China’s vast audience of more than 700 million internet users offers tremendous growth opportunities for companies around the world. However “The Great Firewall” — a set of restrictions imposed by the Chinese government — makes delivering content into China challenging. Limelight China Delivery offers a range of options for reaching Chinese consumers by delivering content directly from within China or by serving content into China through optimized delivery from nearby locations. Limelight makes it easy to extend your global content delivery to reach all your customers, even those in China.
To provide the best possible online experience to Chinese consumers, content should be delivered from local Points of Presence (PoPs). The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) regulates internet content delivery within China. All websites that deliver content from within China must obtain an Internet Content Provider (ICP) license (also called “Bei’An”). An ICP license is required, even if content originates from outside China but it is cached and delivered by servers within China. However, to apply for an ICP license, a company must have a registered business entity in China, limiting the number of companies that are eligible to deliver content directly from within China. For many companies, delivering content from within China is not an option.
If a company does not have an ICP license, content cannot be stored, cached, or delivered directly from servers in China. In this case, content must be delivered into China from outside the country. However, reaching Chinese consumers from servers outside the country creates significant challenges due to content filtering by the Chinese government, potential peering bottlenecks, and challenges with optimizing delivery for every ISP. Depending on the application, the impact can include slow or stalled web pages, poor or failed video delivery, failed ecommerce transactions and slow or failed file downloads.
Even with an ICP license, delivering the best possible experience to Chinese consumers anywhere in the country on any device requires an extensive network of PoPs and peering with Chinese network operators and ISPs. Limelight has partnered with leading China-based content delivery networks to provide enhanced delivery from within China. Limelight provides these services with the high degree of expertise, integration and support customers expect from Limelight to create an end-to-end global solution that includes China.
Limelight China Delivery offers the highest performance for customers with an ICP license. Content can be transferred into China and preloaded on in-country servers for delivery from PoPs throughout mainland China that offer direct connections to all major network providers and ISPs. By caching and serving content from local servers across China, Limelight makes it easy to extend your global reach and provide the fastest experiences to customers across the country.
Limelight offers services to assist eligible customers with obtaining an ICP license.
For companies who are unable to obtain an ICP license and deliver content directly from within China, Limelight China Edge Delivery provides an optimized infrastructure for serving Chinese customers from servers located outside the country.
Limelight helps you expand your market presence into mainland China. If you have an ICP license, Limelight China Delivery provides your content with the fastest delivery, with content cached on and delivered from servers inside China. Even without an ICP license, Limelight China Edge Delivery places content in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand with high-performance query handling and handoff to networks in China for fast delivery.
