Packet routing via payload inspection at routers in a core of a
distributed network. Packets include subjects and attributes in addition
to routing information. The subjects correspond with particular types of
content for subscriptions, and the attributes encapsulate the data or
content. The routers store filters corresponding with subscriptions to
content. Upon receiving a packet, a router inspects the payload section
of the packet containing the attributes in order to retrieve the
attributes and apply them to the filters for the subscriptions. If an
attribute satisfies a filter, the packet is routed to the next link. If
the attributes do not satisfy the filters, the router discards the
packet. These routing decisions are distributed among routers in the
network core. The router locally caches the data in the network core.