by Tom Nelson
For years, Apple has used Akamai and Level 3 as its main Internet pipeline to deliver iTunes multimedia content, data downloads, such as OS X Updates, and iCloud data to OS X and iOS users. Using these third-party CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) ensured that Apple’s data reached your Mac, iPad, or iPhone quickly, without having to bounce around the Internet looking for a connection to you.
Screen shot © Coyote Moon, Inc.
But even with the fast lane provided by Akamai and Level 3, Apple was looking to speed things up further, and decided to build its own Internet super-highway. According to Dan Rayburn, Executive Vice President of Streaming Media, and confirmed by About: Macs, Apple’s CDN is now live.
Apple’s CDN pipeline connects Apple content directly to ISPs, without having to go through sometimes random Internet nodes to get to end users. This ensures a fast and very reliable connection with just two points of possible failure: Apple and your ISP. With no additional middlemen, Apple won’t find itself in the position of trying to work its way through a maze of finger pointing when something goes wrong with data transmission.
Coyote Moon, Inc. 