It all began with a man by the name of J.C.R. Licklider who introduced the concept of an ‘intergalactic network.’ He was appointed the head of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) after he developed an idea for a global computer network that would allow users to access information from anywhere in the world. Vinton G. “Vint” Cerf continued the research started by Licklider and co-designed the TCP/IP protocol suite with Bob Kahn in the 1970s.
Just 20 short years after its invention, there are over 2 billion users on the web*, with the number of online transactions in the US totaling 1.3 billion for 2010 and online sales reaching $210 billion. A scenario never imagined by our predecessors, much of the world’s global commerce is driven by the World Wide Web.
With staggering amounts of traffic and transactions traversing the Internet, it’s no wonder site developers, designers, retailers and many others want their sites to perform at peak levels. Organizations are increasingly choosing Website Performance Optimization (WPO) technologies to boost reliability, availability and their bottom line.
Why WPO?
- Identify problems and shift traffic quickly without waiting for slow BGP convergence
- Avoid sending traffic down paths that are problematic due to route oscillations, black holes or routing loops
- Measure service levels and alternate paths
- Obtain performance, distribution and economic reports to validate and fine-tune policies
What are you doing to accelerate your website performance? Read more about these technologies and how to choose the best one for your business: download our IP Buyer’s Guide eBook now.
