Speed Week 2023: Measuring, Building, and Shipping Faster

Speed Week 2023 has concluded, and the recurring theme was clear: performance must be measured with the right tools, then improved with minimal friction. The week's announcements covered everything from new observability products to one-click network optimizations, all built on Cloudflare's expanding global network of over 300 cities.

If you missed the daily posts, here is a recap of the major themes and product launches from the week.

Rethinking Performance Metrics

A major focus was on which performance indicators actually matter. The release of Observatory, Digital Experience Monitoring (in beta), and Timing Insights provides a detailed view into the performance of both public websites and internal applications. These tools offer perspective from the critical viewpoints of website visitors and employees.

The week also included educational deep dives into metrics. One post examined Interaction to Next Paint (INP), the latest Core Web Vital, and its implications. Another explained why Time To First Byte (TTFB) is no longer an effective proxy for good web performance. On the network side, Cloudflare Radar introduced a new Internet Quality page, enabling users to compare connection quality across ISPs and countries.

Performance Where It Counts

For enterprise customers, the conversation extended beyond the public web to security infrastructure. Cloudflare published guidance on measuring Zero Trust performance and released independent analyses asserting it operates the fastest Secure Web Gateway, Zero Trust Network Access, and Remote Browser Isolation solutions.

AI and machine learning also played a prominent role. Posts discussed the performance rationale behind running AI inference directly on Cloudflare's distributed network, as well as how the company scales ML operations and executes inference at the microsecond level.

Removing the Friction from Speed

Much of the week was dedicated to making acceleration a default, rather than a manual project. Several new features act as single-button performance boosts requiring little to no configuration, including:

  • Smart Hints
  • Improved HTTP/3 Prioritization
  • Argo for UDP, targeting gaming and streaming workloads
  • Brotil compression end-to-end, from origin to client
  • Low-Latency HLS (LL-HLS) for Cloudflare Stream
  • Ricochet for API Gateway

These features are designed to yield immediate improvements to traffic speed across a wide range of use cases.

Simpler Migration Paths

Finally, Cloudflare aimed to reduce the pain of switching from legacy infrastructure. Updates to the Turpentine and Descaler migration programs highlighted how the company is streamlining the process of moving workloads onto its network, whether from a competing CDN or another API gateway.