Handles are persistent identifiers for Internet resources. A handle does not have to be derived in any way from the entity that it names – the connection is maintained within the Handle System. This allows the name to persist over changes of location, ownership, and other 'current state' conditions. When a named resource moves from one location to another, e.g., from an old server to a new server, the handle is kept current by updating its value in the Handle System to reflect the new location.

The Handle system is designed to meet the following requirements for persistence.

Handles are:

• not based on any changeable attributes of the entity they identify (location, ownership, or any other attribute that may change over time);
• opaque, preferably 'dumb numbers' from which no potentially confusing meaning can be drawn, and from which no assumptions about ownership or use can be made;
• unique within the Handle System, avoiding collisions and referential uncertainty;
• optionally, easy to make user friendly, human-readable, cut-and-paste-able, and can be embedded, if needed;
• easily fit into common systems, e.g., URI specification.

Handle resolution is:

• reliable, using redundancy, with no single points of failure and resolution time fast enough never to appear broken;
• scalable, so that higher loads are easily managed with more computers;
• flexible and easily adapted to changing computing environments and new applications;
• trusted, with both resolution and administration built on proven trust methods;
• built on an open architecture that encourages the community of users to build applications on top of the infrastructure;
• transparent to users who don't need to know the infrastructure details.