Improving Content Delivery with PaDIS

Content-delivery networks (CDNs) originate a large fraction of Internet traffic; yet, due to how CDNs often perform traffic optimization, users aren't always assigned to the best servers for end-user performance. To improve user assignment of CDNs, the authors propose and deploy the Provider-aided Distance Information System (PaDIS), which lets ISPs augment the CDN server by utilizing their unique knowledge about network conditions and user locations. Field tests show that using PaDIS can result in significant improvements in download time.