mirroring, and
in-country backbone peering. These technologies are features in
our Application Hosting and Content Distribution Service.
Caching
Caching is the ability to dynamically pull content from an original
server for placement on LCMs. Caching plays a critical roll in
enhancing end-user performance around the globe while
simplifying the management tasks of individual IT teams.
Examples of cacheable content include Web sites using standard
HTTP, GIFS, or anonymous FTP. Customers using any of our
Application Hosting and Content Distribution Service packages
can take advantage of our caching feature by simply asking us to
activate it - it's that easy!
Mirroring
Mirroring allows customers with non-cacheable content to better
reach global end users by replicating their content directly
in-country. Examples of non-cacheable content include
authenticated ftp files, authenticated Web sites, or encrypted and
compressed software packages. Digital Island posts customers'
content in a secure staging area where it is transparently
"mirrored" or replicated to LCMs across our Intelligent Network.
Content is quickly delivered to the mirrored sites, and then goes
live worldwide simultaneously. End users accessing the content
are transparently directed to the nearest mirrored site, making
their online experience consistent, reliable, and fast. Customers
using any of our Application Hosting and Content Distribution
Service packages can take advantage of our mirroring feature by
working with a Customer Advocate to tailor the feature to your
specific needs.
In-country Backbone Peering
The ability to reach end users quickly, reliably, and consistently is
directly related to the amount of direct connections within each
market. Each of our LCMs peers directly with multiple backbones
in-country to provide high-speed access to end users within that
market. Digital Island directly peers with more backbones around
the world than any other hosting provider in the US. |
