Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

WRQ is rolling out a new version of its popular Java-based terminal emulation software, with new features aimed at improving session security, preventing unauthorized access, and easing remote administration headaches. WRQ Reflection for the Web 5.0, which will start shipping at the end of this month, gives users native access to OS/400, mainframe, Unix, and other host systems, using Web browsers and the Internet.

And did we mention security? Security (along with its enabler, authentication) is the cornerstone of this latest software release from the Seattle, Washington, company, which is really no wonder, considering the heightened attention security is getting these days from nearly every aspect of the IT industry. With the introduction of Reflection for the Web 5.0, WRQ is now supporting powerful public key infrastructure and encryption technology developed by RSA Security for authenticating Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security (an improved and open version of SSL) connections to browsers. WRQ is now offering up to 2,048-bit PKI encryption to authenticate the connections between the Reflection Security Proxy Server and the browser session.

This latest version of Reflection for the Web also makes it easier for administrators to provide authorized access to users, which may sound anathema to security but isn't, when you think about it. WRQ is opening the directory services kimono and letting administrators use the directories of their choice, including Microsoft Active Directory, Novell Directory Services, Sun Microsystems' One iPlanet/Netscape, IBM SecureWay, OpenLDAP, Microsoft's IIS access control model, and the WRQ stand-alone access control that ships with the product.

The software also includes enhancements sure to tickle the fancy of your friendly neighborhood network administrator, such as a new "roaming administration" feature designed to ease the process of configuring and deploying terminal sessions, and support for the Java Network Launch Protocol, which allows PCs with Sun's Java WebStart software to run Reflection for the Web without a Web browser. (Microsoft, you'll remember, had removed the Java Virtual Machine from Windows, which means that administrators had to reload the JVM to allow the Reflection for the Web applet to install on PCs running Windows. But Microsoft recently announced it will reinstate the JVM for 18 months, before removing it again in 2004, so this looks like a good long-term strategic move on WRQ's part.)

In AS/400 and iSeries environments, Reflection for the Web allows users to access their familiar 5250 green screens from a Web browser, instead of through a traditional IBM-compatible "dumb" terminal, or thick-client PC software. WRQ's software also provides OS/400 users with printing and file transfer options, as well as scripting and macro capabilities for streamlining certain operations. With Version 5.0 of this software, WRQ says it has a new API, which it calls the Reflection Emulator Class Library, for further customizing users' screens with integration and scripting capabilities. For those inclined, WRQ also offers professional services to "Web-ify" those ugly (but strangely functional) green screens with a pretty GUI face.

In other WRQ news, the company moved up a notch to occupy the number-two slot in International Data Corp.'s annual ranking of the world's biggest Web-to-host software vendors. With an 11 percent market share, WRQ was bested only by IBM and its cadre of WebSphere and Host On-Demand applications. Rounding out the top five in the worldwide Web-to-host license fee revenue rankings were Attachmate, NetManage, and SEAGULL, according to news reports. Also, in the last week, WRQ followed through on its October 2001 commitment to support Siebel Systems' Siebel 7 application with its enterprise application integration software, Verastream 9.2.