A few months ago, information appeared on the Internet according to which the company Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), would be interested in building a content delivery network from iCloud, CDN being the specific name. Although those from Cupertino have not discussed anything about their plans in this area, recent discussions had with internet service providers confirm the company's plans for the future.
Apple has been very busy with their build out deploying a lot of boxes running Apache Traffic Server and buying a ton of transit, co-location, wavelengths and other infrastructure services. Their CDN is quickly growing, and it won't be long before we start seeing a portion of their content getting delivered from their new CDN.
Practically Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), is trying to negotiate agreements with internet service providers that allow the interconnection of its main networks through which any kind of content is served, the speed of accessing information from iCloud being greatly increased. At the moment, Apple uses third-party companies such as Akamai to provide content from its servers to users around the world, but those from Cupertino are trying to build their own CDN network.
As part of their build out, Apple is currently negotiating paid interconnection deals with some of the largest ISPs in the US I'm not going to disclose which ISPs they are talking to and what deals they have already done, but it's interesting to note that with all the talk lately of net neutrality, peering and interconnect relationships, Apple isn't out in the market making any complaints.
Apple would have started for some time to install the network equipment necessary to fulfill this plan, the agreements concluded with Internet service providers giving it access to the main data transfer hubs. Although for now Apple is building the network only in the USA, it will not be long before it will be extended to Europe and Asia, a good part of the owners of iDevices being active on these continents.
