Linoma Boosts Security and Automation of Data Transfer Tool

by Alex Woodie

Linoma Software last week announced a new release of Transfer Anywhere, a versatile data distribution engine that runs on OS/400 and Windows servers. With Transfer Anywhere version 1.5.1, Linoma has improved the security of encrypted transfers by encoding digital signatures. It has also added new options for automating data transfers on AS/400, iSeries, and i5 servers.

Transfer Anywhere is a flexible Java program that can do the job of several point products, including converting, compressing, encrypting, and distributing files among OS/400, Windows, Linux, and Macintosh clients. It's an ideal tool for OS/400 and Windows shops that need a secure and centralized way to share data with a diverse set of trading partners.

As a database replication tool, Transfer Anywhere can move, or "pump" in Linoma's lingo, records from one database management system to another, including DB2/400, DB2, Oracle, SQL Server 2000, and Informix. It can also convert the files to Excel, HTML, XML, and fixed-width or delimited text files; compress them using ZIP; encrypt them using PGP; and then distribute them via e-mail, FTP, or file them in OS/400's Integrated File System (IFS) or the Windows NTFS file system. These actions can also be performed on files sitting in the IFS or NTFS, or files sitting on an FTP server.

With Transfer Anywhere version 1.5.1, users have more flexibility and programming control when performing transfers from iSeries servers, Linoma says. Many transfer attributes, such as e-mail addresses, FTP severs, directories, and file names, can be dynamically overridden at runtime using program constants and variables, Linoma says, providing tighter integration with OS/400 applications.

The new release also provides better security when files are distributed over the Internet using Transfer Anywhere on an iSeries. Security is enhanced by encoding the digital signatures in the files during the encryption process, which protects the sender's identity, Linoma says. Security has also been improved for the receiving party, as a trading partner's signature can be verified by Transfer Anywhere during the decryption process to ensure that the file's contents have not been compromised by an unauthorized party. Other enhancements in Transfer Anywhere 1.5.1 include wildcard file naming support for the encryption/decryption processes, and more comprehensive logging messages.

Transfer Anywhere 1.5.1 builds on new PGP, file logging, and archiving features that Linoma brought to the product last fall (see "Linoma Offers PGP Studio with Data Transfer Tool"). Version 1.5 was the first release to include a free license to Linoma's Windows-based PGP key management product, called PGP Studio. It also added automatic file archiving to Transfer Anywhere's repertoire, as well as the capability to track the names of files sent, time stamps, and success/failure messages.

Transfer Anywhere utilizes a graphical wizard for data transfer setup, and guides users through the process selecting data sources, conversions, mappings, compression, encryption criteria and distribution lists. Users can kick off data transfers interactively from a Java GUI or command line interface (5250 or DOS). Data transfers can also be embedded in the batch processes of RPG, COBOL, or Java applications, using Control Language, procedure calls, scheduling software, or Java APIs. The last release also brought a new batch command for initiating transfers from Windows PCs and servers.

Transfer Anywhere 1.5.1 is available now. It requires OS/400 V5R1 or higher; pricing starts at $3,995. For more information, visit www.linomasoftware.com.