In-Depth

Industry News

• 10/01/1998

Attachmate and IBM announced an industry standard method to access host data via the Internet. The proposed Open Host Interface Objects (OHIO) standard is a vendor-neutral set of interfaces allowing Web-to-host applications access host systems. With this announcement, virtually all vendors can write to the same API, giving corporate developers a safe environment for writing e-business applications.

OHIO is a set of object classes enabling e-business applications to access either mainframe or AS/400 data. Organizations implementing Web-to-host projects are reluctant to commit to a single, proprietary solution. OHIO enables developers to create these e-business applications with the confidence that they will be compatible with any implementation.

Innovation Data Processing has partnered with St. Bernard to combine the FDR/UPSTREAM and Open File Manager. FDR/UPSTREAM offers enterprise-wide storage management including backup/restore, file transfer, archive/retrieval and file migration for networks anywhere in the enterprise. St Bernard’s Open File Manager is a utility that enables backup programs or operating systems copy functions to capture open files - even if they are changing. St Bernard’s Open File Manager extends FDR/Upstream’s power by allowing it to capture all open files on Windows NT or Novell NetWare servers, or NT Workstations, regardless of their state or reliability without disrupting the network.

FDR/UPSTREAM is a complete storage management solution for corporate data distributed across a heterogeneous network. The UPSTREAM solution integrates unattended backup, archive, hierarchical storage management, file transfer, and disaster recovery vaulting with centrally administered profile policy management to ensure data integrity and is designed for automated, unattended lights out backup and to help users recover quickly from the loss of critical data. Upstream provides high-performance network restore directly from MVS tape and/or disk, as well as Disaster Recovery for downed servers.

Centron DPL and Cisco Systems have signed a Global Systems Integrator Agreement. Under this agreement, Centron will be reselling and supporting Cisco technology for integrating legacy mainframe computers with IP networks. The market that Centron is pursuing begins in the mainframe environment with channel connectivity and encompasses the router and switching network infrastructure.

Two of the more widely accepted solutions for integrating IP and SNA networks include Cisco routers with the Channel Interface Processor (CIP), TN3270 Server and Data Link Switching (DLSw). The CIP provides a high-performance connection to IBM or IBM-compatible mainframes, eliminating the need to manage multiple dedicated mainframe channel controllers. Cisco’s TN3270 Server, a scaleable, standards-based application available on the CIP, allows TN3270 clients access to IBM mainframes while offloading 100 percent of the TCP/IP and TN3270 cycles from the mainframe. Cisco’s DSLw is a method for encapsulating SNA traffic for transport over an IP backbone.

Computer Associates International (CA) acquired REALOGIC, an international business and technology consulting firm. This marks the first in a series of planned acquisitions to broaden the capabilities of CA’s Global Professional Services (GPS), formed in April in response to increased client demand for turnkey best-of-class solutions.

REALOGIC’s areas of core competency include infrastructure implementation (network design and infrastructure roll-outs), wireless solutions (strategic planning and implementation), workgroup solutions (enterprise messaging/workflow applications), electronic commerce solutions (Internet/intranet, electronic data interchange, virtual private networks) and packaged business solutions (enterprise resource planning, supply chain management).

REALOGIC will become part of GPS in accordance with its growth strategy to implement leading-edge business solutions. REALOGIC Chairman, President and CEO C. David Snyder will remain head of the new CA subsidiary.

The latest Computer Economics’ (a research organization helping IT executives monitor their technology costs and plan future IT expenses) financial study of CMOS mainframes projects that street prices for next generation, machines may fall below $5,000 per MIPS. This price/performance is based on actual negotiated selling prices rather than vendor initial offering prices.

IBM G5 mainframes will sell at an average of $4,945 per MIPS, with a range of $4,379 per MIPS for the most economical models to $5,349 per MIPS for the most expensive. In comparison, Amdahl’s Millennium 800 machines will average $4,203 per MIPS. The spread will be from a minimum of $3,897 per MIPS to a maximum of $4,366 per MIPS. The total cost of ownership (TCO) for the two vendors’ equipment will differ significantly in composition. IBM hardware purchase costs, on average, will run about 11 percent above those of Amdahl. Software will also be less for Amdahl users, assuming that their buyers are able to take advantage of Multiple Server Feature credits. Staffing costs tilt in IBM’s favor because of its many total solution offerings, which will lower the need for highly skilled and highly paid staff experts. In the facilities and maintenance category, costs will be similar.

Silicon Graphics’ CRAY T3E-1200E offers a more than 25 percent increase in global systems bandwidth over its predecessor, the CRAY T3E-1200. The supercomputer will be installed at the University of Manchester, England, to enable scientists across the nation to study problems, such as how new catalysts work, how airflow affects the performance of automobile engines, and how oceans and the atmosphere interact to produce phenomena like El Nino.

Scaling up to 2,048 processors in a distributed-memory environment, The CRAY T3E-1200E supercomputer has twice the theoretical peak performance and four times the memory of the original CRAY T3E supercomputer. Its new 42 gigabits per second router chip, with enhanced control algorithms, provides substantially faster communications that improve measured interprocessor bandwidth from 330 to 420 megabytes per second. This improved global system bandwidth complements the faster 600 MHz microprocessor and the larger, faster memory for an overall balanced improvement.

General Signal Networks, a unit of General Signal Corporation and a worldwide provider of data center networking connectivity technologies, announced the change of its name and identity to INRANGE Technologies Corporation.

Farabi Technology, an innovator in Web-to-host connectivity, announced a strategic alliance with Barr Systems, a Gainsville, Florida-based manufacturer of high-performance data communication products. Together, the two companies will work toward integrating Farabi’s Web-to-host gateway, HostFront, with Barr Systems’ ESCON and Bus & Tag channel-attached products for connections to IBM mainframes. The integrated end-to-end solution will also include Microsoft BackOffice products, Windows NT Server 4.0, SNA Server and Internet Information Server.

With their alliance, Farabi Technology and Barr Systems will be providing business partners the opportunity to deliver a fully integrated solution to Web-enable their host applications using a completely manufacturer-certified environment.

The Fibre Channel Loop Community (FCLC) has reported the successful completion of its fourth major round of interoperability testing on Fibre Channel equipment, which is used to build high-speed storage connectivity and SANs (storage area networks). The testing conducted during the week of June 22^nd in Dallas utilized a variety of equipment from numerous vendors in both arbitrated loop and fabric (networking) topologies.

According to the FCLC, this round of testing shows that Fibre Channel is nearing a level of maturity that allows the wide-scale adoption of the technology for mission-critical enterprise networks and applications where equipment from multiple vendors is desired. Although specifics are not disclosed as a matter of policy, major milestones during this test session included an industry first as multiple Fibre Channel drives from different manufacturers were simultaneously used in test scenarios. The tests were also highly successful in generating a stable Fibre Channel network that maintained its integrity as various vendors’ equipment was introduced and removed from the configuration.

The purpose of the testing is to isolate vendor-specific anomalies that may affect multi-vendor configurations and to identify any ambiguities of the Fibre Channel specification that may also impact the ability of users to build storage and networking solutions utilizing equipment from several different vendors.

SQRIBE Technologies, an enterprise reporting software and information delivery company, announced that PeopleSoft has certified SQRIBE’s ReportMart software for Web-based deployment of PeopleSoft reports. ReportMart will provide PeopleSoft users with an open framework for managing and delivering enterprise reports – including information from third-party business intelligence tools – as part of an intranet application. ReportMart is the first Web-based information delivery solution to be certified under the PeopleSoft Global Alliance Program.

Destiny Software and Insession formed a strategic alliance aimed at delivering flexible online solutions to the financial services industry. Under the agreement, Destiny will integrate Insession’s TransFuse product into its various online offerings for the retail banking and credit card markets. TransFuse is a legacy system integration product that supports interoperability between distributed systems and transaction processing (TP) environments. TransFuse enables Destiny to more easily connect its applications to TP monitors and messaging systems such as IBM’s CICS, IMS, MQSeries, BEA’s Tuxedo and Tandem’s Pathway.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has signed an agreement to join FlexiInternational Software’s FlexiProvider Program. The FlexiProvider Program expands the professional resources available to Flexi’s clients who need supplemental resources for the implementation and customization of FlexiFinancials, an object-oriented, component-based suite of financial and accounting applications. The addition of PricewaterhouseCoopers to the program demonstrates the growing demand for Flexi’s euro-compliant, Web-enabled financial solutions.