“SkipWare is a series of extensions to standard Internet
transport protocols that, when installed on a network device,
maximizes link utilization and reliability in a stressed
transmission environment. It has been developed collaboratively
between GST and Comtech; GST provides the software and Comtech
provides the hardware. Although SkipWare is an implementation of
SCPS (space communication protocol standards), a graphical user
interface is required to specify configuration settings that impact
overall system performance. Given that the product forwards IP
(Internet) traffic, a Web-based client was the most feasible
interface for our customers.“Because the interface requirements were soft and time was
short, we approached the interface with a rapid development
mentality focused on constant customer feedback. A language
decision had to be made, and we had the following choices
(primarily due to our experience): C, PHP, Perl, Java and
Python…”