Hi Jeff,
interesting project...
Jeff Barnes wrote:Good point.
I don't need second by second real time, a few minutes lag is ok. I will need to take that into consideration before I invest any time making this idea into an actual program.
The reliability of your server and internet connection is something you can contract under a SLA as required. My own experience is not as bad as James's, i don't remeber when was the last time our server where down.
(James, if you've had several down in the service probably you should consider to change provider,
)
Check
http://lowendbox.com/, most of them will include the uptime in their service specs.
For data reception, I problably build a pseudo data-server, where devices connects via the internet sending records, protected under SSL and additional id check. Internet gives you the advantage of being available in every single device, with several options for device connectivity like GSM, Wifi, etc..
A PHP Lamp stack should be enough, taking advantage of supporting for several simultaneous connections.
What's the spected incomming data rate? How many clients will be connected at once? Daily data volume?