WRQ’s Reflection is on the Web
E-business infrastructure provider WRQ Inc. (Seattle) has announced the latest release of its Web-to-host products, Reflection for the Web and Reflection for the Web, Professional Edition—both at version 4.0.
| Designed for access to multiple hosts, Reflection for the Web enables enterprises for e-business without re-engineering. |
Designed for multihost environments, Reflection for the Web 4.0 Web-enables enterprises for e-business without re-engineering while giving users secure Web access to a variety of host applications, including the AS/400.
“This is the year for Web-to-host, we’re seeing major deployments,” says Kristen O’Connor, marketing manager at WRQ. “We’re providing AS/400 users—which we see as a growing segment of the Web-to-host market—with the features of a Windows-based emulation products, but with the size and speed of a Java thin client.”
In version 4.0, WRQ is claiming power-user functionality in a thin-client package and has enhanced tools for rejuvenating IBM mainframe and AS/400 green screens with a Web interface.
Other new features in 4.0 include: enhanced printer functionality—3812 printer emulation provides AS/400 users with flexible, accurate printing functionality; AS/400 data transfer—now supports database transfers in IBM 5250 terminal sessions; macro recording support—allows capture and playback actions performed each day.
“We now support host printer transform and non-host printer transform. It allows users to scale print jobs and gives more flexibility to the users,” says O’Connor.
Reflection for the Web, Professional Edition has also been enhanced with a GUI interface to applications with hundreds or thousands of screens, without screen-by-screen re-engineering.
O’Connor says there are two main groups that WRQ is targeting with Reflection 4.0—those who want to move to Web-based emulators and those who want to extend access.“Customers want to replace their existing Windows-based emulators with Web-based emulators,” says O’Connor. “We’re providing users with a lower cost alternative to accessing applications. Remote access is really hot, especially with a lot of acquisitions.”To prove the benefits of Web-to-host technology, WRQ commissioned The Tolly Group (Manasquan, N.J.) to do a study comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) when using Web-to-host products compared to terminal emulation products for accessing information from S/390s and AS/400s.
The study found that Web-to-host solutions could reduce the TCO by as much as 60 percent. Among other things, the report also says, “In addition to these savings, Web-to-host solutions also create additional competitive advantages by allowing you to rapidly empower new users to access business-critical data and implement an e-business infrastructure.”
Because accessing host data remains an important requirement for enterprise and e-commerce applications, O’Connor says WRQ is expecting big things from Reflection 4.0 and has gotten positive feedback from its beta customers.
Lucinda Borovick, program manager, Data Center Networks at IDC Research, says WRQ is in a good position to be a major player in the Web-to-host market.
“The Web-to-host market is poised for significant growth in 2000, reaching over $400 million by years end. WRQ is well positioned to take advantage of this growth,” she says. “Satisfying remote user needs with features such as an enhanced user interface and increased network performance are critical to customer adoption of this technology.”Scheduled for worldwide availability in mid-June 2000, version 4.0 costs $199 per concurrent user and the per-user volume price is $115. In addition, WRQ offers per-seat trade-in pricing of $60 to customers using other emulation software.
Related Editorial:
WRQ’s Apptrieve Adds XML SupportRelated Information:
WRQ Inc. (new window)Reflection for the Web Overview (new window)Reflection for the Web Professional Edition Overview (new window)