1. A method comprising: receiving a request from a source computing system to store a data item; in response to receiving the request, determining one or more attributes associated with the request, the attributes indicating one or more of a type of the data item, a size of the data item, a frequency of use of the data item, or a user associated with the request; determining whether the one or more attributes meet criteria for storing data files; and in response to determining that the one or more attributes meet criteria for storing data items, forwarding the data item between computer system nodes in a network of computer system nodes without storing the data item on any fixed storage medium in the network, wherein computer system nodes to which the data item is forwarded are determined dynamically based on statuses of respective computer system nodes and/or one or more statuses of the network.