Tradeoffs in CDN designs for throughput oriented traffic

Internet delivery infrastructures are traditionally optimized for low-latency traffic, such as the Web traffic. However, in recent years we are witnessing a massive growth of throughput-oriented applications, such as video streaming. These applications introduce new tradeoffs and design choices for content delivery networks (CDNs). In this paper, we focus on understanding two key design choices: (1) What is the impact of the number of CDN's peering points and server locations on its aggregate throughput and operating costs? (2) How much can ISP-CDNs benefit from using path selection to maximize its aggregate throughput compared to other CDNs who only have control at the edge? Answering these questions is challenging because content distribution involves a complex ecosystem consisting of many parties (clients, CDNs, ISPs) and depends on various settings which differ across places and over time. We introduce a simple model to illustrate and quantify the essential tradeoffs in CDN designs. Using extensive analysis over a variety of network topologies (with varying numbers of CDN peering points and server locations), operating cost models, and client video streaming traces, we observe that: (1) Doubling the number of peering points roughly doubles the aggregate throughput over a wide range of values and network topologies. In contrast, optimal path selection improves the CDN aggregate throughput by less than 70\%, and in many cases by as little as a few percents. (2) Keeping the number of peering points constant, but reducing the number of location (data centers) at which the CDN is deployed can significantly reduce operating costs.