A tangible, machine readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by an instruction execution system, implements a method, the method comprising: receiving a source file by a gateway engine, the source file being a binary file; portioning the source file into multiple binary data parts by a breakdown engine; creating, by an XML encoding engine, for each of said binary data parts, a respective XML document containing an XOP reference to said binary data part; embedding, by a source gateway, each of said XML documents within a respective SOAP message; transferring the multiple binary data parts and the respective SOAP messages by a transfer engine using a single port according to a messaging protocol to transfer messages between nodes, wherein WS-ReliableMessaging protocol is used as said messaging protocol to transfer the multiple binary data parts and the respective SOAP messages as a message sequence; wherein the transferring comprises: determining whether the single port supports MTOM; if the single port supports MTOM, transferring each SOAP message including its associated XOP referenced binary data part in a multi-part MIME container; if the single port does not support MTOM, replacing by a Base 64 encoder, in each SOAP message, the XOP reference with a Base 64 representation of the associated binary data part, and streaming the resulting SOAP message (304") to destination; and reassembling the multiple binary data parts into a copy of the source file by a reassembly engine. receiving a source file by a gateway engine, the source file being a binary file; portioning the source file into multiple binary data parts by a breakdown engine; creating, by an XML encoding engine, for each of said binary data parts, a respective XML document containing an XOP reference to said binary data part; embedding, by a source gateway, each of said XML documents within a respective SOAP message; transferring the multiple binary data parts and the respective SOAP messages by a transfer engine using a single port according to a messaging protocol to transfer messages between nodes, wherein WS-ReliableMessaging protocol is used as said messaging protocol to transfer the multiple binary data parts and the respective SOAP messages as a message sequence; wherein the transferring comprises: determining whether the single port supports MTOM; if the single port supports MTOM, transferring each SOAP message including its associated XOP referenced binary data part in a multi-part MIME container; if the single port does not support MTOM, replacing by a Base 64 encoder, in each SOAP message, the XOP reference with a Base 64 representation of the associated binary data part, and streaming the resulting SOAP message (304") to destination; and determining whether the single port supports MTOM; if the single port supports MTOM, transferring each SOAP message including its associated XOP referenced binary data part in a multi-part MIME container; if the single port does not support MTOM, replacing by a Base 64 encoder, in each SOAP message, the XOP reference with a Base 64 representation of the associated binary data part, and streaming the resulting SOAP message (304") to destination; and reassembling the multiple binary data parts into a copy of the source file by a reassembly engine.