Patent ID: 7680938

Claim:
A method comprising: designating a director server from among a plurality of servers configured to service requests for assets and configured to function as a director server if designated, each of the plurality of servers further configured with a storage system and an adaptable cache configured to proactively cache assets; receiving a first request and a second request for an asset at a network interface of the designated director server; forwarding the first request and the second request to a host processor of the designated director server over a bus; determining whether or not the asset is present on the designated director server; if the asset is present on the designated director server, servicing the first request and the second request from the designated director server by: monitoring the bus by a designated director server's adaptable cache, detecting the first request and the second request on the bus at the designated director server's adaptable cache, generating, at the designated director server's adaptable cache, a list of pairs of requests for the asset comprising a first pair of requests comprising the first request and the second request, determining that the first pair of requests has the shortest interval between start times from among pairs of requests identified in the list of pairs of requests, responsive to the first request, streaming the asset from a designated director server's storage system and storing the asset on the designated director server's adaptable cache as it is being streamed from the designated director server's storage system, and responsive to the second request, streaming the asset from the designated director server's adaptable cache and transmitting an instruction from the designated director server's adaptable cache to the designated director server's storage system directing the designated director server's storage system not to respond to the second request; and if the asset is not present on the designated director server, selecting, by the designated director server based on a designated director server's state table, a first server in said plurality of servers to service the first request and the second request, said designated director server's state table comprising state information for said first server indicating that the asset is present on the first server.