An Internet content delivery network deploys one or more CDN server
regions in an enterprise and manages those regions as part of the
Internet CDN. In one aspect of the invention, a CDN service provider
(CDNSP) deploys one or more CDN regions behind an enterprise's corporate
firewall(s). The regions are used to deliver Internet content--content
that has been tagged or otherwise made available for delivery over the
Internet from the CDN's content servers. This content includes, for
example, content that given content providers have identified is to be
delivered by the CDN. In addition, the enterprise may tag intranet
content, which is then also served from the CDN regions behind the
firewall. Intranet content remains secure by virtue of using the
enterprise's existing security infrastructure. In accordance with another
aspect of the invention, the CDNSP implements access controls and deploys
one or more CDN regions outside an enterprise's firewall(s) such that
intranet content can be served from regions located outside the
firewall(s). In this embodiment, the CDNSP can provide granular control,
such as permissions per groups of users. In this way, the CDNSP, in
effect, extends a conventional virtual private network (VPN) to all or a
portion of the ICDN, thereby enabling the CDNSP to use multiple regions
and potentially thousands of content servers available to serve the
enterprise's internal content. In addition to making internal content
available from the edge of the network, the CDNSP provides a mechanism by
which an enterprise may share secure data with its business partner(s)
without setting up any special infrastructure.