Communication ports / text file interface - stage 1

A comms program as a Windows Service requiring bullet-proof reliability. Provides a communications interface for my Application program. Reads ASCII data from Serial/TCP/UDP ports and writes it to text files. Reads ASCII data from text files and writes it to Serial/TCP/UDP ports. Later extensions will add ability to use ETX/ACK protocol, and then FTP & WSDL. Must operate in a real-time environment (records data from a Phone PABX system as phone calls occur). Must be reliable/self-repairing as it will operate unattended for years at a time. For complete information, please see the uploaded specification text files and sample data interchange files. This project will be done in stages. Multiple coders will be chosen and paid for stage 1. Coders whose programs are reliable and look promising will receive private bid requests for subsequent stages. Whole project value will be over USD100 but your bid on stage 1 does not necessarily have to be. In this way I can easily manage parallel projects and pay quickly on reaching clearly defined milestones. Full specification of the complete project is included in the files uploaded with this bid request. **STAGE 1 only requires the following subset:- **- Create a windows Service that responds to UDP multicast packets on the LAN. - A simple utility to un/install that Service. - A command-line program to send the UDP packet and return the response from the Service. ## Deliverables To allow me to test your stage 1 programs, I require that the example service you create must return a value of zero in response to the first UDP packet it recognises. For each subsequent packet, the response should be incremented by 1.