A Capital Market Metaphor for Content Delivery Network Resources

Abstract

We establish a framework that can be used by Origin Servers (content-generating organizations) for claiming Content Delivery Network (CDN) resources in a fine-grained way. The basis of our work lies in the use of Stocks as well as a Secondary Market for the stock trading, tools and products commonly used in modern capital markets. Network and disk resources are being monitored through well-established techniques (Kernel Regression Estimators) in a given time frame (typically in the order to an hour). This information is dynamically updated to reflect transient behavior and longer-term trends. The model that we establish relies initially on the resource use forecasting that the kernels can provide but also on other complementary techniques. To cope with inaccuracies in the predictive capability of the prediction mechanism (that would imply inefficient use of the claimed resources) we establish a Secondary Market for the stock trading. This scheme allows the fast offloading of unused resources. Thus, all the involved players (including the CDN itself) benefit from the rationalized use of CDN resources.