What is the main purpose of a Content Delivery Network (CDN)?

The primary purpose of a Content Delivery Network (CDN) is to enhance the speed and responsiveness of websites. A CDN achieves this by distributing content across multiple geographic locations, known as edge servers. When a user accesses a website, the CDN directs their request to the nearest edge server, which reduces the physical distance that data has to travel. This results in faster loading times for web pages, improved performance, and a seamless user experience, especially for high-traffic websites or those delivering heavy content such as videos, images, and large files.

While ensuring data security and privacy, maintaining system backups, and centralizing data storage are important aspects of IT infrastructure, they are not the primary focus of a CDN. A CDN specifically targets the optimization of content delivery, which is essential for improving site speed and overall user engagement.