The invention uses a distributed network of specialized nodes of different types dispersed around the Internet. In operation, web client's requests are directed to a node of a first type chosen to be close to the client, and the client communicates with this node using a standard protocol such as HTTP. This first node receives the request, and locates a node of a second type, chosen to be an optimal initial relay on a path to the web server. The first node may communicates the request to the second node using a different, specialized, protocol that has been designed for improved performance and specifically to reduce traffic volume and to reduce latency. The second node receives communication from the first node using this specialized protocol, and relays it to an optimally chosen third node using the same, or possibly different internode communication protocol. This process may repeat over additional internode hops until finally, the last node receives the request from the previous network node, converts it back to a standard protocol such as HTTP, and forwards the request to the server. Responses from server to client can take the same or similar reverse route, and can also be carried over specialized protocols between the network nodes. In addition, these nodes can employ other techniques such as web caches that avoid or improve some communication steps.