webserver design for mobile GPRS clients. minimize bytes transferr

[Kai Fransson]

I am designing a server solution using .NET and webservice connection points.
A need has come up to support mobile clients (microprocessor units with
software written in C) that wants to communicate with "my" server using GPRS.
Communication over GPRS costs money per Kb trasferred, so my question is how
to best support this. The goal would be to keep the amount of bytes
transferred to a minimum, so as to avoid unnecessary GPRS costs. Clients will
communicate with the server regularly sending small bursts of data.

A regular webservice facade that accepts input in XML form. But XML tags
really is "unnecessary" bytes being transferred I think. Also, this uses the
HTTP protocol, and how much overhead in the form of extra bytes is that?

I am thinking of designing a separate connection point (or front end) for
these types of clients. A front end that support direct TCP communication and
with a simple custom protocol to transfer data.

I would appreciate any suggestions or input regarding this. Does my
reasoning sound OK, or is it totally insane?

Best Regards
Kaison

 

[Dhanraj K.S]

I think its not possible to use webservices without underlying XML, because
Webservices uses SOAP Protocal which uses XML as the medium of transport. So
i think you need to check some alternative using basic aspx pages with some
text responses.

Thanks
Dhanraj