For the next few years the Internet and Web will be painfully slow. If within this time it is necessary to use sniffle in applications that require faster client-server communications, one obvious idea is to use a serial communications link. Visual Basic Professional Edition includes a control that makes it easy to have your favorite VB program talk to a modem. It should be possible to change the client-server communication channel of sniffle to a serial line without altering much of the system's core.
A more ambitious plan would be to create a system that permits real-time interaction between the remote controller and the I/O board.