Abstract: A computer forms a node in a network, consisting of computer nodes linked together into a minimum spanning tree topology. When a computer receives a message from a first node linked to it, it forwards the message to other nodes linked to that computer, as well as storing information about the message. As replies are received from the other computers, they are stored and collated together, to allow the computer to send just a single reply message back to the originating node based on the collated replies. This single reply is in turn collated at the next node. The message requests deletion of a particular node from the network. No node deletes the node from the network until replies have been received from all the nodes to which the message was forwarded.

Abstract: A computer workstation runs an application 12 which generates data for transmission over a network. The workstation includes a communications subsystem 14 which is responsible for actually sending data generated by the application onto the network. The application therefore passes data 22 for sending to the communications subsystem, along with the identification 24 of the channel over which that data is to be sent, and compression information 26. In a first embodiment the communications subsystem contains a variety of compression routines 40, and the compression information indicates which of these routines is most appropriate for the data in question. In a second embodiment, the compression information is a call-back function 92, whereby the communications subsystem can call back to the application program to perform the compression itself.