A system and associated communication protocol facilitates management of user access to network (including Internet) compatible applications. An authentication system used by a first application for managing user access to at least one of a plurality of network compatible applications uses an authentication processor. The authentication processor receives user identification information including a user identifier and initiates authentication of the user identification information using an authentication service. The authentication system also includes a communication processor for communicating an authentication service identifier and a corresponding user identifier to a managing application. The authentication service identifier identifies an authentication service used to authenticate identification information of the corresponding user. The authentication processor maps a non-authenticated user identifier of a second application to an authenticated different user identifier of a first application using a database.