Gone are the days when content delivery networks (CDNs) simply served as efficient platforms for delivering static files. Today’s CDNs have evolved into much more, offering edge compute services, security tools, and more. With this growth, it has become increasingly complex for users to choose the best CDN for their needs and to switch between providers.
The newly launched IO River is here to tackle this challenge with a $5.4 million seed funding round led by S Capital. Built on top of CDNs, it aims to simplify the process of switching between providers without being limited by the lowest common denominator features.
What sets IO River apart is the expertise of its co-founders, Edward Tsinovoi (CEO) and Michael Hakimi (CTO), who have over a decade of experience working together, including at Akamai’s Tel Aviv office. Their joint knowledge and participation in the Intel Ignite accelerator program have propelled IO River to its current state.
“Many online service companies today are locked into a single edge or CDN vendor,” says Tsinovoi. “This dependence has a significant impact on their resilience, performance, and cost efficiency. Top enterprise companies see the value in not relying on a single edge vendor. However, managing a multi-CDN, multi-edge platform architecture can be complicated and expensive. Our goal at IO River is to make this a feasible option for all.”
The core services offered by IO River are what one would expect from a multi-CDN platform, such as traffic splitting between providers to optimize for uptime, performance, and cost, as well as a unified management console. These features are relatively straightforward, and for basic functionality shared by all CDNs, IO River can utilize their native APIs.
However, where things get complicated is when it comes to running application and compute services on the edge. Since CDNs are not designed to work together, there is very little common ground. To overcome this challenge, IO River provides its own application services, including a web application firewall, rate limiting, and origin load balancing. What stands out is their unified edge computing platform, which allows users to run the same code on different platforms without any modifications.
Getting started with IO River is easy – users can import their existing CDN provider’s settings and add new providers on the go. The service constantly monitors performance, providing users with detailed analytics to help them determine the best network for their needs. There is also the option to set up automatic rules for switching between networks in case of issues.
Currently, IO River supports a variety of CDNs, including Akamai, Cachefly, Cloudflare, Cloudfront, Edgio, EdgeNext, CDNetworks, Fastly and GCore. There is also a free version available, which offers up to 1 billion hits per month and includes features such as global rate limiting, unified origin load balancing, and IO River’s unified edge computing service.
“Content delivery is a vital aspect for internet-based companies, and downtime or slow and unreliable content can result in lost sales,” remarks Haim Sadger, co-founding partner of S Capital. “But rising data costs also add pressure to these companies’ financials. The traditional solution of using a CDN may not solve all these problems. IO River offers a modern solution that meets the market’s needs, and we’re thrilled to invest in Edward and Michael’s exceptional expertise in delivering internet content to the world.”
