1. A method comprising: selecting data to be routed; determining the type of the data to be routed; associating the type of data with at least one routing link performance parameter, wherein the at least one routing link performance parameter relates to a service class of the type of data; selecting a plurality of nodes based on the at least one routing link performance parameter; determining which node among the plurality of nodes provides an optimal level of performance relative to at least one other of the plurality of nodes associated with the at least one routing link performance parameter for the data; selecting that node as a recipient node for the data to be routed; verifying that the recipient node has sufficient capacity for the data to be routed; and routing the data through a data network comprising at least some of the plurality of nodes based upon the service class of the type of data.