IBM Updates Fat and Thin Client 5250 Emulation Offerings

by Alex Woodie

IBM last week shipped new releases of Personal Communications for Microsoft Windows and Host On-Demand, two of its 5250 emulation products, which are for fat and thin clients respectively. The new releases include enhancements to improve networking, security, and session management, among other areas. The new products are available in Host Access Client Package for iSeries 4.0, which shipped last Friday, as well as an upcoming release of Host Integration Solution that ships next month.

IBM's Host Access Client Package for iSeries is a twin pack of emulation software for customers that need both traditional Windows-based and Web-based 5250 connectivity. The package provides three products, including the two emulators (Personal Communications for Windows and Host On-Demand) and a Screen Customizer tool that transforms 5250 green screens into simple GUIs that can be viewed with Host On-Demand. One of the limitations to be aware of with Host Access Client Package for iSeries is that you can only use one emulation mode at a time; that is, you can't use Personal Communications and Host On-Demand simultaneously.

Host Access Client Package for iSeries 4.0 includes the new release of the Windows-based emulator, Personal Communications Version 5.7, and a new version of the Java-based emulator, Host On-Demand Version 8.0. The Screen Customizer didn't receive an update with this release.

What's New in Personal Communications

With Personal Communications 5.7, IBM has added a number of enhancements, including new emulation, session management, security, and power management features. New session management enhancements include support for the expanded Internet addresses available with IP Version 6 (only in Windows XP and Windows 2003), new options for configuring the connection timeout, an expanded Operator Information Area, and expanded capabilities to configure the pop-up keyboard.

There is also a new Collect Screen feature in Personal Communications 5.7 that lets users gather individual print screens to be printed at the same time. Users can also configure their emulator to automatically run Java applets with a macro. Annoying prompts requesting permission to standby or hibernate can also be suppressed now with a new user preference setting. In terms of security, this release supports smart card certificate management from a command line, as well as Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.0. IBM has also improved the product's NSA node configuration capabilities.

What's New in Host On-Demand

IBM has made a slew of enhancements to Host On-Demand in Version 8.0, including new support for the Apple Macintosh OSX operating system, the capability to connect to an OS/400 host without a browser or a user ID and password, and various other productivity- and security-related enhancements.

The new Web Express Logon feature of Host On-Demand 8.0 allows users to access OS/400 hosts without a user ID or password. Unlike Certificate Express Logon, IBM says, Web Express Logon works in conjunction with your existing network security application and does not require client certificates. There is also a new "Web Start" capability in this release that lets users run Host On-Demand without a Web browser, which eliminates some of the problems that occur when running in a Web browser, such as inadvertently closing the browser.

Other Java-related enhancements with this release include an improvement in the Java 2 cached client that offers the user several benefits when it comes to installing, upgrading, and deleting the various Host On-Demand clients. These clients can be installed from a LAN or CD drive, upgraded in the background, shared with multiple users (on Windows 2000/XP), and removed in one operation.

This release of Host On-Demand also sports a new programmable API for incorporating On-Demand capabilities into customer applications. It also supports Unicode for OS/400 with this release, which allows Unicode data to be displayed in 5250 display sessions (this requires OS/400 V5R2).

In terms of productivity enhancements delivered with Host On-Demand 8.0, users and administrators can now share and reuse their macros, keyboard definitions, and toolbar components from one session to the next with this release. Other new macro features include the capabilities to invoke methods in Java classes, to print screens or a series of screens using new print actions, or to deploy server macro libraries to selected sessions from either a Web server or a shared network drive. Improvements to the Redirector feature keep sessions from closing during periods of inactivity.

Other improvements with Host On-Demand include new list functions in the Directory Utility; the capability to specify up to two backup servers in addition to the main server; more power to customize CICS Gateway sessions according to users' work habits; and the capability to import or export entire host sessions.

In addition to shipping last week in the Host Access Client Package for iSeries 4.0 release, the new releases of Personal Communications and Host On-Demand will be available in a new release of WebSphere Host Integration Solution for iSeries that ships on October 10. The WebSphere Host Integration Solution for iSeries includes the two products mentioned above, in addition to WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Host Publisher, WebSphere Studio Site Developer, WebSphere Host Access Transformation Server, and Communications Server.

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