Patent ID: 8396954

Claim:
A system comprising: a branch site including a branch client; a headquarters site including a headquarters server, the branch site and the headquarters site being communicatively coupled over a link via transmission media, the link being identified through a link identifier, the branch client and the headquarters server being communicatively coupled over a network connection via the transmission media, and the network connection being identified through a connection identifier; a first point of presence (POP) communicatively coupled with the branch site over a first segment of the link; and a second POP communicatively coupled with the first POP over a second segment of the link, and communicatively coupled with the headquarters site over a third segment of the link, the branch site being configured to transmit a packet of the network connection, and associated with the branch client, over the first segment to the first POP, based on the link identifier, the packet encoding the link identifier and the connection identifier, the first POP being configured to: select a delivery optimization operation to perform on the packet based on a first POP identifier, the link identifier, and the connection identifier, perform the delivery optimization operation on the packet based on that identification, and transmit the packet to the second POP over the second segment of the link based on the link identifier, and the second POP being configured to: select a further delivery optimization operation to perform on the packet based on a second POP identifier, the link identifier, and the connection identifier, perform the further delivery optimization operation on the packet based on that identification, and transmit the packet to the headquarters site over the third segment of the link based on at least one of the link identifier and the connection identifier, wherein the packet is securely transmitted between the branch site and the headquarters site over each of the first segment, the second segment and the third segment through at least one network tunnel created using a tunneling protocol configured to encapsulate a payload protocol by a network protocol across at least one intervening firewall, and wherein the first POP and the second POP are appropriately located such that application acceleration and network optimization in the transmission of the packet are spread across the system, without being concentrated at end points thereof.