Linoma Boosts Security Automation with OS/400 Data Transfer Tool

by Alex Woodie

The Internet is a phenomenal medium, but as we all know, it is also inherently insecure. If you send sensitive information over the public electronic byways, and you don't somehow encrypt it, you're asking for trouble. Linoma Software addresses this need with Transfer Anywhere, a data transformation utility that provides a Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption implementation on OS/400 and Windows operating systems. This month Linoma shipped a new release that has new security automation capabilities.

Transfer Anywhere is a versatile Java program that can do the job of several point products, including distributing, retrieving, converting, compressing, encrypting, and signing data and files. The software provides four ways to move data, including e-mail, FTP, direct database-to-database conversions (DB2, SQL Server, Informix, and Oracle databases are supported), and direct file system conversions (OS/400's Integrated File System or Windows-based file systems).

While the product's main data transfer engine installs only on OS/400 or Windows servers, any Windows, Linux, or Macintosh client on the network can be the source or destination of data transfers with this software. Wizards are used in lieu of custom programming, and transfers can be executed "on demand" from the Java GUI or command line interfaces (DOS or 5250). Alternatively, data transfers can be embedded in the batch processes of RPG, COBOL, or Java applications, using Control Language, procedure calls, scheduling software, or Java APIs.

In mid-June, Linoma announced Transfer Anywhere Version 1.46. The biggest enhancement delivered with this release is the capability to automatically compress files during the PGP encryption process. Even very large, multi-gigabyte files can be automatically encrypted and compressed, Linoma says, thanks to the utility's new block read/write technology. The company says users can expect Transfer Anywhere to reduce their files sizes to about one-tenth of their original size, saving storage and bandwidth.

Since its introduction in late 2002, Transfer Anywhere's price has been reduced. Today, users can get a license for as little as $3,995. Free trials of Transfer Anywhere and more information are available at www.linomasoftware.com.