Using the Geographic Distance for Selecting the Nearest Agent in Intermediary-Based Access to Internet Resources

Abstract

Intermediary agents extend the functionality and performance without violating the principles employed in the design of the Web. Such agents intervene in the client–server interactions shaping the response from the web server before it reaches the client. In this paper, we study and characterize the problem of choosing the intermediary agent nearest to the web client. Agent-client proximity is considered in the context of low latency and high bandwidth. Each intermediary agent can support every client but the nearest agent is the best choice. We performed extensive experiments on the Internet. We show that the geographic distance for selecting the nearest intermediary agent is accurate and effective.