1. A method for a first modular software component of a specified type, deployed on a gateway server in a first domain external to a plurality of managed domains, to address a plurality of managed elements located within the plurality of managed domains, wherein the managed elements have been locally assigned addresses within their respective managed domains that are not constrained to be unique among the plurality of managed domains, and wherein address conflicts among managed elements in the respective managed domains may accordingly exist, which must be resolved in order to perform said addressing, comprising: deploying a modular software component instance of the specified type, on a gateway server in each of the managed domains, to manage the managed elements within the managed domain; storing on the gateway server under control of the modular software component instance in each managed domain the attributes including the locally assigned addresses of the managed elements within the managed domain; locally combining, within each of the managed domains (i) a first identifier associated with the modular component instance in the managed domain, which identifier is unique among said plurality of managed domains, with (ii) the locally assigned address of the managed element, to form within the managed domain a combined address for each of the managed elements that is also unique among said plurality of managed domains; and making the combined addresses available by the modular software component instance within the managed domain in a manner accessible to the first modular software component.