Patent ID: 8793353

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a device service manager server (DSM) having a network access module configured to cooperate with two or more device service controllers (DSCs) and serve as a central management station for allocating and assigning Virtual IP addresses to network devices, the Virtual IP addresses configured to proxy communications for networked devices on a first local area network (LAN) where a first DSC resides and a second LAN where a second DSC resides, the DSM located exterior from the network devices on the LANs where communications associated with the assigned VIP addresses are being routed to, and wherein: the DSM is configured to assign a first Virtual IP Address to the first DSC and establish a route from the first Virtual IP address to a destination network device on the second LAN, based on corresponding second DSC and network device information for the second LAN stored in a registry of the DSM, where the first DSC is located behind a first firewall of the first LAN; the DSM is configured to assign a second Virtual IP Address to the second DSC and establish a return route from the destination network device on the second LAN to a device on the first LAN, based on corresponding first DSC and network device information for the first LAN stored in a registry of the DSM, where the second DSC is located behind a second firewall of the second LAN different from the first firewall, and wherein components of the DSM are implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both, and where components of the DSM implemented in software are stored in an executable format on a non-transitory machine-readable medium.