Patent ID: 8199752

Claim:
A content delivery network (CDN) for delivering content of others with the Internet using a plurality of point of presences (POPs), the CDN comprising: a first POP accessible using an Internet protocol (IP) address, wherein the first POP comprises a plurality of first edge servers that each are configured to deliver content to end user devices; a second POP accessible using the IP address, wherein: the plurality of POPs comprise the first POP and the second POP, the second POP is geographically separated from the first POP, and the second POP comprises a plurality of second edge servers that each are configured to deliver content to end user devices; and a switch fabric within the CDN that assigns a request for content received at the first POP to one of the plurality of second edge servers when the second POP is determined likely to provide improved delivery of the content object of the request, the request having been resolved by a Domain Name System (DNS) prior to therequest being received at the first POP, wherein the switch fabric assigns the request to the second POP without further action by an end user device which initiated the request for content.