Communication system and method

A communication system, including:

• a plurality of user nodes, each user node is operatively connected to one or more remote application programs which generate message data for communication to one or more central application programs operatively associated with the one or more remote application programs and each user node further comprises a user node communications interface configured to transmit data including the message data using a third party communication protocol;
• a plurality of gateway nodes, wherein the gateway nodes are distributed in the air or in space;
• a hub for communicating with the plurality of gateway nodes to receive the message data for communication to the one or more central application programs;
• and
• at least one terrestrial access node for receiving the message data from at least one of the plurality of user nodes via a first communications interface, and the at least one terrestrial based access node communicates the message data to at least one of the plurality of gateway nodes via a second communications interface,
• wherein, the at least one terrestrial access node is configured such that the first communications interface implements a third party communication protocol and at least one terrestrial access node is configured to provide system access to application programs which communicate via the third party communication protocol.

A method of communication, comprising:

• receiving, by one of a plurality of user nodes, data from one or more remote application programs, the data including message data for communication to one or more central application programs operatively associated with the one or more remote application programs;
• receiving, by one or more terrestrial access nodes, message data from the user node via a first communications interface that implements a third party communication protocol, and communicating the message data via a second communications interface to one or more of a plurality of gateway nodes distributed in the air or space wherein the at least one terrestrial access node implements an interface that enables system access to remote application programs configured to communicate via the third party communication protocol;
• and
• receiving, by a hub, message data from one or more of the plurality of gateway nodes and providing the message data to the one or more central application programs.