Abstract: A data acquisition system having a plurality of remote data gathering devices each of which communicates according to a respective defined communications protocol. An object database memory containing data for all of the data gathering devices is provided. Protocol drivers stored in the memory may be retrieved and stacked to form a layered protocol driver in accordance with established ISO/OSI standards. A common messaging interface is interposed between adjacent protocol drivers in the stack and a common database interface is interposed between the protocol drivers and the database memory.