Revenue generated from the sale of content delivery network (CDN) services will grow threefold in the five years to 2017 to reach $4.63bn, on the back of a fivefold rise in global CDN traffic, according to the latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media.

Commercial CDN services are provided by a variety of companies, including “pure play” CDNs (of which Akamai remains the largest), telecoms network operators such as BT, AT&T and Telefonica, and relative newcomers to the CDN market such as Amazon and Google. Google already uses its own international CDN to distribute its YouTube video service. In addition, Google recently ventured into the market for commercial CDN services, in providing support for NBC’s online coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.