low cost microcontroller with RS32

Hi
I'm trying to build a simple system with a microcontroller and 2 RS232
ports to receive data on 1 port and send out new data on the 2nd port

requirements are
1. 2x RS232 UART port, configurable comm settings
2. 64k internal memory to store the RS232 strings database
3. 2x 8 bit IO port to select options using 8bit dip switches

I've worked with an 8051 many years ago and from what I've been reading
again, it looks like it should do the job quite well.

any advice? a development kit would help too.

thanks
Lim