A method of tailoring data streams transmitted to networked user devices is disclosed in which environment information associated with each device is stored at an agent located on those devices. This environment information may include information related to the hardware, interface and application capabilities of the particular device. In another embodiment, this environment information is transmitted and stored at an agent at a local network gateway. And in another embodiment, the environment information is then stored at a mirror agent located in a backbone network of a service provider. By referring to this environment information, a service provider can tailor the transmission of data streams, such as multimedia streams, to a device based on the capabilities of the device and the associated network.