Debuting at IBC2025 are enhancements to Varnish Software’s flagship content delivery platform, Varnish Enterprise. This includes Global Rate Limiting for real-time, distributed traffic control and a sophisticated CDN Router for intelligent multi-CDN traffic steering, alongside other advancements designed to provide control and efficiency for broadcasters, streaming platforms and enterprises

Addressing the critical need for robust traffic management in distributed environments, Global Rate Limiting in Varnish Enterprise enables coordinated enforcement of traffic policies across all Varnish nodes. Unlike traditional local limits that leave systems vulnerable to distributed attacks, this new capability ensures a single, logical rate limit is applied consistently across multi-node and multi-PoP deployments. Each node shares and consumes usage data via a lightweight messaging backbone (NATS), allowing for real-time evaluation of every request within the context of global usage. This proactive approach blocks abuse early, fairly and efficiently, preventing resource exhaustion and maintaining performance.

Key technical benefits include global coordination, custom limits, burst handling and low-latency synchronisation.

This feature is ideal for protecting global APIs with consistent user quotas, maintaining delivery quality in private CDNs against coordinated exploit attempts, and balancing resource use across tenants in large enterprise platforms. It integrates with Varnish’s Layered Security Suite, complementing WAF, KV Store, Bot-mitigation, Geo-blocking and more for unified, programmable defence at the edge.

For service providers navigating the complexities of multi-CDN strategies, the new CDN Router from Varnish Software is said to provide a purpose-built, intelligent traffic steering solution. It empowers operators with full control over content delivery paths, crucial for managing growing traffic and ensuring smooth delivery during high-demand events.

The CDN Router dynamically evaluates each user request using a customisable rule set to select the optimal delivery path, returning either an HTTP redirect or a DNS response. It continuously monitors the health, load and performance of all connected CDNs in real time, enabling adaptive, data-driven routing decisions that enhance user experience and optimise costs. By maximising private CDN usage and only offloading to external CDNs when necessary, CDN Router can lower delivery costs, increase reliability and ensure consistent performance during traffic spikes such as live sports or entertainment events.

“As media infrastructure becomes increasingly distributed and complex, our customers demand more sophisticated tools to manage their content delivery infrastructure,” said Fredrik Borg, CEO of Varnish Software. “These new Varnish Enterprise features, Global Rate Limiting and CDN Router, are direct responses to those needs. They provide our technical audience with the granular control, real-time intelligence and robust layered security required to optimise performance, reduce costs and ensure exceptional user experiences at scale, especially in dynamic environments like live streaming and global API delivery.”