TY - GEN
T1 - Cooperative content distribution and traffic engineering in an ISP network
AU - Jiang, Wenjie
AU - Rui, Zhang Shen
AU - Rexford, Jennifer L.
AU - Chiang, Mung
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Traditionally, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) make profit by providing Internet connectivity, while content providers (CPs) play the more lucrative role of delivering content to users. As network connectivity is increasingly a commodity, ISPs have a strong incentive to offer content to their subscribers by deploying their own content distribution infrastructure. Providing content services in an ISP network presents new opportunities for coordination between traffic engineering (to select efficient routes for the traffic) and server selection (to match servers with subscribers). In this work, we develop a mathematical framework that considers three models with an increasing amount of cooperation between the ISP and the CP. We show that separating server selection and traffic engineering leads to sub-optimal equilibria, even when the CP is given accurate and timely information about the ISP's network in a partial cooperation. More surprisingly, extra visibility may result in a less efficient outcome and such performance degradation can be unbounded. Leveraging ideas from cooperative game theory, we propose an architecture based on the concept of Nash bargaining solution. Simulations on realistic backbone topologies are performed to quantify the performance differences among the three models. Our results apply both when a network provider attempts to provide content, and when separate ISP and CP entities wish to cooperate. This study is a step toward a systematic understanding of the interactions between those who provide and operate networks and those who generate and distribute content.
AB - Traditionally, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) make profit by providing Internet connectivity, while content providers (CPs) play the more lucrative role of delivering content to users. As network connectivity is increasingly a commodity, ISPs have a strong incentive to offer content to their subscribers by deploying their own content distribution infrastructure. Providing content services in an ISP network presents new opportunities for coordination between traffic engineering (to select efficient routes for the traffic) and server selection (to match servers with subscribers). In this work, we develop a mathematical framework that considers three models with an increasing amount of cooperation between the ISP and the CP. We show that separating server selection and traffic engineering leads to sub-optimal equilibria, even when the CP is given accurate and timely information about the ISP's network in a partial cooperation. More surprisingly, extra visibility may result in a less efficient outcome and such performance degradation can be unbounded. Leveraging ideas from cooperative game theory, we propose an architecture based on the concept of Nash bargaining solution. Simulations on realistic backbone topologies are performed to quantify the performance differences among the three models. Our results apply both when a network provider attempts to provide content, and when separate ISP and CP entities wish to cooperate. This study is a step toward a systematic understanding of the interactions between those who provide and operate networks and those who generate and distribute content.
KW - C.4 [performance of systems]: [performance attributes]
KW - Design
KW - Economics
KW - Performance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70449686701&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=70449686701&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/1555349.1555377
DO - 10.1145/1555349.1555377
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:70449686701
SN - 9781605585116
T3 - SIGMETRICS/Performance'09 - Proceedings of the 11th International Joint Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems
SP - 239
EP - 250
BT - SIGMETRICS/Performance'09 - Proceedings of the 11th International Joint Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems
T2 - 11th International Joint Conference on Measurement and Modeling of Computer Systems, SIGMETRICS/Performance'09
Y2 - 15 June 2009 through 19 June 2009
ER -