Dynamic Deployment and Optimization of Virtual Content Delivery Networks

Today, over-the-top video streaming is gaining a lot of popularity. In this respect, the virtual content delivery network (CDN) is perceived as a key enabler to circumvent the technical challenges faced by content providers to deliver high-quality content over the Internet. Here, the authors investigate how the two main actors of the video delivery chain--the CDN operator and the ISP--can benefit from network and server virtualization to negotiate dynamic service-level agreements that reduce CDN capital expenditures and operating expenses, while generating more revenue for the ISP. First, the authors present a dataset used to simulate dynamic distributed traffic consumption. Second, they discuss the steps required to deploy and operate a virtual CDN deployed on an ISP's network. Furthermore, they present evaluation results of the proposed solution, based on simple models. Lastly, they elaborate on operational parameters that are used to further optimize the solution. This article is part of a special issue on advancing multimedia distribution.