Patent ID: 7636762

Claim:
A method comprising: in a network of interconnected computer system nodes, receiving a request from a source system to store at least one data item; disassembling the at least one data item; directing the disassembled at least one data item to a node; in response to the request from the source system, continuously forwarding the disassembled at least one data item among the nodes in the network of interconnected computer system nodes without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium in the network, the forwarded at least one data item being constantly routed within the network from node to node, and each of the forwarded at least one data item being available for retrieval if a request to retrieve the data is received, the continuously forwarding comprising: determining an address of a node available to receive the disassembled at least one data item based on one or more factors; sending a message to the source system with the address of a specific node for the source system to forward the disassembled at least one data item; detecting a presence of the disassembled at least one data item at the specific node; and forwarding the disassembled at least one data item to another node in the network of interconnected computer system nodes without storing the forwarded data on any fixed storage medium.