A distributed processor architecture computer system and method that includes one or more processors and object oriented control program for real time and near-real time streaming data processing which is able to change the underlying communication mechanism at runtime, which includes the use of a software interface that hides the underlying communication mechanism. The present invention permits the accommodation of changes in communication resource availability due to link, equipment, or software failures or communication bandwidth resources being used by other collaborating programs. The ability to select a communication mechanism based upon cost performance for the particular program deployment and communication mechanism availability as described in the present invention. Typical criteria used for selecting different communication mechanisms for streaming a high volume data on each individual connection would include lower latency, lower overhead time per message, higher throughput in bytes per second of a particular computer, communication equipment and operating system independence.