Xfer allows you to connect into networks that otherwise would require "Port Forwarding" to be enabled inside your firewall. Xfer allows direct addressing of devices outside the network by extending IP addressing with "Segment / Offset" addressing. LAN devices may be addressed through their 'gateway' and Xfer can pass through Apache and IIS when the ISAPI component is configured.

Xfer is an Internet transport protocol designed by United Business Technologies (UBT). UBT has very high aspirations for Xfer on the order of industry wide adoption that will shape and drive the future of the Internet by allowing devices on private networks to be accessed from outside the private network or over the internet.

With the advancement of networks, today more than ever before, the need for a new protocol such as Xfer is paramount. Xfer provides connectivity solutions in common cases that previously would have required new hardware or special firewall configurations to connect into private sub-networks in homes and offices through the Internet.

Xfer is in a class of its own - or more accurately, it?s the first one to show up to this class. There is still no other product comparable to Xfer. What sets Xfer apart from other Internet protocols is the new concept of a ?Connection Path? that is used to connect one machine to another. The connection path builds an ?address? to some networked computer or device. Unlike an IP Address, an Xfer address (aka the ?connection path?) contains more delivery information.

"Forward Connect Routes" make connections through a series of hops that abstract TCP hops 1 level.

"Switchboard Connect Routes" connect into networks, by having a device on the network connect out to a 'connection joiner' or switchboard.

Xfer works through HTTP proxies as well as NAT routers

portions published as open source here:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/XML/XMLFoundation.aspx