A “content delivery network” (CDN) (also called a “content distribution network”) is a service that takes your existing content and makes it available through a global network of distribution servers. The primary reason companies use CDNs is to speed up access to website content because a CDN’s servers can be closer to end users and therefore deliver the content to those users faster. A CDN can also help absorb a greater load of traffic than an individual server can. (See more about CDNs on Wikipedia.)
The cool thing about a CDN is that once your content is in its network, that content can be easily made available over both IPv4 and IPv6 – even if YOUR web server is IPv4-only! So a CDN can be a very quick way to make your content IPv6-enabled, even if your own infrastructure cannot make the move quickly.
We are currently aware of the following CDNs supporting IPv6:
- Akamai – See their IPv6 page
- Limelight Networks
- CloudFlare – See its Automatic IPv6 Gateway
- Edgecast – See their IPv6 page
Do you know of additional CDNs that support IPv6 that we should consider adding here? If so, please send them to us.