Patent ID: 8447862

Claim:
A content delivery network (CDN) comprising: a first Point-of-Presence (POP) comprising a first load balancing server and a first set of edge servers, the first load balancing server assigned a particular Internet protocol (IP) address such that a request for content addressed to the particular IP address originating from a first region that is proximate to the first POP is routed to the first load balancing server; and a second POP comprising a second load balancing server and a second set of edge servers, the second load balancing server assigned the same particular IP address as the first load balancing server such that a request for the content addressed to the particular IP address originating from a second region that is proximate to the second POP is routed to the second load balancing server, the second load balancing server comprising: a processor (i) processing a set of parameters to identify whether the first POP offers improved delivery of content relative to the second POP or the second POP provides improved delivery of the content relative to the first POP and (ii) selecting an edge server of the first set of edge servers when the processor determines that the first POP provides improved delivery for the content relative to the second POP based on the set of parameters; and a packet switch forwarding a received request for the content to the first POP when the processor determines that the first POP provides improved delivery for the content relative to the second POP based on the set of parameters.