Content delivery and hosting specialist Mirror Image Monday announced a new Web Computing suite of services for retail, advertising and software companies.

The move reflects an evolution for content delivery networks (CDNs), which must increasingly offer more than just quick delivery of content and applications to their customers' end users.

The Woburn, Mass., company said its offering allows customers to better target content -- improving conversion rates.

One key is new a Web-based user interface that allows marketers to set rules without the assistance of the IT staff. For example, a marketer could make changes to an online campaign based on geography, language or time of day and schedule an ad or promotion to appear without ordering coding changes.

Mirror Image also offers an analysis tool, called Web Beacon, which enables businesses to evaluate their efforts, including those that cross several ad server vendors, by anonymously tracking click-stream data to identify user behavior.

"There's a quick turnaround and that's good for everybody," Bob Hammond, CTO of the Woburn, Mass., company told internetnews.com.

Hammond said the idea was first discussed two years ago and work began on the project in earnest about nine months ago. To deliver the service around Internet congestion, Mirror Image will rely on its 21 Content Access Points, technology hubs that provide connectivity, processing power and storage.

Hammond said Mirror Image won't compete with content management software makers, who offer more advanced tools. However, he sees the addition of "logic" as the next step in the content delivery network space. Also, he foresees partnerships with content management firms that could help lead to new business.

Mirror Image, which was founded in 1997, is principally owned by Xcelera. The company counts PacSun, New England Cable News and Network Intelligence among its marquee customers.

The firm competes with Akamai, Speedera Networks and others.