J2EE平台上流行的二进制web service协议，由Caucho公司（Resin应用服务器的开发商）制订的Hessian协议日前已经被移植到微软.NET平台。微软平台上的开发者们又拥有了另一种可供选择的web service通信协议，并且可以保证与J2EE平台的互操作性。
Hessian协议和web service常用的SOAP协议类似，也是将协议报文封装在HTTP封包中，通过HTTP信道传输的。因此Hessian协议具有与SOAP协议同样的优点，即传输不受防火墙的限制（防火墙通常不限制HTTP信道）。Hessian协议的优点在于：它采用二进制编码，因此传输数据量比SOAP协议要小得多。实践证明，传输同样的对象，Hessian协议传输的数据量比SOAP协议低一个数量级。因此在复杂网络环境下的分布式应用使用Hessian协议可以获得更好的性能和可靠性。
可以在下列地址下载Hessian协议的C#版本实现：http://www.hessiancsharp.org/
Caucho Technology's Hessian binary protocol makes web services useable without requiring a large framework, and without learning yet another alphabet soup of protocols. Because it is a binary protocol with a small footprint it is well suited to sending digital data such as .MP3 and image files in today's mobile environment.
HessianC# represents the latest implementation of Caucho’s Hessian Binary Web Service Protocol and is being developed under the GPL by the three software engineers: Dimitri Minich, Vitaliy Byelyenkiy and André Voltmann. A diverse team, Dimitri was born in Kazakhstan, Vitaliy is a Ukrainian native and André comes from Germany. They each work for different software companies and in their spare time they aspire to realize their HessianC# vision. The first version of HessianC# has just been released and can now be found at Sourceforge.net or on the project’s website at www.hessiancsharp.org.
HessianC# project spokesman André Voltmann said,“Our goal is to achieve a higher popularity for the Hessian Protocol which is an easier to use and faster alternative to Apache SOAP. We want to show how it can be used for mobile devices as well as for internet applications, and how it can serve as a bridge between different programming environments.” Voltman concludes, “The next steps will include releasing the Hessian Server as well as publishing several articles about Hessian’s range of possibilities in various German computer magazines.”
Steve Montal, Director of Sales and Strategic Partnerships for Caucho Technology, Inc. said “André’s interest in developing the C# implementation of Hessian ensures that a viable binary web service protocol will be available as the technological push toward smaller, faster mobile devices continues into the future.” Montal added, “Caucho fully supports André and his team and looks forward to working with them as they continue to develop HessianC#.”