In most cases, the network needs some combination of caching, clustering and load balancing. Caching In One way to speed performance and reduce traffic is to store, or cache, seldom-updated content. This can mean pushing content to the network edge, where it doesn't travel through as many switches or servers. When The Motley Fool Inc. began dispensing investment advice in 1995, static HTML pages dished up much of the information. Back then, we didn't need a database back end.
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Introducing more and more complexity inevitably degrades performance. F5 Networks Inc.'s Big-IP routes traffic among machines. Cambridge, Mass.-bassed Akamai's proprietary technologies reside on a global network of 2,000 servers. The Akamai system routes each request for content to servers that are geographically closer to the customer so the request travels a shorter distance along the Internet. Existing bandwidth gets used more efficiently.