Content delivery (the effective delivery of content to the user in real time without delay) has made significant strides in catching up with overall Internet traffic over the last couple of years. Up until about five years ago, the lion share of content delivery involved raising the hit ratio of static content, typically images.

Today, I am pleased to announce the launching of Concentric Cloud Solutions, a division of XO Communications, that will be focused on the evolution of IT infrastructures including Cloud Computing, Content Acceleration and Cloud Voice.  Concentric will capitalize on the strength, experience and legacy of XO Communications while also initiating an entrepreneurial start-up approach to generate new business.

After 11 years supporting products at XO Communications, I have been given the opportunity to be the Director of Product Management at Concentric Cloud Solutions (CCS), a recently launched subsidiary of XO Communications. CCS has been formed to focus on the growing needs of businesses like yours requiring cloud solutions: Cloud Voice, Cloud Computing and Content Acceleration.

In my 16 years in the telecom industry, I've witnessed remarkable technology advances. In my first year with MCI back in 1996, dial-up internet was just becoming popular. Some fortune 100 companies were even using dial-up Internet services as part of their corporate LANs. At the same time, the mobile phone industry was still developing as users were adopting handheld units in mass, while pagers and installed car phones were making their exit. Today, as you're well aware, a typical business person is powered with the most productive tool in history, the smartphone.

With the growing usage statistics, I think it’s fair to say that Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are hot. Companies are growing weary of the old delivery limitations and waking up to the new technology that allows them to deliver content wherever and whenever they need, while at the same time paying for what they use. But be careful. As with any relatively young industry, you'll find that at best there are some that are marginal at what they do...and at worst others that don't even seem like they're trying.

We truly live in an exciting era, don't we? Amazing technological developments are happening on a daily basis. Looking past the typically gloomy news reported by the media, technological developments are improving and enhancing our lives consistently and in so many wonderful ways - from education to defense to healthcare and beyond. The Enterprise certainly hasn't been left behind. Business productivity due largely to technology has increased significantly just over the last five years.