An apparatus for providing fault tolerance and transparent connection failover, comprising: a computer server configured for executing communication protocols with client computers over a network; and programming within said computer server for executing said communication protocols for communicating requests from a client to a primary server over said network, communicating requests from a client to at least one backup server over said network, where said backup server runs the same application program and performs the same operations in the application program as said primary server, communicating responses from said primary server to said client, and migrating the connection endpoint from said primary server to said backup server in response to the failure of said primary server; wherein said backup server receives and processes said client requests without said client changing the endpoint address of the server from said primary server to said backup server, so that connection endpoint migration is transparent to said client; and wherein said communication protocols comprise a connection-oriented communication protocol executing over a network communication protocol; characterized in that said programming is executed as bridge routines in a bridge sublayer (8, 56), positioned between said connection-oriented communication protocol layer (6, 54) and said network communication protocol layer (26, 64), said bridge routines configured for migrating the connection endpoint from said primary server to said backup server. a computer server configured for executing communication protocols with client computers over a network; and programming within said computer server for executing said communication protocols for communicating requests from a client to a primary server over said network, communicating requests from a client to at least one backup server over said network, where said backup server runs the same application program and performs the same operations in the application program as said primary server, communicating responses from said primary server to said client, and migrating the connection endpoint from said primary server to said backup server in response to the failure of said primary server; communicating requests from a client to a primary server over said network, communicating requests from a client to at least one backup server over said network, where said backup server runs the same application program and performs the same operations in the application program as said primary server, communicating responses from said primary server to said client, and migrating the connection endpoint from said primary server to said backup server in response to the failure of said primary server; wherein said backup server receives and processes said client requests without said client changing the endpoint address of the server from said primary server to said backup server, so that connection endpoint migration is transparent to said client; and wherein said communication protocols comprise a connection-oriented communication protocol executing over a network communication protocol; characterized in that said programming is executed as bridge routines in a bridge sublayer (8, 56), positioned between said connection-oriented communication protocol layer (6, 54) and said network communication protocol layer (26, 64), said bridge routines configured for migrating the connection endpoint from said primary server to said backup server.