For the first time, adults in China now spend significantly more time with digital media than with traditional media.  The average citizen spends 3 hours and 54 minutes with digital, representing more than 58 percent of their time with digital media.

Taking advantage of this large and growing appetite for content in China can be tricky if you don’t choose the right Content Delivery Network (CDN) provider.

Content Delivery Networks (CDN) In China

Distributing content to users in China is not the same as it is in many other places worldwide.

Implemented in 2006, the Golden Shield Project established a complex filtering system for online content.  Websites are required to be licensed and content must adhere to Chinese regulations.

Working with a provider that is licensed in China is crucial to overcoming some of the challenges Chinese regulations create.  You want to work with a CDN provider that has experience working with Chinese regulatory agencies and a strong understanding of what is acceptable.  Make sure they are a licensed Network operator and can help you with following the right steps for Internet Content Provider (ICP) registration administered by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Without this license, storing, caching, or delivering content within China is not allowed.  CDNs must be licensed even if they deliver content from outside of China.  If they are located outside of the country, however, they can face significant hurdles to delivery.

Global CDNs will deliver content anywhere in the world.  They will have servers throughout the world to provide low latency and fast online delivery.  However, not all CDNs are registered for content delivery to Chinese internet users.  If you choose to work with a global CDN, you need to make sure they partner with Chinese CDN providers licensed to do business in the country.

Be careful of CDNs located in Hong Kong.  While content may be delivered using servers outside the mainland, Hong Kong’s networks are separate from mainland China.  Performance can be greatly reduced, and some content may be blocked.

China Edge Delivery

Companies that are not able to secure an ICP license to deliver content from inside China may still be able to provide content by using an Edge Delivery infrastructure.  Content can be cached from servers in the region and then connected to exchanges the provide IP-peering to networks within China.

This bypasses the requirement for an ICP license as long as you work with Edge network providers like China Telecom that are licensed.

Important Factors To Consider

Here are some of the other important factors you should consider if you want to deliver content to Chinese consumers.

Fast Online Speeds

You need a CDN that is highly responsive and fast.

Online performance can dictate whether someone engages with your content or moves on to something else.  40 percent of internet users will abandon websites that take more than three seconds to load.  Even a delay of as little as one second in response can reduce conversions by 7%.

You will also want to make sure your CDN provider allows for dynamic acceleration.  This will allow dynamic data and content delivered from servers to bypass standard Chinese internet nodes and deliver through a more direct path.  This increased efficiency speeds up delivery and reduces latency.

CDNs that have a presence in China often achieve speeds 50 percent greater than those using servers outside of China.

Optimized For Mobile

Government improvement in developing rural infrastructure has increased mobile usage by older adults.  Mobile usage itself has increased and now represents 98 percent of internet users.  Your CDN should optimize delivery performance for mobile.

Distributed Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN that can efficiently deliver content throughout China will have PoPs (Points of Presence) dispersed throughout mainland China.  While they may have prominent positions in large metro areas, they should also have PoPs closer to rural areas.

Congestion can occur at chokepoints between China’s largest ISPs due to the sheer volume of traffic, so be sure to know what network your end-users subscribe to in order to make sure you deliver a fully on-net user-experience that avoids chokepoint congestion between peering partners.   ChinaNet (AS 4134) is the largest internet network in China in terms of eye-balls so using China Mobile or China Unicom to deliver website content on ChinaNet could negatively impact performance and availability for your ChinaNet users.

Efficient Delivery Of Video Programming

84% of Chinese residents report they watch video programming at least occasionally, according to a study by Nielsen. 75% say they watch on-demand video content at least once a week.  That’s more video consumption than any other country in the world.

Meeting this significant and growing appetite for online streaming and video content means selecting a CDN that can manage large volumes of traffic efficiently.

The Fastest Growing Online Market In The World

China is the fastest growing and potentially largest online market in the world.  Failing to work with the right CDN provider can limit access to your content or potentially lead to it being blocked completely.

If you need a reliable CDN provider in China with owned Tier-1 network infrastructure for more consistent edge performance and premium user-experience in China,  read more about China Telecom’s CDN solutions.

The post Building the Right Content Delivery Network (CDN) for Consistent Edge Performance in China appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

In China, only 44 percent of the population are Internet users, but that’s still enough people to make it the world’s largest online population. As the number of users is expected to increase considerably in the coming years, leading Chinese IT service providers seek to innovate underlying frameworks in ways that both serve customers and satisfy regulatory requirements.

China’s IT industry has a number of projects in progress to further its capacity to serve the coming wave of virtual activity and meet these demands. A major initiative is improving content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure.

CDN Development

A CDN is a system that delivers content from a website or mobile application to people more quickly and efficiently, based on their geographic location. Comprising a network of servers (“points of presence,” or POPs) in locations across the globe, CDNs cache static resources, bringing data closer to users and reducing necessary round-trip time. Content delivery networks are useful across a range of verticals:

• Ecommerce: A CDN helps e-commerce sites deliver content quickly and efficiently, even during the holiday shopping season or other high-traffic times. Without CDNs, load times for images and other elements would be a considerably longer for users who might be hundreds or thousands of miles away from the host servers.
• Finance: CDNs allow banking institutions to deliver sensitive data to consumers and analysts on a range of devices with a fast, secure and reliable infrastructure. Also, there is additional defense against network and application-level attacks.
• Media/Publishing: A CDN can help media companies update pages in real time. For delivering images and video, CDNs can take advantage of content optimization techniques and device caching that promotes smooth delivery.
• Mobile apps: A CDN delivers dynamic and location-based content, reducing load times and increasing responsiveness. Other techniques that help the mobile user experience include text compression and video pacing, for example.
• Technology and SaaS: A CDN helps tech sites serve billions of requests each day. Particular concerns by SaaS providers addressed by a CDN might include onboarding times and SSL security.

A project involving a partnership between China Telecom Global and Conversant Solutions Pte Ltd is the introduction of an international CDN in which the two companies’ CDN infrastructures integrate through a CDN federation (an interconnection of individually operated CDNs) to provide a global delivery framework.

This connection will enable content upload, delivery, storage, transcoding, management and related services. It will optimize both companies’ resources and will improve the quality and quantity of Chinese internet services. Faster speeds mean faster load times for web and mobile users, quick scalability during heavy traffic times, minimized risk of traffic spikes (which ensures site stability), decreased infrastructure costs due to traffic offloading, and better site performance. Other benefits include the availability of usage analytics, high-capacity infrastructures (for higher availability and lower network latency), and improved performance.

More stable broadband connections will help companies doing business in China to extend their presence and provide better quality and security. China Telecom Americas offers a high-speed content delivery network with a strong presence across the country and the world, accelerating the delivery of content in China and beyond.

What to Look For in a China CDN Provider

Because the point of a CDN is to reduce the distance between your users and the servers bringing them desired content and information, it’s smart business to find a local provider.

When investigating, consider whether the provider can navigate infrastructure hurdles. In addition to these basic framework issues, enterprises entering new markets will likely need help understanding local internet laws or regulations which may change frequently.

China Telecom offers clear advantages to companies looking to improve performance in China and other Asia-Pacific markets where they lack a physical server presence.

These advantages include:

• Full network control: China Telecom owns and operates one of the world’s best-connected networks, delivering content to last-mile networks without relying on third-party transit providers with their own routing policies.
• Licensure: China Telecom has a full CDN license in China and is licensed to host and deliver web content throughout the country.
• Reliable, easy to use storage: Storage options include secure origin, external file and cloud-based solutions, fully optimized for specific technical requirements. Customers can upload content via Aspera, FTP, SFTP, R-Sync, and SCP. Data is securely stored and backed up using state-of-the-art firewall and data-retention technologies.
• Advanced streaming: Support for streaming on demand, live broadcasts, and adaptive streaming media over HTTP. Dynamic Content Packaging (DCP) of adaptive streaming media in HDS and HLS formats. Encoding and transcoding functions available for content compatibility with a wide range of viewing platforms. (This is especially important as many consumers in China view video via personal devices.)

Learn more about China Telecom’s CDN features and service, which includes fully customized solutions packages.

Readers are invited to learn more about plans for improving communications technology in China by China Telecom and China Telecom Americas.

The post China Telecom’s CDN Technology Transforms User Experiences While Adding Reliability and Security appeared first on China Telecom Americas.

HONG KONG – March 10, 2016 – China Telecom announces a partnership with Conversant Solutions Pte Ltd to establish an international Content Delivery Network (CDN), where both companies’ CDN will seamlessly integrate through a CDN Federation to provide a one-stop CDN solution with global coverage for enterprise customers, enabling content upload, delivery, storage, transcoding, management and related services.

It helps boost the quality of China’s Internet content and user experience

This collaboration will optimize both China Telecom’s CDN resources and Conversant’s CDN leading-edge technology in Asia. It helps boost the quality of China’s Internet content and user experience, and aids local Internet companies to swiftly deliver content globally.

“Under the direction of ‘The Belt and Road Initiative’, China enterprises are speeding up their overseas expansion. In this era of internet+ in trend, it is essential for them to have fast, effective, safe and reliable international CDN service to attain business success, while China demand for quality overseas Internet content is also growing rapidly. Hence the objective of the partnership between China Telecom Global and Conversant for this international CDN service is to meet the needs of contents from China expanding abroad, and to attract foreign contents into China,” said Mr. Deng Xiao Feng, CEO of China Telecom Global.

“China Telecom Global is the one of the largest global network service providers. We are highly interested and delighted to partner with China Telecom Global to promote international CDN services to China’s progressing Internet industry. We are confident that together we can explore and strengthen the CDN market and cater the CDN demand for both China and overseas enterprises,” said Mr. Cheong Kong Wai, CEO and Founder of Conversant.

About China Telecom Americas

China Telecom Americas, a wholly-owned US-based subsidiary of China Telecom Corporation, provides Data, IP and Voice Wholesale services to companies, organizations and international carriers requiring international access to China and beyond. With headquarters in Herndon, Virginia, and offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Jose, Toronto and Sao Paolo, China Telecom Americas provides locally-based, one-stop-shop, turn-key solutions for everything from China domestic and international data circuits to IDC services, network management, equipment management, system integration, and much more.

Press Contact

communications@ctamericas.com

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