Abstract: An apparatus is described including a central connection manager having a contact rules engine, the contact rules engine being configured to allow contact rule creation and to provide contact rule management such that created contact rules will apply to each of the multiple distributed applications and servers owned by each of the multiple distributed applications. A computerized method of managing contact information for deployed applications and deployed servers in a geographically distributed network is also described. The method involves maintaining an ownership relationship between the deployed applications and the deployed servers such that every server is owned by at least one application, maintaining a centralized repository of contact rules and managing the contact rules such that when a rule parameter of a specific rule changes, the change will be applied to all impacted deployed applications.