News Briefs and Product Shorts

• DRV Technologies is shipping SpoolFlex V2, the latest release of a collection of tools that sort, split, reformat, print, and electronically distribute spool files generated by OS/400 applications. The Atlanta, Georgia, company says the new release makes the core SpoolFlex components more user-friendly, and allows users to implement the electronic report distribution component faster. The base Spool Manager component has been enhanced to give users greater control over report management, and to give them the capability to execute any SpoolFlex tool from a single screen. This release also allows users to automatically convert reports to the Microsoft Excel comma separated value (CSV) format, without mapping fields, the company says. Advanced options allow the users to specify which data is converted, such as Report Headings, Column Heading, or Blank lines. This release also gives the user greater flexibility in naming electronic files by combining variable fields in the dynamic name building process, DRV says. For example, variable fields available for naming now include Printer File Name, Job Number, Spool Number, User ID, Date, Time, and Sequential Number. Licenses for SpoolFlex start at $495 per module. The entire suite can be had for $2,995.
  
  

• As expected, Ricoh has launched new software that allows Ricoh printers to accept Advanced Function Print (AFP) and Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS) print jobs from OS/400 and mainframe servers. The software, called RA2K Integration, resides on the hard drive of Ricoh printers and maintains the high quality of the AFP and IPDS data streams without requiring any changes to the applications that created the AFP or IPDS print jobs or without requiring the user to purchase and install an IPDS-to-PCL conversion device. Ricoh, the American subsidiary of the $15 billion Japanese electronics company of the same name, made two other related software announcements, including Output Management Software (OMS) and Document Output Technology (DOT). These two products, which the company has sold for some time, can be used by OS/400 shops. OMS (which is a rebranding of Ricoh's RMS product) is an OS/400-based product that takes EBCDIC or ASCII output from OS/400 servers and creates customized forms and reports that can then be printed on existing Ricoh LAN output systems. DOT is a Windows-based middleware solution that lets users produce files without having to program in a proprietary language.
  
  
• NLynx Technologies launched a new thin client last week called the MinIT 6000 Thin Client Connectivity Suite. This new offering, which is a thin client computer that ships with a collection of basic applications, is the third thin client NLynx has announced since entering the thin client market earlier this year. Inside the MinIT 6000 Thin Client Connectivity Suite is a 550 MHz SiS X86 processor, 64 MB of memory, and the standard stack of Ethernet, Parallel, USB, and PS/2 ports for hooking up network, printer, mouse, keyboard, and monitor connections. The MinIT 6000 runs Microsoft's Windows CE.NET 4.2 operating system and, as the name would suggest, features a suite of software for basic employee productivity, including 5250, 3270, Unix, and Citrix emulators, a POP3 e-mail client, a Microsoft Web browser, and viewers for opening (but not editing) Word and PDF documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. What NLynx is so excited about with the MinIT 6000 is its form factor--at 7.5 x 6 x 1.75 inches, the unit weighs only 1.4 pounds, and can be mounted unobtrusively under a desk.
  
  
• Zephyr recently launched a new release of its Windows-based emulation software for OS/400, mainframe, and Unix servers. Passport PC To Host 2004 includes a number of enhancements, including an increased capability to make customizations to the product's keyboard, keypad, and toolbar functions. The software's "hotspot" feature has also been enhanced with the capability to map text strings, menu commands, and other objects to any screen hotspot. The software also received four new copy modes, improvements to its file transfer and printing capabilities, and improved help documentation. Zephyr is offering pricing discounts to customers who migrate to Passport PC To Host 2004 from IBM, NetManage, and Attachmate emulators.
  
  
• Stampede Technologies plans to incorporate the new instant messaging (IM) capabilities that IBM recently introduced with Notes and Domino Release 6.5 into its TurboGold data compression software. Stampede makes its living selling compression software that speeds the Notes/Domino replication process and reduces the consumption of processor power and network bandwidth, an important factor for road warriors connecting to their company's Domino servers over a dial-up connection. In the near future, the company plans to ship a new release of TurboGold that integrates the IM capabilities in Notes/Domino 6.5 directly into TurboGold. Company officials say this will give Notes/Domino administrators the capability to immediately communicate systems and policy changes to end users, thereby reducing the cycle time on implementation of new releases, policy definitions, and TurboGold features. Although Notes/Domino 6.5 became available September 30, a timeline for the IM release of TurboGold was not provided.
  
  
• A Korean ERP software vendor has picked look software's products to modernize its customers' OS/400 ERP system, look recently announced. Entos Information Systems, which is based in Changwon, South Korea, will resell newlook, an application refacing, and centric, which provides integration, to users of its S-Plus OS/400-based ERP system. Soeng Bo Cho, the president of Entos, said newlook and centric will satisfy the needs of customers who not only need to modernize their applications, but to integrate existing applications. "It is a perfect fit for us in Korea," Soeng said. Based in Melbourne, Australia, look software is double-byte enabled, and well placed to serve the Asia-Pacific market, which by many accounts is growing at a healthier clip than the rest of the market these days.
  
  

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