A distributed computing environment is disclosed which allows a user at one location to access resources at other locations. Each resource in the distributed computing environment is represented as a hierarchical file system. A user or process has a name space comprised of at least one ...http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US5724512?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US5724512 - Methods and apparatus for storage and retrieval of name space information in a distributed computing system 
