WAP - Wireless Application Protocol

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an open, global specification that empowers mobile users with wireless devices to easily access and interact with information and services instantly. It provides service interoperability even between different device families.



WAP is designed to work with most wireless networks such as CDPD, CDMA, GSM, PDC, PHS, TDMA, FLEX, TETRA, DECT and GRPS etc. WAP can be built on any operating system including PalmOS, EPOC, Windows CE, FLEXOS, OS/9, JavaOS etc.



WAP Protocol Suite:

The WAP standard described a protocol suite allowing the interoperability of WAP equipment and software with different network technologies.





How WAP works?

The WAP transport model is analogous to the Internet model, except for the gateway that is inserted between the Web server and the client. The application server can be located in either a public or private IP network. The gateway normally is located in telecom networks, but it can be set up by a company using its own computer system, let’s look at a typical scenario using WAP technology:



1. A user with a WAP device requests content from the application server.

2. The request reaches the gateway first, which does the protocol translation from WAP to HTTP and routes the HTTP request to the destination server.

3. The server returns WML (Wireless Markup Language) output and adds HTTP headers to the gateway, depending upon whether dynamic or static pages are requested.

4. The gateway converts WML and HTTP to binary form to conserve bandwidth and returns a WAP response to the user.

5. A browser inside WAP devices that parses and interprets the WML and WMLScript, to show the contents.



References:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-basics-of-wap-technology/1031976

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Application_Protocol