Abstract: A communication system provides access to public and private data over a data network, wherein the private data is located behind firewalls. The communication system includes an e-mail box which is capable of receiving and storing all customer requests transmitted over the data network and coupled to a remote agent server which retrieves the stored requests. The remote agent server transmits the information obtained associated with the requests to the users. The system allows various communication devices to access public and private data bases on the existing communication infrastructure, including communication devices such as e-mail-enabled cell phones, PDA's, PC's, pages, etc. The system allows these communication devices to execute with simple comments from the communication device, native commands and applications on a remote host computer.