Data communication system

A communication system data transfer component comprising:

• a first communication interface with a data link having a relatively higher latency than at least one other data link in the communication system;
• a second communication interface with at least one other data link in the communication system;
• a processor configured to operate in either
• a transparent mode in which data is transferred via the first and the second communication interfaces using a request-response protocol, or
• a data streaming mode in which the data transfer component obtains data from another communication system component via the second communication interface without using the request-response protocol, and transfers the obtained data to a further communication system component via the first communication interface without using the request-response protocol.

A communication system data transfer component comprising:

• a first communication interface with a data link having a relatively higher latency than at least one other data link in the communication system;
• a second communication interface with at least one other data link in the communication system;
• a processor configured to operate in either
• a transparent mode in which data is transferred via the first and the second communication interfaces using a request-response protocol, or
• a data streaming mode in which the data transfer component temporarily stores data received via the first communication interface, and transfers the stored data via the second communication interface to a data requesting component upon receiving a request for the stored data from the data requesting component.