Patent ID: 8843637

Claim:
A server-managed system for providing data peer-to-peer over a wide area network, the system comprising: a first user client device for storing at least one data file on a data storage device of a first user and for providing one and only one connection from said data storage device to a wide area network; a management server, coupled to the first user client device and to a second user client device through the wide area network, comprising a database for storing access information to the first user client device, said management server for: receiving a request, over the wide area network, from the second user client device for at least one data file of the first user; identifying, using the access information, a location on the wide area network of the first user client device for accessing the data file; accessing the first user client device through the wide area network; and directing that the data file of the first user be transmitted peer-to-peer from the first user client device across the wide area network to the second user client device.