Scalability of HTTP pacing with intelligent bursting

The ubiquity and simplicity of HTTP makes it a popular choice for Web-based video retrieval. However, HTTP was not designed for retrieving data with just-in-time tolerances; HTTP servers have always taken an as-fast-as-possible approach to data delivery. For media with known bandwidth constraints (e.g., audio/video files), HTTP servers can be enhanced and optimized by taking these constraints into account. For these data types, we present our architecture for an HTTP streaming server using paced output with intelligent bursting. We also discuss the scalability advantages of our HTTP streaming server architecture and compare it with traditional HTTP server response times and bandwidth usage.