Electronic commerce distributed network and method

摘要

An electronic commerce distributed network is disclosed that includes a plurality of interconnected processing nodes. Each processing node ( 50 ) includes a first sub-node ( 52 ) and a second sub-node ( 54 ) that are connected to communicate information and are in geographically remote locations. The first sub-node ( 52 ) of each processing node ( 50 ) has an active state in which the first sub-node ( 52 ) communicates with other processing nodes and processes electronic commerce messages communicated with originator/recipient organizations. The second sub-node ( 54 ) of each processing node ( 50 ) has a mirror state in which the second sub-node ( 54 ) mirrors the first sub-node ( 52 ) as well as an active state in which the second sub-node ( 54 ) communicates with other processing nodes and processes electronic commerce messages communicated with originator/recipient organizations. The first sub-node ( 52 ) of each processing node ( 50 ) is initially in the active state, and the second sub-node ( 54 ) is initially in the mirror state. The second sub-node ( 54 ) is operable to switch to the active state if the first sub-node ( 52 ) fails, such that each processing node in the electronic commerce distributed network can maintain operation in the event the first sub-node of that processing node experiences failure.