Web cache location

Stress placed on network infrastructure by the popularity of the World Wide Web may be partially relieved by keeping multiple copies of Web documents at geographically dispersed locations. In particular, use of proxy caches and replication provide a means of storing information ‘nearer to end users’. This paper concentrates on the locational aspects of Web caching giving both an overview, from an operational research point of view, of existing research and putting forward avenues for possible further research. This area of research is in its infancy and the emphasis will be on themes and trends rather than on algorithm construction. Finally, Web caching problems are briefly related to referral systems more generally.