Next generation content networks: Trends and challenges

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) [1] have emerged to overcome the inherent limitations of the Internet in terms of user perceived Quality of Service (QoS) when accessing Web content. They offer infrastructure and mechanisms to deliver content and services in a scalable manner, and enhance users' Web experience. However, modern applications do not just perform retrieval or access operations on content but also create content, modify and manage content, and actively place content at appropriate locations. In order to deal with such new requirements, along with the proliferation, formation, and consolidation of the CDN landscape, new forms of Content Networks (CNs) are coming into picture. Thus, distribution and management of content is introducing new challenges in this domain through raising new issues in the architecture, design and implementation of CNs. Moreover, the evolution of next-generation CNs in a large-scale heterogeneous environment demands for a paradigm shift within the research community in terms of the technologies used. Therefore, the integrated uses of existing emerging as well as stable technologies (e.g. agent, P2P, grid, data mining) are anticipated to augment the effectiveness and boost the efficiency of future CN infrastructures [2, 3, 4]. The aim of this panel session is to discuss about new ideas and results in the content networking domain. It will capture the state-of-the-art in content networking domain in terms of organizational structure, content distribution mechanisms, request redirection techniques, and performance measurement methodologies. It will also identify potential research directions and technologies that will drive innovations within this domain. In particular, the talks will be focused on agents for content management and delivery, P2P-based CNs, mobile multimedia CDNs, integration between CDNs and cloud computing, and content delivery on wireless networks.