Ericom Streamlines Host Access with PowerTerm WebConnect 5.5

Published: April 25, 2006

by Alex Woodie

There's something for end-users and systems administrators alike in PowerTerm WebConnect version 5.5, the latest release of Ericom's host access suite, unveiled earlier this month. The new Application Zone should make it easier for users to locate and start host applications, which are populated from access lists and displayed as icons. Likewise, administrators will like the closer integration to Web portals, including IBM's Workplace, which WebConnect enjoys a very close relationship with.

When it comes to purchasing a host access suite, iSeries customers have a good selection of vendors to turn to. There are a number of vendors selling software that allows users to connect to iSeries servers remotely, using a Web browser or a PC-based emulator. This is a mature market, with IBM holding onto the lion's share of iSeries and mainframe seats, so vendors have to get creative if they want to survive.

Ericom has survived, and thrived, by doing something that no other host access vendor is doing with Web-based emulation suites: giving users access to traditional (i.e. iSeries, mainframe, Unix, VMS, and more than 30 others) hosts, as well as Windows hosts, through the same product. "We are the only vendor doing this range of solutions," says Eran Heyman, the CEO of Ericom. "There isn't a single vendor [besides Ericom] that provides that."

Instead of rolling out point solutions for each host that users need access to, Ericom's approach is to offer a single product, PowerTerm WebConnect Enterprise, that connects users to legacy systems, as well as Windows terminal servers. Keeping the connectivity centralized on the WebConnect server (running on either a Linux or a Windows server) benefits organizations because they don't have to maintain separate environments. Tasks like patch management are also simplified this way, says James Lui, director of professional services for Ericom.

For users that just need access to Windows Terminal Services servers, the company offers a version of its PowerTerm WebConnect product, called WebConnect RemoteView, which counts for about half of Ericom's 30,000 customers and 6 million concurrent license seats sold (the company also sells a legacy-only version called PowerTerm WebConnect HostView). This puts Ericom in frequent competition with Citrix, which is just fine with Heyman. Despite the name recognition that Citrix has for Windows emulation, there is a huge untapped market for this class of product, and plenty of room for both vendors, he says.

While Ericom works closely with Microsoft and is one of Microsoft's preferred vendors for Windows connectivity, Ericom has its feet planted squarely in the IBM camp, as well. When the company launched version 5.1 of WebConnect last year, it introduced support for JSR168, the accepted standard for portal integration. This enabled users of IBM's Workplace Web portal to access WebConnect as one of many portlets inside of the Workplace framework, and to benefit from the range of host access this product provides. Ericom offers a fourth version of its product, called PowerTerm WebConnect for Workplace for connecting to IBM's portal, although WebConnect works with all JSR168-compliant portals.

IBM sought Ericom as a solution partner for host access within its Workplace portal. Heyman says. A competition was set up between Ericom and Citrix, and Ericom won due to its capability to offer Windows and legacy connectivity at the same time, Heyman says. "Users wanted one product from one vendor to support all systems," he says. The fact that the Citrix management console only runs in Windows also played a role, because "IBM is biased to Linux and wanted choice," Heyman adds. Ericom is currently working on dozens of Workplace implementations, including seven involving more than 100,000 users, he says.

Ericom has enhanced its Workplace portal experience with WebConnect 5.5. This release marks the debut of the new Application Zone and Application Portal Web interfaces, which supports Workplace's Windows thick-client and Web-based interfaces, respectively. The Application Zone and Application Portal Web are designed to provide intuitive ways for users to locate and open their applications, either through the traditional list, icons on the desktop, the Windows Start menu, or through a Web or portal environment. Once applications have been published, users are presented with their respective icons, providing quick and easy access to the applications.

Other improvements made with WebConnect 5.5 include support for single sign-on within IBM Workplace, and support for server load-balancing with the Windows, or RemoteView, side of the product. This release also brings support for automatic re-direction of Internet content, session re-connect, single port relay, and remote desktop access.

Heyman is particularly pleased with the new remote desktop access feature in WebConnect 5.5, as it puts Ericom in competition with GoToMyPC and its ilk. "As opposed to paying $20 per month, or $250 per named user in an organization, with our solution, there's no extra cost" for this feature, he says.

All told, this is the biggest release of WebConnect ever, Heyman says. "At the end of the day, this is probably the most significant version of the product we've released," he says. Version 6.0 will follow, either at the end of this year or the first quarter of 2007.

PowerTerm WebConnect 5.5 is available now. Pricing depends on the version of the product, and there is no extra charge for the server component. Each concurrent user costs $120 for RemoteView, $170 for HostView, and $230 for Enterprise or the Workplace version. For named user licenses, cut those prices in half. For more information, go to www.ericom.com.