Linoma Surges, Issues Torrent of New and Updated Utilities

by Alex Woodie

Linoma Software is going into the data replication tool business. The Omaha, Nebraska, software company, best known for its productivity tools, is due to start shipping an "anywhere to anywhere" data replication tool, called Transfer Anywhere, by December. Linoma says Transfer Anywhere helps OS/400 shops move a variety of different types of data without subjecting them to the hassles of data conversion. The company has also issued major updates to its bread-and-butter productivity tools, Surveyor/400 and RPG Toolbox.

Linoma describes Transfer Anywhere as a "flexible framework" that can do the job of several point products. At its core, the product blends the functionality of a data format conversion tool with a report distribution tool, giving users a one-stop shop for defining how a piece of data is to change and where it should be sent once it has been converted. Transfer Anywhere can handle a range of tasks, such as database-to-database conversions, distributing spool files through e-mail or FTP, or loading data into OS/400's Integrated File System or another network file system.

Users interact with the Java application through a graphical wizard that walks them through setting up their data transfers, defining their distribution lists, and scheduling the transfer. The wizard features five tabs that must be filled out to initialize the data transfer. Linoma says this makes it easy for users to get up and running with their data transfers without wading through the intricacies of data conversion.

First, the wizard. It starts by asking the user to name the new transfer and to define what user groups will be allowed to repeat the data transfer at a later date. A structured tree view lets users select their source files, while other tabs direct the user to select what data format they want the data to be transferred into and where they should be placed. The user is then asked whether the transfer is to run "on demand" or according to a certain schedule. These transfers can then be run by anybody in the organization, and updated or edited as needed.

Transfer Anywhere supports most popular databases, specifically IBM DB2, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, Linoma says. Supported data types include delimited text, fixed-format text, Microsoft Excel, Adobe PDF, HTML, and XML; additional file formats may be supported through third-party data translator plug-ins. File distribution is handled either through FTP, as binary or ASCII files, or through e-mail using SNMP. The application keeps status and error logs for each transfer, and users can receive e-mail confirmations upon successful transfers.

Transfer Anywhere was announced at last month's COMMON conference, and it should start shipping by the end of November, company sources say. The software is cleared to work with OS/400 V5R1 and V5R2. Contact Linoma for V4R5 interoperability. License prices are tier-based and range from about $5,000 to $15,000.

Linoma has been busy. As if the launch of a new product weren't enough, the company has issued major upgrades to RPG Toolbox, its collection of productivity tools for RPG programmers, and Surveyor/400, which allows developers and users to view the DB2/400 database in a graphical format.

In RPG Toolbox Version 3.0, programmers will find a number of new capabilities to help them modernize their RPG applications. This version of the toolbox supports conversion of RPG/400 and RPG III source code to RPG IV, including the new free-format syntax available with OS/400 V5R1. The toolbox also supports a number of new operation conversions.

Improvements to SEU Plus, one of the tools in the toolbox, will help RPG programmers get even more use out of IBM's Source Edit Utility, Linoma says. For example, this version of SEU Plus features more than 70 additional line commands and lets users highlight, color, and comment-out RPG, DDS, and CL source code. By shipping more than 190 different predefined source code programs (or "snippets") in SEU Plus, Linoma says, programmers will develop faster, with higher quality. RPG Toolbox 3.0 costs $995 per OS/400 server processor.

Linoma is also due to start shipping a new version of Surveyor/400 in November. Surveyor/400 is a multifaceted product that shares some of the same capabilities as Transfer Anywhere, like the capability to move database files, to convert spooled files to PDF or text forms, and to send files via FTP. However, Surveyor/400 has a more extensive functionality set, including the capability to work with database records from PCs, to create and run SQL statements, to generate DDS and DDL source code, and to run 5250 emulation.

With this release of Surveyor/400, Linoma says it has broken through the barriers that were keeping Surveyor/400 relegated to being a "techie's" product by adding new data transfer scheduling capabilities. With this version, users can execute a data transfer from a command or a CL program, or it can be called automatically from a scheduling utility.

For more information on Linoma Software's products, contact the company at www.linomasoftware.com.

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