A system dynamically discovers the geographic location of entities of a
computer network. A network entity is configured to include a location
determination engine and a radio frequency (RF) receiver unit. A
plurality of RF base stations are disposed in the area proximate to the
network entity. Each RF base station has a beacon for transmitting a
radio frequency (RF) signal encoded with the location, e.g., the physical
coordinates, of the respective RF base station and the time of
transmission. The encoded RF signals are received by the RF receiver unit
at the network entity and passed to the location determination engine,
which uses the received information to compute its location. The location
determination engine then reports its location by loading the computed
location into a network message and transmitting that message to a
central repository.