How much faster?
Typical improvements range from 1.3x to 12x for uploads and 2.5 to 18x for downloads. There are many variables that make speed benchmarks tricky, but these numbers should be atypical for internet users.
Uploads
| Typical Connections | Normal Upload / Put | CSN Enabled Uploads / Put | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber (100Mbps) | 3.6Mbps | 46.2Mbps | 12x |
| ADSL (10Mbps) | 655Kbps | 998Kbps | 1.5x |
| Mobile (3.5G) | 450Kbps | 615Kbps | 1.3x |
| Mobile (LTE) | 1.4Mbps | 4.6Mbps | 3x |
Downloads
| Typical Connections | Normal Download / Get | CSN Enabled Download / Get | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber (100Mbps) | 4.6Mbps | 84Mbps | 18x |
| ADSL (10Mbps) | 3.9Mbps | 9.7Mbps | 2.5x |
| Mobile (3.5G) | 767Kbps | 3.2Mbps | 4x |
| Mobile (LTE) | 1.8Mbps | 8.4Mbps | 4.6x |
Testing Platform:
- Users are located in either N. California or Singapore
- 100 Users per location using at least 2 ISP/Mobile networks
- Normal storage nodes in N. California or Singapore are Amazon AWS small instance
- “Normal” would mean a user accessing a remote storage node
- “CDN Enabled” would mean a user accessing a local GRIDBLAZE CSN storage node
- Average results based on 3 test runs per day run on 14 consecutive days
- Fixed line internet is measured using a 1Gbps LAN connection to the router
- LTE for Singapore is in testing preview as of Jan 2012
- 3.5G refers to HSPA+
Why is it faster?
One reason, Localized storage. By having a globally distributed network of storage nodes and proximity based routing system, GRIDBLAZE ensures that your users are never far from your storage endpoint. By keeping storage close, the speed of uploads/downloads is greatly increased without the bandwidth limits placed by ISPs or the loss of packets going through multiple hops traversing the world.
73% of all user data stored online is used by users in the same geographical region. This means that by storing data close to the user who uploaded it, future users will experience local access speeds. With GRIDBLAZE, you get the ability to store content automatically in over 15 locations worldwide.
Wouldn’t a CDN solve the download/access speed issue?
Yes it might solve the download/access issue for some cases. Namely if the content being accessed would need to be repeatedly accessed by users in different regions from where it was stored. The reason is because a CDN works by caching the data the first time it is called to a location close to that user.
However in cases where the content is rarely called or is called mainly from the same location where it was stored (73% of the time) it would be faster to use a CSN as the content does not need to flow from the origin storage to the CDN edge node before being served.
As we understand that there you have different needs for different users we have incorporated a CDN into our system to enable you to get the best of both worlds. Quick access for commonly accessed files (CDN) as well as quick access for infrequently accessed files (CSN).
Will it benefit me?
GRIDBLAZE is a storage platform that works for anyone but the benefits depend on the scale and type of storage purpose. So who’s going to benefit the most?
- Lots of user generated content
- Content consists of files, images, documents, videos
- An international user base
- Need to scale due to the large amount of content
Speed brakes
There are a few real life scenarios that will limit the speed improvements that you will see.
Proximity to a storage node
The benefits and speed improvements come about mainly due to the smart routing that we do to push data to a nearby storage node. As such, a user that does not have a storage node in close proximity will see nominal improvements in speed. It should be noted that proximity is not just based on geographical distance, but on network distance as well.
National Internet infrastructure
A large part to where we deploy storage nodes is based on the speed of the Internet infrastructure of the country. This plays a big part, as it determines the limits that we can throttle bandwidth for storage and access. For a country running on slow backbones, the improvements to speed will be negligible.
However, we advise you to consider where your core users reside. GRIDBLAZE comes in by maximizing speeds for users in highly networked countries, and future proofing as less connected countries will only get more connected.
User’s Internet connection type and speed
The last part of the puzzle lies with the user and their ISP Internet connection. Does the user connect via ADSL, FIBER, 3G or 4G?
Depending on the connection that the user has, the upload and download speeds might be restricted by the technology or ISP. In some countries, the ISP will also have different speed ranges for both local content and international content. The great thing is that with GRIDBLAZE you will enable your users to always connect to a local network, thus supercharging throughput.
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