James Webb Space Telescope XML database: from the beginning to today

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project has been defining, developing, and exercising the use of a common extensible markup language (XML) for the command and telemetry (C&T) database structure. This paper discusses how JWST decided to use XML, the barriers to a new concept, experiences utilizing the XML structure, exchanging databases with other users, and issues that have been experienced in creating databases for the C&T system