Auctioning the serving and/or caching of a data object

A system for providing a bid for serving and/or caching a data object, comprising:

• at least one receiver;
• at least one transmitter;
• and
• at least one processor configured to:
• use said at least one receiver to receive a bid request from another system, said bid request comprising information relating to said data object and requesting said system to provide a bid value for serving and/or caching a data object,
• determine a bid value in response to said request, and
• use said at least one transmitter to transmit said bid value to said other system, wherein said at least one processor is further configured to use said at least one transmitter to serve said data object to a requestor in response to receiving a data object request, said data object request identifying said data object, and/or said at least one processor is further configured to cache said data object in a memory of said system in response to receiving a data object or cache request identifying said data object.

A method of requesting a bid for serving and/or caching a data object, comprising:

• receiving a data object request to serve said data object, said data object request identifying said data object;
• transmitting bid requests to a plurality of systems, said bid requests comprising information relating to said data object and requesting said plurality of systems to provide a bid value for serving and/or caching said data object;
• determining a best bid from one or more bid values received in response to said transmitted bid requests;
• and
• redirecting or forwarding said data object request to the system which transmitted said best bid and/or requesting the system which transmitted said best bid to cache said data object.

A method of providing a bid for serving and/or caching a data object, comprising:

• receiving at a system a bid request from another system, said bid request comprising information relating to said data object and requesting said system to provide a bid value for serving and/or caching said data object;
• determining a bid value in response to said request;
• transmitting said bid value to said other system;
• and
• serving said data object to a requestor in response to receiving a data object request, said data object request identifying said data object, and/or
• caching said data object in a memory of said system in response to receiving said data object or cache request identifying said data object.