Alibaba Named a Major Player in Worldwide Commercial CDN by the IDC MarketScape Report

Low-latency protocols and edge computing applications cited among the cloud provider’s key strengths.

Alibaba was positioned as a Major Player in IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Commercial Content Delivery Network Services 2022 Vendor Assessment (doc #US47652821, March 2022), which analyzed 10 content delivery network (CDN) service providers according to their worldwide delivery capabilities and strategies for growth. 

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According to the report, “Alibaba Cloud CDN has a strong presence in China with major points of presence deployments and extensive media and web content delivery capabilities.” Currently, Alibaba Cloud’s CDN supports 80% of the country’s popular websites and 1.5 million daily accelerated domain names. Its collaboration with multiple global internet service providers outside the country ensures users have access to a consistent set of services regardless of their location.

CDNs being the infrastructure that facilitates the delivery of content to end-users, certain features are needed to ensure a reliable experience. Alibaba Cloud’s strengths in low-latency protocols and end-to-end video lifecycle management, as well as edge applications supporting urban IoT, industrial internet applications, cloud gaming, and visual computing platforms, were recognized in this regard.

Edge computing has been applied in upgrading Alibaba Cloud’s control planes and data flow systems to cloud containers, supporting operators with dynamic, on-demand distribution and greater elasticity to improve the stability of their CDN experience.

“Reliable and cost-effective content delivery is an essential aspect of the digital economy, and we see demand for these services only increasing in the future. To be recognized by the IDC MarketScape as a Major Player in the CDN space is a great encouragement and affirmation of our efforts to date,” said Jeff Zhang, President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “Our commitment to meeting the media and web content needs of companies in China and around the world has deepened significantly in recent years and we look forward to further innovating our services to support the growth of our clients going forward.”

IDC expects the commercial CDN market to reach USD18.8 billion by 2025, growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 17.1% and revolving around five service areas: over-the-top video; web, email, and data; online gaming; file-sharing; and security.

With over 2,800 nodes across six continents and 150 Tbps of bandwidth, paired with cloud-native features including horizontal service scaling, customizable console, multiple APIs and simple architecture scaling, Alibaba Cloud is well-positioned to capture the opportunities around this growth by delivering an exceptional CDN experience to its customers worldwide. 

Alibaba Cloud’s CDN capabilities have consistently met the demands of Alibaba Group’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, which have grown year-over-year. During each phase of the event, whether it was accurately forecasting traffic volumes or supporting network intensive activities such as livestreaming, Alibaba Cloud’s CDN delivered a stable experience for both merchants and consumers.

Other showcases of Alibaba Cloud’s CDN capabilities include supporting one of the largest media companies in Indonesia, MNC Group, and online education platform Ruangguru to ensure all digital content delivered to users smoothly. Similarly, Kumu, a leading live streaming entertainment platform in the Philippines, uses Alibaba Cloud’s CDN to support a range of video needs on its platform.

To read IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Commercial Content Delivery Network Services 2022 Vendor Assessment excerpt, please click here.