Bidirectional data transfer optimization and content control for networks

Apparatus for transferring data objects over a network, comprising:

• at a sending locality on said network, a first electronic processor comprising:
• an interception unit for intercepting and caching passing objects on a way to respective recipients;
• and
• an identification unit, associated with said interception unit for generating a unique identifier for said passing object, and configured to use a hashing function in said generating, said unique identifier being generated such as to exclusively identify said respective passing object, said interception unit being configured to replace said passing object with said unique identifier to pass over said network and further to use said unique identifier to label said object in said cache;
• and
• at a receiving locality on said network, a second electronic processor comprising:
• a search unit for searching for a corresponding object in at least one node dictionary using said unique identifier to identify said corresponding object, thereby to supply said corresponding object to a respective recipient from a relatively nearby node dictionary without carrying out redundant network transfer, wherein said search unit is further configured to modify said searching in accordance with load balancing considerations, said node dictionary being an instance at a respective node of a data store in which objects are cached and using which data store a same identifier always produces a same object at all nodes.