1. In a system containing a plurality of computers which communicate over a network using communication protocols, with the computers at certain nodes in the network acting as home servers for storing information in the form of documents, and with certain other computers acting as clients that send document request messages to the servers at an application layer, the document requests message being requests for documents stored at the home servers, a method of fulfilling document request messages comprising the steps of: (a) storing local cache copies of documents at a plurality of intermediate node locations in the network; and (b) in response to a particular one of the clients generating a particular application layer document request message addressed to a particular one of the home servers, attempting to fulfill the particular application layer document request message at one of the intermediate node locations by, at a selected communication layer lower than the application layer, (i) intercepting the document request message at an intermediate node location through which the document request naturally travels, the intermediate node being located along a path through the network from the client towards the home server, the path being a route from the client to the home server as determined by the home server address, and corresponding to an identical path that the message would travel through the network in the absence of any cache copies being stored at intermediate node locations; and (ii) returning one of the local cache copies to the application layer at the client, such that the application layer request message is intercepted by the lower layer at the intermediate node and such that the application layer on the server does not receive application layer document request message.