Application development and firewall combination question

[twalls - Troy Walls <twalls () acxiom com>]

I have been asked to design and develop an standalone application that works over the Internet. The requirements for 
the application are as follows -

This application should use HTTP protocol and should be able to transmit the data in a secure fashion (for example, use 
SSL encryption). 
The application should be both proxy and SOCKS aware and should not have any problems with the firewalls. Basically, if 
you can run web browser on your machine, you should be able to run the application.
The application also needs a persistent connection between the client machine and 2nd tier server.  
The solution should be a generic solution and shouldn't be a proprietary solution.

I never coded with HTTP protocol and not aware of the details involved in making the application generic like netscape 
or microsoft web browser. 

Could some one point me in the right direction and give me some clues how I can develop this application.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Troy Walls
Acxiom Corp.
501-336-2865

twalls () acxiom com