Patent ID: 8228822

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a processor in a subject network in a system of networks; computer readable storage medium bearing instructions to cause the apparatus to: receive a distributed hash table (DHT) data transfer message from a sending network, wherein if the data transfer message should be forwarded outside a local DHT, at least one tag in the data transfer message specifies a designated delivery to a specific set of DHTs, and wherein a particular data transfer message is provided with a DHT key and a pointer back to an original DHT associated with the DHT key, and wherein the DHT key is stored by a receiving node; if the sending network is a customer network of the subject network, forward the message on to other networks in the system except the customer network; if the sending network is a peer network to the subject network or a provider network to the subject network, forward the message to networks in the system that are customer networks of the subject network.