Summary
This technical report presents an analysis of global Content Delivery Network (CDN) performance in China, focusing on the operational dynamics of providers such as Fastly, Akamai, and Cloudflare. The report outlines how these CDNs function in conjunction with local affiliates to deliver content efficiently. It details the complexities involved in achieving optimal performance in the Chinese market, emphasizing that claims of superior speed by some providers may not be substantiated. The report includes a data-based examination of CDN performance metrics, comparing response times and latency across different providers using third-party data from NetScaler. The findings indicate that Fastly consistently outperforms its competitors in terms of speed, even without local CDN chaining. Additionally, the report discusses the implications of using local CDNs concerning censorship risks, concluding that performance is not necessarily improved by their inclusion. The methodology for data collection and analysis is also described, providing transparency into the performance metrics evaluated.
