The invention relates to an enhanced ADSL Data Network (ADN) with vertical
services capabilities. In general, vertical services capabilities are
data services offered directly from a central office to an end user,
without compromising the integrity of the user's guaranteed bit rate to
the Internet through the ADN. One such vertical service is content
downloadable at a high data rate from a content server located in or
proximate to a central office that serves the end user. The content of
the local server is updated and upgraded periodically and systematically
from a central content server that distributes content to a number of
remote central offices. The content is distributed between the central
content server and the respective local content servers using available
bandwidth, that is to say bandwidth on at least certain network links
that is unused by subscriber traffic.