Apple Utilizing Own Content Delivery Network to Help Deliver iOS 8 Update

According to data from internet research firm DeepField, Apple relied on its content delivery network along with Akamai and Limelight to handle the rollout of iOS 8 publicly this week (via The Wall Street Journal). The release of iOS 8 caused web traffic to more than double in some areas as millions of iOS users rushed to update their iOS devices.

“It really was a significant coming out party for the Apple CDN,” DeepField Chief Executive Craig Labovitz said. “This is definitely a realization that Apple is not just a software player. They’re not just a maker of PCs. They have an Internet backbone and an international Internet presence.”

Apple has not commented publicly on its content delivery network, but the company reportedly has been working on the network for several years. The CDN was believed to have gone live in the US and Europe in July of this year when Apple used the network to deliver smaller OS X updates.

In the future, the CDN likely will be used to delivery software updates, such as the upcoming OS X Yosemite release, to customers worldwide. Apple also is expected to gradually migrate its iTunes and App Store away from Akamai and other Level 3 CDNs as it strives to deliver data reliably to its customers by bringing this content delivery under its direct control.