Method and apparatus for distributing requests among a plurality of resources

An apparatus for querying one of a plurality of servers, comprising:

• an interface for receiving a query;
• distance logic for determining the distance of each of the plurality of servers and identifying a subset of the plurality of servers to be an acceptable distance from the apparatus;
• a router in communication with the interface for choosing a first node on a virtual network of nodes and for generating at least one route from the first node in the virtual network of nodes to another node in the virtual network of nodes in response to the query;
• an allocator in communication with the router for allocating each of the nodes on the route in the virtual network to a respective one of the subset of the plurality of servers;
• and
• an output in communication with the allocator for requesting data from the respective one of the plurality of servers mapped to the first node.