Patent ID: 7941785

Claim:
A system for managing information, comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a software program operable to maintain an identity index, wherein said identity index comprises: a plurality of index keys, wherein each index key indexes a virtual identity of a respective one of a plurality of users; a plurality of virtual identities, wherein each virtual identity is indexed within the identity index by one the plurality of index keys, wherein each virtual identity is a virtual identity of a respective one of the plurality of users, wherein each virtual identity comprises identity information of the respective user in regard to multiple different computer resources used by the same respective user, and wherein one or more of the virtual identities comprises: a plurality of information object identifiers, wherein each information object identifier identifies a respective information object of the respective user stored at a respective one of the multiple different computer resources; and a plurality of resource names, wherein each resource name identifies which one of the multiple different computer resources contains a respective one of the information objects of the respective user, wherein each said resource name is linked to a respective one of the plurality of information object identifiers; and wherein said identity index further comprises a plurality of resource definitions, wherein each resource definition is a definition of a respective one of the multiple computer resources, wherein each resource definition comprises connection information for the respective computer resource; and wherein the software program is operable to access the identity index via one of the plurality of index keys to locate and retrieve, from within the identity index, information from a respective one of the plurality of virtual identities indexed by the one of the index keys.