A network information management unit in which a memory resource that requires the storage of a network information management database is utilized in distributed fashion, as a result of which a single agent need not be equipped with a large-scale memory. The management unit, which is connected to a network and mounted on a network-capable image processing device capable of being shared by a plurality of clients, is constituted by a plurality of agents distributed on a plurality of logically independent controllers that construct the image processing device. Each of the plurality of agents communicates with one another, and generates a network management information response to a network management information request, which has been issued by a network information manager, after each agent has processed the network management information request in distributed fashion.