Amazon announces new content delivery service

Amazon announced this week that it would soon be getting into the content delivery business. Companies that deliver lots of content such as online video need more than a content management system, they need a Content Delivery Network to help distribute the content in a CMS more efficiently. TechEncylopedia defines a CDN as a "distribution system on the Internet that accelerates the delivery of web pages, audio, video and other Internet-based content to users around the world."

Amazon plans to use its S3 cloud-based content storage services in conjunction with the as-yet unnamed content delivery service, which makes sense. You store the content on their servers, then let them distribute the content for you, all from one vendor. For customers who don't want to deal with storage and distribution on their own servers, it's an ideal solution.

Dan Rayburn, who covers video and content delivery issues in his Business of Video blog at Streamingmedia.com thinks the content delivery component won't compete directly with major CDNs like Akamai and Limelight, at least in the short-term. But Rayburn believes the service has potential, and in its current form could be a great system for businesses with simple distribution requirements. For now, any time a player as large as Amazon gets in the business, it makes competitors nervous; it should be interesting to see what impact this eventually has on the content delivery business moving forward.

For more info:
- read Rayburn's blog post
- check out this eWeek article