Scaling Web services with capacity provision networks

With the increasing proliferation of c-commerce and e-business activities, many service providers are turning to Web caching solutions to move important content and processes closer to end users. Uncertainties in user demand and rapid market changes pose significant impediments to effective cache planning and deployment solutions, however. The authors have developed capacity provision networks to support a specific type of Web caching in the vertical segment of ISPs, NSPs, and similar entities. In this scenario, an entity can be a provider at one time and a user at another, depending on cache capacity requirements.