Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

OS/400 and mainframe shops looking to leverage their programmers' expertise in Microsoft languages have a new way to build interfaces to their host applications. Zephyr Development Corp. recently started shipping PASSPORT Host Integration Objects, a new development tool that allows programmers to build composite applications, using Microsoft languages, that can navigate, read, and write to 5250 and 3270 screens, using the Open Host Interface Objects (OHIO) interface.

Zephyr's latest solution offers a new twist on a problem that is common in established IT departments: what to do with all that business logic housed in OS/400 servers and mainframes? Many software vendors--Zephyr included--have offered various screen-scraper solutions for placing GUIs on top of green screens. In the 21st century, host access has become more involved. Today, users may need to traverse several different host solutions to complete a single transaction. This has helped spawn the market for "programmatic" integration solutions, which allow new "composite" applications to be assembled from bits and pieces of the data streams of 5250, 3270, and other "legacy" host systems.

PASSPORT Host Integration Objects is Zephyr's first foray into the growing market for programmatic interface solutions. With Host Integration Objects, developers build new composite applications in Microsoft development environments (either Visual Studio Version 6 or the new Visual Studio .NET), then link that application to the required OS/400 or OS/390 business logic, using the classes, methods, properties, and events that are included in Host Integration Objects. Like several other suppliers, Zephyr has chosen to base its programmatic offering on Microsoft tools, which have a higher penetration in small and midsized businesses compared with Java, which hasn't seen high adoption outside of larger companies.

Host Integration Objects allows companies to reuse the functionality of the host (or of multiple hosts) by delivering new ActiveX- or .NET-based applications that connect to the host applications, via the 5250 or 3270 data stream. This programmatic development technique offers several benefits, Zephyr says. First, it doesn't touch the back-end code. Also, by consolidating multiple host screens in one place, users don't have to constantly switch between sessions, the application becomes more user-friendly, and single-sign-on capabilities can be offered, the company says.

One of the main differences between Host Integration Objects and Zephyr's other host access solutions, PASSPORT Web To Host and PASSPORT PC To Host, is that Host Integration Objects uses the OHIO specification to access host screens; whereas the older products used IBM's High Level Language API (HLLAPI) interface standard. The problem with HLLAPI, Zephyr says, is it requires that a terminal emulator be loaded and active in the PC's memory; whereas OHIO does not. Host Integration Objects contains a compact terminal emulation engine that keeps its resource consumption low by not containing any user interface, visual screen display, or keyboard features. Because of this, composite applications built with Host Integration Objects use less memory and are more scalable than applications that use the HLLAPI interface.

Zephyr says Host Integration Objects can be used to develop a range of real-world applications. For example, for call center workers who must access several hosts to complete a transaction, the software could be used to develop a single-sign-on solution that automatically launches multiple host applications based on one user ID and password.

Host Integration Objects could also be used to create a Microsoft server-based COM module that streamlines the process of securing an approval or decline for payment transactions involving credit cards, Zephyr says. This new module could run silently in the background and significantly reduce the amount of time spent processing the financial transactions, either over the phone or the Web, the company says. This type of solution could also be applied to a retail point-of-sale system, Zephyr says.

Host Integration Objects contains three modules: a development component and runtime modules for server- and client-based applications. The development component requires Windows XP or 2000; the client component runs on Windows XP; the server component runs on Windows 2003 Server or Windows 2000 Server 2000, NT, and 98. Users will need to buy the developer component, and either the client or the server runtime modules.

Zephyr's pricing structure for Host Integration Objects uses an annual subscription fee, which includes all maintenance, support, and upgrade fees. The development component ranges from $1,000 to $1,500, depending on the number of developer licenses purchased. Each license for the client component, which starts at $40, allows a connection to five host sessions. A license to run the server component on a single server costs $1,000; Zephyr offers discounts to customers who purchase additional server licenses. The server license requires a minimum of 25 host sessions. Host sessions cost $40 for the first 25 host sessions, and the price drops as more host sessions are purchased.

PASSPORT Host Integration Objects is available now. For more information, go to www.zephyrcorp.com.