Content Distribution for Mobile Internet: A Cloud-based Approach Second Edition Background and Overview

This chapter presents the background and overview of the book. First, we introduce the basic concept, the crucial design principle, and the brief history of Internet content distribution. Next, we illustrate the "heavy-cloud versus light end" polarization of Internet content distribution under the novel settings of cloud computing and mobile Internet. Afterward, we review various frontier techniques that attempt to address current issues of Internet content distribution. At the end, we outline the entire book structure.