Amazon Silk: Split Browser Architecture

Content Delivery Networks, and WAN optimization, provided a generic acceleration solution to get common content closer to the client device, but on mobile devices the delivery performance of the last mile was still a problem. Many websites still do not have mobile optimized content, and sucking down a 3Mpixel JPG and render it on a 320×240 pixel display is just plain wrong. With the introduction of Amazon Silk, which uses the cloud to aggregate, cache, precompile, and predict, the client-side experience can now be optimized for the device that everybody glamours for: the tablet.

This is going to create an even bigger disconnect between the consumer IT experience and the enterprise IT experience. On the Amazon Fire you will be able to pull up, nearly instantaneously, common TV video clips and connect to millions of books. But most enterprises will find it difficult to invest in WAN optimization gear that would replicate that experience on the corporate network for your day to day work.

Amazon Silk is another example of the power that the cloud provides for doing heavy computes and caching that enables low-capability devices to roam.