NETWORK LOCATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

In a communications network environment, nodes, such as personal computers, are assigned co-ordinates in a co-ordinate space which is independent of network address and physical location. Each node maintains links to a limited set of other nodes by storing the network addresses for those selected nodes. Each stored network address represents a link in co-ordinate space. It becomes possible for any node to obtain the network address for a target node by initiating a query message to a node for which it has the network address, which query message is propagated through the network between nodes which have the network address for a next node across co-ordinate space. When a receiving node finds it is the target node, or is as close in co-ordinate space as it is possible to forward the query message, it returns its own network address to the initiating node. This technique can also be used to retrieve information other than network addresses—such as objects.