SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Limelight Networks,
Inc. (Nasdaq: LLNW), a leading provider of content delivery
services and AppOps at the edge, today announced general
availability of GraphQL functionality for its Layer0 by Limelight
web application CDN.
GraphQL is an important enabler of microservices-based (aka
headless) websites, allowing web builders to make their API layer
much faster and easier to manage. Layer0 has solved the key
challenge of caching GraphQL APIs at the network edge, which is not
supported by traditional web CDNs. In addition, the solution
supports hosting the GraphQL server in a serverless environment.
These new capabilities enhance Limelight's presence in the
$4.4 billion web application CDN
market, especially as web builders, not the operations team, are
driving these purchase decisions.
The GraphQL query language improves on traditional REST APIs and
has had tremendous growth and adoption among developers. Originally
incubated at Facebook and later open sourced, GraphQL reduces the
over-fetching of data, which can improve performance. It also
enables teams to iterate their APIs faster without incurring
versioning headaches by defining a flexible but strongly typed API
between client and server. This has made GraphQL popular with
developers, especially enterprise organizations using headless or
API-first web architectures. In the annual state of JS
survey1, GraphQL had the highest scores for awareness
(98%), satisfaction (94%), and interest (87%) among developers than
any other data layer solution.
Unfortunately, traditional CDNs and caching software have been
built around REST APIs and are incompatible with GraphQL because
they don't cache the more complex HTTP POST format. As a result,
websites using traditional web CDNs experience poor performance
because GraphQL queries cannot be parsed and cached by these
CDNs.
Layer0 solves this problem by adding GraphQL parsing and support
for the POST method to EdgeJS, a high-performance, JavaScript-based
declarative language for edge logic. With EdgeJS, web builders can
create powerful custom caching logic based on both the properties
of their GraphQL queries and HTTP headers such as cookies and
authentication. For example, a developer can cache information such
as a product ID in an ecommerce API from a GraphQL response, as
well as attributes such as language, currency, and personalization
preferences that are embedded in the request headers. In addition,
the same application can manage and submit runtime calls to the
GraphQL server hosted in a serverless environment on Layer0,
eliminating worries about infrastructure and scale.
"We're proud to leapfrog the industry by delivering native
GraphQL support," said Ajay Kapur,
Chief Technology Officer at Limelight. "Web builders ship up to
twice as often because Layer0 makes edge compute and caching one
small part of a more holistic 'application centric' workflow.
Business teams love their Layer0-powered site because they load in
literally the blink of an eye via predictive prefetching, the
industry's fastest edge compute, and suite of RUM and observability
tools."
Layer0 includes everything development and DevOps teams need to
implement a headless or Jamstack architecture including hosting,
serverless, observability, RUM and CI/CD integration. Teams can be
flexible in how they leverage Layer0. They can use it to cache
their GraphQL APIs, run their GraphQL server in a serverless
environment, or host their entire headless application. Layer0 also
has powerful routing options that enable teams to gradually migrate
legacy applications to headless or API-first architectures.
The combination of GraphQL support and compatibility with
traditional systems makes Layer0 ideal for large enterprises
migrating to GraphQL with a mix of legacy and modern
components.
About Limelight
Limelight (NASDAQ: LLNW) is an industry leader in providing
edge-enabled solutions to deliver fast, secure digital experiences
on a global scale. We offer powerful tools that optimize,
protect and deliver our clients' valuable digital assets in an
increasingly competitive marketplace. From content delivery and
AppOps to Jamstack application architecture and web security, we
are uniquely positioned to leverage our global private network and
client-obsessed experts to help our customers win. The world's
largest brands trust Limelight and we invite you to learn more
about us by visiting www.limelight.com, Twitter,
Facebook and LinkedIn.
1
https://2020.stateofjs.com/en-US/technologies/datalayer/
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