Patent ID: 8798001

Claim:
A system for routing messages in a communication network comprising: a plurality of nodes, each node including a plurality of servers coupled to one another wherein on receipt of a packet, the packet selected from at least one class of a message packet class, an information packet class and a presence packet class, for delivery to an intended recipient by a first server within the plurality of servers of a first node within the plurality of nodes; and the system being operable to, upon determining that the intended recipient is connected to the first server, deliver the packet, upon determining that the intended recipient is not connected to the first server, review the packet for a destination address and forward the packet to the destination address for delivery, and upon determining that the packet does not contain a destination address after review, forward the packet to a registry, wherein the registry is operable to query at least one database to obtain a user profile of the intended recipient and forward the packet to the intended recipient based on information contained in the user profile; wherein, if the user profile of the intended recipient cannot be determined by the registry, the system is operable to determine the class of the packet from one of the following classes: a message packet class, an information packet class and a presence packet class, and process the packet in accordance with the class of the packet.