IBM Upgrades Host Integration the SecureWay
IBM has taken strides to ensure that applications and data residing on host systems remain up-to-date with the latest developments in e-business technology through enhancements and a new addition to its SecureWay host integration family of products.
At its Solutions '99 Conference in Las Vegas, IBM announced plans to release SecureWay Host On-Demand Version 4, SecureWay Screen Customizer Version 1 and SecureWay Host Publisher Version 2. These components represent technology advances in the areas of, respectively, terminal emulation, application rejuvenation and application integration.
"IBM is bringing its Web-to-host technology to the next level, beyond earlier technology that simply accessed legacy information and brought it to the Web," says Joe Anthony, program director of Host Integration Servers for IBM SecureWay Software. "The latest enhancements to SecureWay are designed to better enable users to integrate legacy information into e-business applications."
SecureWay Host On-Demand V4 is the latest edition of the IBM Java terminal emulator, which supports the AS/400, S/390, RS/6000, Windows NT, Sun Solaris, HP-UX and Linux platforms. Enhancements to the product include: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) client authentication, which leverages Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security standards; Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) enablement to centralize administration for large user groups; and TN5250 host print and file transfer and native AS/400 installation to boost productivity for AS/400 users. Scheduled for availability by the end of July, Version 4 is also enhanced to include application development via ActiveX controls, allowing developers the choice of programming using Visual Basic or Java.
SecureWay Screen Customizer V1, scheduled for availability in September, is a new software offering from IBM designed to work with Host On-Demand or SecureWay Personal Communications clients--TCP/IP and SNA--to automatically convert green screens into customizable graphical user interfaces (GUIs) without additional programming. Screen Customizer actually represents the next generation of a product previously known as ResQ!Net, a tool developed by ResQNet.com (New York) enabling users to customize Web-enabled host screens.
SecureWay Host Publisher V2 is a tool for integrating multiple data sources into a single Web page on a client browser. This Java-based product currently supports the S/390, RS/6000, Windows NT and Sun Solaris platforms. Support for the AS/400 will be added during the first quarter of 2000. Enhancements in Version 2 include: support for multiple platforms; the capability to create host integration objects that can be reused within Java development tools; inclusion of a runtime version of IBM WebSphere Standard Edition; and integration with IBM's connector solutions, such as MQSeries and CICS.
The driving force behind SecureWay is connecting end users to back-end information, according to Anthony. "It's no longer simply about connecting end-users to legacy information," he says. "This scenario has grown to include business partners and customers."
"There is no 'one-size-fits-all' when it comes to Web-to-host," says Mike McCarthy, program director of Host Integration Clients for IBM SecureWay Software. "Different users, different communities of people that our customers want to support, have different needs. So we provide a number of different options that we have designed and developed to meet those specific kinds of needs."
--L. Greenemeier