In today’s networks getting access to a device via IP address requires knowledge of said address. Getting hold of the address either requires a known name or the actual IP address of the device. Using NetBIOS or similar services to find the device by name can be a challenge, if a certain type of device is sought, and the exact name of a device is not known. To solve this, a simple request is sent using the FIND protocol and answered by the device. This way the requesting side can easily create a list of devices that it may want to use.

With little ROM and no RAM requirements it can be easily implemented on any device using a TCP/IP stack. This same protocol has been used in J-Link PRO probes and related tools for simplifying the selection of the correct debug probe.