Abstract: A Connection Manager is selectively invoked when an application on a computing host opens a designated gateway communications port. Any application that opens the gateway port and which has a preexisting entry in a special applications database will result in the appropriate target communications port being transparently selected, attributed, and configured and the application becoming automatically connected to the desired target device. Connections may be wired or wireless. The Connection Manager provides a straightforward and uniform way to automatically manage (including configuration and reconfiguration) ports and devices for communication applications executing on the computing host.