Patent ID: 7167920

Claim:
A peer computing system comprising: a plurality of peer nodes operable to couple to a network, wherein each of the plurality of peer nodes comprises: one or more network interfaces, wherein each network interface is configured to implement at least one of one or more network transport protocols; and one or more endpoints, wherein each endpoint corresponds to and uniquely identifies one of the one or more network interfaces; wherein each of the plurality of peer nodes is operable to: obtain a pipe advertisement describing a pipe, wherein the pipe represents a virtual communications channel for communicating with one or more of the plurality of peer nodes on the network, wherein the pipe advertisement specifies a pipe type, and wherein the pipe advertisement includes binding information for an endpoint of another one of the plurality of peer nodes, wherein the endpoint of the other peer node corresponds to a network interface of the peer node that implements a particular network transport protocol that supports the pipe type; bind the pipe advertisement to one of the one or more endpoints on the particular peer node, wherein the endpoint of the particular peer node corresponds to a network interface of the particular peer node that implements the particular network transport protocol that supports the pipe type; and communicate with the other peer node over the pipe in accordance with the particular network transport protocol.