Abstract: A connection bridge mechanism for adding arbitrary protocols into a middleware-based application without accessing the source code for the middleware or producing a new version of the middleware source code. Using a connection bridge allows the plugged in protocol to be utilized by the middleware without requiring that the same O/S primitives which are utilized internally by the middleware be supported by the plugged in protocol. The plugged in protocol can be utilized in addition to the internally supported middleware protocols or it can replace the existing middleware protocols. The connection bridge provides the communication between the protocols and the middleware package. The connection bridge queues the requests from the protocols and notifies the middleware when there are requests pending for action by the middleware.