From CDNs to Frontend Clouds

This post discusses the limitations of traditional CDNs and IaC for modern dynamic web applications, highlighting how they fail to meet demands for speed, global presence, scalability, dynamism, reliability, and security. It introduces the concept of 'frontend clouds' and Vercel's 'Framework Defined Infrastructure' as solutions that abstract away complex infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on innovation. The post contrasts the static nature of CDN caching with the need for dynamic content delivery and efficient cache invalidation, and explains how client-side solutions can lead to performance issues. It emphasizes the comeback of the frontend engineer role with the rise of meta-frameworks and the importance of infrastructure supporting these advancements. The core principles of application delivery (fast, global, scalable, dynamic, reliable, secure) are outlined as essential for exceptional user experiences and application performance.