Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

eBusiness Solutions Pro last week launched Stay-Linked, a redeveloped and rebranded software suite that allows OS/400-based ERP and warehouse management applications to communicate with wireless barcode scanning "guns" using radio frequency (RF) equipment. Company officials say Stay-Linked, which replaces the old eSP-Link product, keeps barcode guns on-line more of the time because more of the software runs on the OS/400 server, instead of the gun itself or a PC-based gateway.

In 2001 eSP formed an OEM agreement with Wavelink to develop a replacement for IBM's Wireless Connection for AS/400 (see "eSP Takes the Pain Out of Wireless Deployment" in the November 27, 2001, issue of MSO). IBM discontinued Wireless Connection at OS/400 V5R1, even though it was used in an estimated 50,000 guns. The two companies ventured that, considering the large installed base, there was still a market for host-based RF software that ran on the OS/400 server. The resulting product, called eSP-Link, combined Wavelink's software development kit and eSP's 5250 emulation software.

However, the partnership between eSP and Wavelink wasn't as solid as it could have been, and eSP officials decided to take the Tustin, California, company out on its own, and develop its own connections to the handheld guns. Stay-Linked is the resulting product.

With Stay-Linked, eSP has made several changes from the old eSP-Link product. For one, it has done away with the Wavelink development kit, which officials say was overkill. eSP developed new client software to run on the scanning guns, and developed a new communication protocol that provides a character-by-character connection between the client software and the OS/400 server. While there is less flexibility in customization with the new Stay-Linked product, most ERP and warehouse applications have already been wireless-enabled, officials say.

The feature in Stay-Linked that eSP stresses the most is its session persistency, and the fact that practically all of the Stay-Linked package runs on the OS/400 server, except for a very small client footprint. Because the 5250 emulation in Stay-Linked is hosted on an OS/400 server (as opposed to being run locally on the handheld gun, or served from a PC gateway), even if the wireless gun goes off-line--which they often do, eSP says--the gun's session is not lost, and its an easy matter for workers to get back to the point in the application where they lost contact.

"If you lose the access, we bring you back when it's resolved, back to where the cursor was blinking," says Mike Pagani, director of marketing. "That's been the big differentiator." OS/400 device naming is also supported by Stay-Linked, which allows other guns to pick-up where the first gun left off, if the first gun suffers an unrecoverable problem.

eSP has done some ROI calculations concerning the cost of downtime associated with dropped sessions on guns. Assuming that each dropped scanning session will take 15 minutes to get back online and assuming certain wages for IT and warehouse staff, eSP says each time a gun loses contact with the OS/400 application, the company loses $25. Assuming that sessions will be dropped five times per day in the average warehouse (which eSP says is a conservative number), the company will lose $125 per day, or $30,000 per year, per facility.

"There are a lot of things in the warehouse environment that causes this to happen," says Patricia Converse, eSP vice president of sales and marketing. "It can be out of range, they could take the battery out, or there could be a problematic access point. IBM's Wireless Connection solution didn't have that problem. Our solution is the follow on to that."

The thin client architecture and eSP's new proprietary communication protocol are key to Stay-Linked's session persistence attribute (which eSP officials dub "hard-wired wireless"). The new protocol, which it calls the Stay-Linked Reliable Protocol, travels over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) over standard IP, which eSP officials say gives Stay-Linked an advantage over traditional RF software that relies on a continuous TCP/IP stream. Another new feature of Stay-Linked is its capability to simultaneously roll out software updates to guns, and the capability to monitor the guns' session in real time from the Windows-based Stay-Linked administration module.

Stay-Linked supports the barcode scanners used by IBM's Wireless Connection users, most notably the Telxon family now owned by Symbol, including the Model 960, Model 860, the Model 860IM, and Model 870 vehicle mounted units, and the IBM Model 2483. The software also supports the following Symbol guns: PDT 6846; PDT 6849; VRC 5040; 8100 Pocket PC Unit; and WSS1060.

eSP's plan is to continue to roll out support for additional manufacturers of barcode scanners. While the company has traditionally focused on warehouse wireless units, it has plans to develop solutions that support the use of wireless, handheld computers used by front office sales and marketing people, as well.

Stay-Linked is available now. The software supports OS/400 V4R5 through V5R2; it costs $995 per server and $195 per concurrent user license, with volume discounts available. This is about half the price of the previous eSP Link product. Annual maintenance for Stay-Linked, which includes eSP technical support and software updates, is $30 per concurrent user license and $300 per server license. For more information, visit www.stay-linked.com .