A communication protocol, and a method and system of communication exchange between systems over a communication network includes establishing a connection between a first system and a second system. Data is formatted by the first system into an IP datagram with an IP header and one of a TCP and a UDP header. A connectionless TCP/IP header is constructed to add to the formatted data. The connectionless TCP/IP header includes a pre-defined identifying value in a designated field, and a checksum to validate that a connectionless TCP/IP header has been identified. The formatted data having the connectionless TCP/IP header is transmitted from the first system to the second system, and the pre-defined identifying value in the designated field is verified to identify the connectionless TCP/IP header. The connectionless TCP/IP header is then removed from the IP datagram, and the IP datagram is processed.