receiving from a client a request for an information object, wherein the information object includes content;

determining one or more information object repositories from a plurality of information object repositories to service the client's request for the information object according to load on the information object repositories and at least one type-of-service parameter out of a plurality of type-of-service parameters, wherein the plurality of the type-of-service parameters comprise one or more of an average delay from the information object repositories to the client, average processing delays at the information object repositories, reliability of a path from the information object repositories to the client, or available bandwidth in said path, wherein the determining is performed without regard as to whether the information object is actually stored at the one or more information object repositories, and wherein the determining includes mapping an address of the client to an address of a selected information object repository of the one or more information object repositories based on a Web Information Locator by Distance (WILD) protocol, wherein the determined information object repository is to deliver the content to the client; and

returning to the client an address of the selected information object repository.