1. A method for performing integrated caching in a device that is communicatively coupled to a data communication network, comprising: (a) receiving a packet from a client over the data communication network, the packet including a request for an object; (b) at the operating system/kernel level of the device: (i) performing one or more of decryption processing of the packet, authentication and/or authorization of the client, or decompression of the request; (ii) determining if the object resides within a cache; (iii) serving the request from the cache responsive to a determination that the object is stored within the cache, and (iv) sending the request to a server responsive to a determination that the object is not stored within the cache.