In an exemplary method, a computer system within a subnet of a computer network sends a discovery request to other computer systems within the subnet. The discovery request comprises a request for a resource. The computer system downloads an available portion of the resource from the other computer systems in the subnet. If there is a remaining portion of the resource that is not available from the other computer systems in the subnet but that is available from a remote source, and if there is at least one other computer system in the subnet that is also seeking to obtain the remaining portion of the resource, the computer system negotiates with the at least one other computer system about downloading the remaining portion of the resource from the remote source. If no other computers in the subnet require the resource, then the remaining portion of the resource may be downloaded directly from the remote source.