Google today announced deals with four content delivery network providers designed to help Google's customers speed delivery of rich media payloads from the Google Cloud Platform to end-user devices.

In a blog post, Ofir Roval, product manager, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Cloud Platform, explains that emerging web and mobile apps, including social, gaming, video, news and communications, "carry with them hefty media assets," including high-density images and video. "As payload size and media quality increase, users continue to expect low latency access to their favorite content," Roval says. These include real-time plotting of ride-sharing cars on mobile apps, streaming HD music and video. Users, adds Roval, are "unlikely to tolerate laggy or unresponsive applications."

Google's network has more than 70 points of presence in 33 countries, and is extending that network with connections to four CDN providers: Cloudflare Inc. , Fastly, Highwinds Network Group Inc. and Level 3 Communications Inc. (NYSE: LVLT), Roval says.

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The new program is called CDN Interconnect, part of the Google Cloud Interconnect line. It reduces prices for joint customers of the CDN providers and Google Cloud Platform for in-region Cloud Platform "egress traffic" -- traffic moving from the Google cloud to the CDN.

The new service follows up Google Carrier Interconnect, launched in November, to help link enterprise customers to the Google cloud. Partners included Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), Equinix Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), Level 3 and Tata Communications Ltd. (See Google Teams With Carriers for Cloud Interconnect.)

Google sees networking as a key competitive advantage to building its cloud infrastructure, using the Andromeda SDN to connect its data centers worldwide, and optimizing data centers for networking connectivity. (See Google: 'Great' Data Center Networks Essential.)

— Mitch Wagner, , West Coast Bureau Chief, Light Reading. Got a tip about SDN or NFV? Send it to [email protected].