21 Dec 2017

How Developers Can Achieve Faster App Downloads with a Mobile CDN

Mobile app developers know the importance of delivering files to clients in a fast, efficient manner. If an app takes too long to download, users may stop and choose a competitor’s app. There are ways for developers to achieve faster download speeds, however, including the use of a mobile content delivery network (CDN).

What is a Mobile CDN?

Also known as a mobile content delivery network, a mobile CDN consists of multiple servers that are optimized for fast, high-performance data delivery to mobile users. The CDN consists of many nodes spread across a large geographic area, often globally, that work in harmony to deliver content.

With a mobile CDN, the way in which content is delivered varies depending on the user’s location, device, browser and wireless network. It may serve content from the server closest to the user’s physical location, or it may serve content from multiple servers. Some mobile CDNs are even designed to do both.

Traditional CDNs use this same approach to optimize content delivery. Mobile CDNs are unique, however, because they are designed specifically for mobile users. When delivering content, they take into account factors like network capacity, bandwidth and display resolution, all of which happen automatically in the background.

In addition to faster downloads, mobile CDNs also offer a higher level of reliability than traditional single-server delivery models. If one server in the network goes down, others will take its place. As a result, downtime is virtually unheard of with mobile CDNs.

Choosing a Mobile CDN

When choosing a mobile CDN to host and deliver your apps, check to see if it offers parallel downloads. This feature allows users to download data from multiple nodes, resulting in shorter download time. CDNsun is one provider that offers parallel downloads.

Additionally, choose a provider that uses solid-state drives (SSDs) instead of hard disk drives (HHDs). SSDs offer faster read and writes and significantly lower latency.

A mobile CDN is a smart investment for any mobile app developer. By optimizing content delivery specifically for mobile users, developers will benefit from increased downloads and improved user satisfaction.