Moving on from a simple IRC server to some other technology

I would like some opinions about one project.

Sorry my english, is not my natural language.

My current setup:

Arduino -> IRC SERVER <-> Clients (PHP and custom software)

1 - Arduinos sends a special crafted string to the IRC server.

2 - IRC server has one channel per group of Arduinos.

3 - On every channel there's a bot, catching all the strings s开发者_Go百科ent, and saving them on a SQL database.

4 - I have a cron job, that moves the raw data from the 1st SQL table to another one, with data already parsed, pretty and nice.

5 - Clients, who may use PHP web based site, or a custom software connect to the server.

6 - If they need realtime data, the IRC server is choosen, a command is sent to the Arduino, and this, sends the string either to channel AND to the operator. Otherwise, they get the data from the 2nd SQL table with a simple query date based.

7 - Data is sent with 1 second interval (NEEDED)

8 - This was a quick and dirty hack to get things done.

Now... I need to move from this arcaic system and get things done in the right way.

I have a few notions of APE (Ajax Push Engine), Comet, REST, etc...

The "almost real-time" is a must, so, my guess would be AJAX, right?!

But, what would you use in a situation like this? What would be the most efficient way to have this upgraded?

My limitation is on the side of Arduino, with the GPRS module, I can only send and receive simple ASCII strings.

Please, Arduino haters, this is not an Arduino doubt/question, forget I even mention it.

This is a simple call for help/ideas about what technology is more efficient to this project?

BTW... I like KISS principle and simple modules, so that debuging won't take more time than the project itself :)

Thanks to all.