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Lakeview Working on MIMIX for Windows
by Alex Woodie
Lakeview Technology is adapting its MIMIX high availability software for OS/400 servers to run under Microsoft Windows and IBM's xSeries servers. Although the Oak Brook, Illinois, company is not yet ready to formally announce the availability of the software or discuss it in detail, the company's preliminary announcement makes it clear that MIMIX for Windows will be geared toward helping existing AS/400 and iSeries users provide more uptime for their Integrated xSeries Servers or external xSeries servers connected via the xSeries adapter cards.
MIMIX for Windows will provide server heartbeat monitoring, real-time file replication, and automatic server failover capabilities for Windows applications running in conjunction with the OS/400 environment, Lakeview says. The software will replicate and mirror the Windows QNTC portion of OS/400's Integrated File System, which is where Windows applications store their data and application files. High availability functions supported by the MIMIX for Windows software will include concurrent and consolidated saves, workload balancing, and file-level saves and restores; possible deployment options include fan-in, fan-out, and chained-server topologies, Lakeview says.
MIMIX for Windows will support Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 operating systems running on IBM's internal Intel-based xSeries servers, called the Integrated xSeries Server (IxS), and on external xSeries servers attached to the iSeries platform through the Integrated xSeries Adapter (IxA). Lakeview says Windows 2000 Server will be supported on the IxS cards, whereas Windows 2000 Advanced Server will be required on the IxA cards. Windows .NET Server, the so-called "Whistler" kicker to the current Windows 2000, will be supported when IBM supports the operating system on its xSeries servers, the company said.
Developing cross-platform high availability tools has become a holy grail of sorts for the incumbent OS/400 high availability business partners, including Vision Solutions and DataMirror. This move towards developing high availability technology for Windows, Unix, and Linux environments is being driven in part by IBM's push toward common hardware features, middleware, and application support across all types of servers. But it is also driven by a desire to enter markets that have been operating-system centric in developing clustering solutions, not application centric. No matter what the reason, there are gaping holes in the market for high availability and clustering programs that can support diverse operating environments. The company that can fill this hole is going to make a lot of money.
Lakeview made its preliminary MIMIX for Windows announcement just prior to IBM's PartnerWorld convention in San Francisco last month. Since then, however, the company has refused to discuss additional details about the forthcoming release, except to say that more will be said about it at next month's COMMON conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
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