Patent ID: 8898745

Claim:
A system for accessing a service on a terminal node, the system comprising a chain of nodes, at least one of the nodes in the chain comprising a hardware device, the chain comprising a first node, one or more intermediate nodes, and the terminal node, the terminal node maintaining the service, wherein: the first node is arranged to initiate an access request and to transmit the access request to an adjacent node; each intermediate node is arranged to authenticate, using a computer device, the transmitting node and to transmit the access request to an adjacent node; and the terminal node is arranged to authenticate the transmitting node and to execute the access request; wherein each node in the chain includes a database storing a list of available services, each available service in the list provided by an external node having associated details of an adjacent node through which the respective service is accessible, and wherein each node in the chain is arranged, upon receipt of an access request from an authenticated node, to encapsulate the access request from the authenticated node with its own local identifier.