Questions:
  1. WAP Resources
  2. What is WAP?
Answers:
  1. WAP Resources
    Please read "What is WAP" as well.

    Although we do not offer a gateway service, we can offer you some pointers on how to make your web pages 'come alive' thru wireless devices.

    The programming language required to make web pages viewable on a wireless device is Wireless Markup Language (WML), an HTML type language which can be parsed in wireless device microbrowsers.
    If you do not know how to code WML, a translator will be required to transform your static HTML pages into WML pages. There are several translator/gateway products on the market with few of these programs being both. Some companies that produce these are Oracle,IBM, Spyglass, Proxinet, EveryPath, and AvantGo. None of these programs are cheap, however the costs are expected to decline in the future much like products for HTTP have declined over time.

    ******Because of incompatibilities between these programs and the underlying software that runs on our servers we cannot install these programs for your use on the server.*******

    There are, however, off server resources you can still use to "WAP enable" your web site. A few sites that we have found that offer free WAP/WML general information, translators, and gateway services can be found below:

    http://digitalpaths.net
    ***A free on-line gateway service that converts WML written pages for delivery to wireless devices.

    http://www.go2online.com
    ***Provides a dynamic web page translation proxy.

    http://ccwap.com
    ****Comprehensive reference material for the Wireless Application Protocol including image translators, tutorials, developers tools, etc.
  2. What is WAP?
    WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol and is based on WML (Wireless Markup Language), which is closely related to HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).
    WAP is independent from any other mobile standards, therefore it is compatible to all popular mobile communication networks. WAP is becoming the de facto world-wide standard for information and telecommunication service on mobile phones or other wireless devices such as PDAs, palmtops etc.

    If you want your WAP-compatible device to show any WML pages, you obviously must request the page from a web server. Because of the restrictions of cellular phones, PDAs and all other mobile devices, the data can’t be transferred directly from the server. WML pages are first sent to a WAP gateway. The WAP gateway has the responsibility to change the binary-coded request into a http request and then send it to the Web server. The Web server will now send the WML page to the WAP gateway, which will encode the data into binary WML and send it to you the end user.

    *****The function of a gateway is to mediate between the mobile device and the web server.******

    Gateways (also called WAP Proxy) have a special role in the WAP system. They are the heart of the whole system, because they connect the internet with mobile communication.
    If, for example, a certain WML page is called from a web server the request has to be sent to a gateway in BINARY CODE.
    The gateway changes the binary code and then establishes a connection with the desired web server.
    It then follows an http request over TCP/IP to the web server.
    The web server delivers back the corresponding WML file.
    After that the gateway changes everything back into binary code and sends it to the mobile device for viewing.
    The change of a WML file into bytecode requires a great degree of manipulation of the underlying data. Since all WML files are usually only text files, the amount of data will "shrink" up to about a fourth of the original size. This makes for a much better transmission rate than the HTTP protocol typically delivers.