Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

OS/400 Edition
Volume 2, Number 40 -- October 22, 2002

SEAGULL's X-Caliber Replaces 5250 Data Stream with XML

by Alex Woodie

SEAGULL last week announced what is probably its most important new product in two years. From the COMMON conference in Denver last Monday, the Dutch software developer unveiled X-Caliber, an invasive software technology that allows companies to recompile their RPG application to entirely replace the native 5250 data stream with XML served from batch. The two primary advantages to X-Caliber are a near elimination of dependence on OS/400 interactive processing and an easier integration of host RPG applications and data with newer systems.

In a nutshell, X-Caliber is middleware that translates 5250 to XML and controls whether application requests are submitted to run in batch or interactive mode. The software sits between the RPG application and the user, intercepting interactive 5250 I/O requests and submitting them to the AS/400 or iSeries for processing as batch jobs, or a combination of batch and interactive jobs. On the outbound side, X-Caliber serves XML or a combination of XML documents and 5250 datastreams, depending on the requirements of the user.

The process begins with a component called the X-Caliber Pre-Processor. First, the programmer runs his RPG source code through the X-Caliber Pre-Processor, which creates a copy of the source code. The X-Caliber Pre-Processor then modifies that copy by changing display file calls that would normally be served with 5250 calls to the other component, X-Caliber Server, which is a Java application that manages I/O on behalf of users. After pre-processing, the programmer compiles the software as he normally would.

SEAGULL achieves a lively screen response time by enabling X-Caliber to cache display file information. X-Caliber also monitors the QSYSOPR message queue and conveniently routes messages to the appropriate user. The software is also integrated with the other members of SEAGULL's LegaSuite, including JWalk, Transidiom, and BlueZone.

X-Caliber improves the interoperability of native OS/400 applications by providing a relatively easy way for those applications to become fluent in XML, which is the new lingua franca (common language) of data, SEAGULL said. "The 5250 datastream is often seen as a limiting factor in the evolution of the platform," stated Andre den Haan, SEAGULL vice president of product strategy, in a press release. "X-Caliber . . . [frees] traditionally proprietary applications to participate in next-generation architectures, while protecting the investment in a reliable and secure platform."

Besides the integration benefits of XML--which has generated a tremendous amount of momentum but is still considered by some in the OS/400 community to be expensive to run, performance-wise--X-Caliber promises the other obvious benefit of dramatically reducing, or in some cases eliminating, AS/400 and iSeries shops' dependency on interactive processing (which more than makes up for any possible performance degradation caused by XML). On most new boxes sold today, upward of half the purchase price goes toward enabling interactive processing. IBM makes hundreds of millions of dollars every year by selling interactive processing to OS/400 users who have yet to update their older, 5250-based green-screen applications.

This green-screen "tax" is levied on the user base in part to motivate them to move their applications to newer architectures, such as Java, which runs in a batch--or server--mode on OS/400 hardware and which is much cheaper to buy than interactive. IBM and numerous other third-party vendors like SEAGULL have offered tools and services to help move these 5250 applications to newer architectures, but today there are still tens of thousands of customers using decades-old software, which still works well but is expensive to run because it requires interactive processing. This stubbornness on the part of the OS/400 installed base to not upgrade its software--or its hardware--is primarily what motivated IBM to roll out its "GreenStreak" promotion earlier this year, which provides a 50 percent discount on selected iSeries--approximately what it costs most customers to have IBM pare back the CFINT governor enough to be able to run their 5250 apps without incurring molasses-like response times.

Although X-Caliber is available to the user OS/400 installed base, and will probably be used there, it is really targeted at independent software vendors, which have used SEAGULL's legacy rejuvenation software, JWalk, to give green-screen apps Windows or Web-based GUIs, said Samuel Elias, senior vice president and general manager of SEAGULL's ISV/OEM division. Some of the biggest ERP vendors in the OS/400 space--including Baan Process Solutions, Fiserv, Geac Enterprise Solutions, Interactive Business Systems, J.D. Edwards, Kronos, and Manhattan Associates-- use SEAGULL's software to generate GUIs.

The software is available now. Pricing is based on the processor class and starts at $5,000 for a P05 machine and rises to $10,000 for a P10 machine and so forth. For more information on the software, contact SEAGULL at www.seagullsw.com.

SEAGULL will be holding two free online seminars to demonstrate X-Caliber this week. The seminars will be hosted by Greg Mummah, SEAGULL's product manager, and will be followed by live Q&A sessions for interested parties. For more information and to register for the events, go to www.seagullsw.com/webseminars.asp.

Editor's Note: This article has been edited since its original publication to correct several errors. The name of SEAGULL's new software, X-Caliber, was incorrectly spelled. SEAGULL is a Dutch company, not a Danish company, as originally stated. Guild Companies regrets the errors. [Corrections made 10/23/02]