Distributed system portability

[Darren New <dnew@san.rr.com>]

Is it generally the case that a distributed system compiled on two
different architectures can talk to itself? In other words, if I write a
distributed system with GNAT, and I compile one portion on Windows and
another portion on Linux, are these two systems likely to talk to each
other? If not, are the stream formats likely to be compatible? If not,
is there a way to redefine the low-level stream operators for things
like Integer to ensure that the same format is used at both ends? Or do
I need to write translation routines to some architecture-independent
format?

I'm basically thinking of something where the clients would be
distributed, talking between themselves peer-to-peer. Does Ada's
portability mean I don't need to write a
translate-to-and-from-network-representation layer, because I can use
streams?

-- 
Darren New / Senior MTS & Free Radical / Invisible Worlds Inc.
       San Diego, CA, USA (PST).  Cryptokeys on demand.
          Only a WIMP puts wallpaper on his desktop.