ENGLEWOOD, COLO. - NTT/Verio has expanded its IP services by adding a content delivery feature for customers who want to speed Web content to end users around the globe.

The service, called Smart Content Delivery, was launched earlier this month. NTT/Verio is using caching and switching devices, as well as caching software, from Foundry Networks and Network Appliance to deliver the service. It employs reverse-proxy caching and global load balancing to move content to the edge of the NTT network and then deliver it from the server closest to the end user.

The edge caching servers are in four peering points: San Jose; Sterling, Va.; London; and Tokyo. Wayne Lambert, director of product engineering at Verio, says the company is planning to expand the service by adding caching servers in more locations.

The service can handle static content and streaming media, although Secure Sockets Layer transactions and dynamic content still must be processed at origin servers. Nevertheless, Verio says that tests conducted by Keynote Systems have shown Web sites perform two to eight times faster because of the ability to off-load some of the content from origin servers, pushing it to the edge of the network.

Daniel Marion, head of technology at UEFA Media in Nyon, Switzerland, says the soccer organization's Web site has seen download times cut in half and has reduced the strain on its origin servers - even as traffic has doubled since last year - since it began beta-testing the NTT/Verio Smart Content Delivery service earlier this year.

Verio hosts the UEFA Web site, which averages between 1.5 million to 2 million page views per day but spikes to 6 million page views on game days. Marion says UEFA considered content delivery network (CDN) providers such as Akamai Technologies, Digital Island and Mirror Image before settling on NTT/Verio's new service. The primary reason, he says, is that the Web site provides real-time, play-by-play text and graphics, and NTT/Verio could guarantee that fresher content would be delivered from edge servers.