SCDN: A Novel Software-Driven CDN for Better Content Pricing and Caching

Abstract

In conventional content delivery networks (CDNs), where the content providers (CPs) are lack of the topology information, it is difficult for them to determine the content caching and pricing scheme. Furthermore, the small CPs cannot maintain their own cache servers as it is costly. To solve these problems, we propose a novel CDN architecture named software-driven CDN (SCDN) by leveraging the benefit provided by the software defined networks. In SCDN, the infrastructure provider (IP) hosts the cache servers at the back of the digital subscriber line access multiplexer, and it takes over the tasks to determine the content pricing and caching. By adopting a suitable revenue sharing scheme, SCDN achieves a win-win situation between IP and CPs. Simulation results show that with SCDN, the CPs can get about 25% more revenue than they can get in conventional CDNs.