Fly.io Revolutionizes Application Delivery with Edge Computing
Kurt Mackey, founder and CEO of Fly.io, believes that developers often misunderstand the concept of edge computing. While they may know that running applications closer to users improves responsiveness, he thinks the traditional approach using content delivery networks (CDNs) is flawed.
A New Kind of Public Application Delivery Cloud
Fly.io offers a public application delivery cloud that delivers applications worldwide, wherever the end user is located. Unlike CDNs like Cloudflare or Akamai, Fly.io doesn’t involve building its own data centers. Instead, it requires installing hardware in different co-location facilities around the globe.
"We deploy our own hardware," Mackey explained. "We’re not built on top of other clouds. Developers are building applications, particularly real-time applications where responsiveness to user interactions matters a lot. So basically they use us to just ship their stack in whatever country they happen to be in."
A Flawed Approach: CDNs
Mackey sees a significant difference between Fly.io’s approach and that of traditional CDNs. "My hot take is that a CDN is kind of a misfeature for most developers building dynamic applications because what happens is you end up running your app in Virginia, and then putting some of it on the CDN that then runs close to users, rather than just putting the application itself where it needs to go," he said.
Lessons Learned from Refining the Deployment Process
Fly.io launched in 2017 and has spent a great deal of time refining the process of deploying hardware where needed. Mackey believes that these lessons will enable him to continue scaling as the company grows. He views this as an operational problem, rather than a financial one, getting enough money to finance the hardware.
"We have several hundred thousand apps deployed at this point," he said. "And the types of applications we’re seeing are mostly real-time applications, where responsiveness is critical."
Success with $25 Million Series B Funding
Fly.io’s recent success includes its $25 million Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with help from Intel Capital, Dell Technologies Capital, Initialized Capital, and Planetscale CEO Sam Lambert. The Series A was also led by Intel Capital.
Google Goes All In on Hybrid Cloud with New Portfolio of Edge and Managed On-Prem Solutions
In related news, Google has announced its new portfolio of edge and managed on-prem solutions for hybrid cloud computing. This move further underscores the growing importance of edge computing in delivering applications to users worldwide.
Topics: Andreessen Horowitz, Cloud Computing, Edge Computing, Enterprise, Fly.io, Intel Capital, Startups
