Defining the modern content delivery network as a group of geographically dispersed servers deployed, usually by third parties, to facilitate the distribution of information generated by World Wide Web publishers in a timely and efficient manner, Held examines their role in facilitating the distribution of various types of Web traffic, ranging from standard Web pages to streaming video and audio. He describes how such networks operate, the advantages and disadvantages associated with using them, and aspects of Web architecture and protocols that are necessary to understand the application of the networks. Readers are assumed to be building human-resource or financial applications, Web sites, or similar services. Distributed in the US by CRC.