5250 Emulator for iPhone? Mochasoft is On It

July 15, 2008 Alex Woodie

So you picked up one of those new cool new iPhones, and are browsing the Apple App Store for some awesome new apps to use during your commute. In addition to such highly desirable titles as Super Monkey Ball, Etch a Sketch, and Pac Man, you will soon find a 5250 terminal emulator in the online store, according to Mochasoft, the Danish software developer.

Mochasoft is currently working on developing a 5250 emulator that runs on the iPhone and the iPod Touch, according to a statement on the Mochasoft Web site. It’s not known when the application will be ready.

Mochasoft was waiting to receive documentation from Apple for iPhone 2.0 and iPod touch 2.0, the latest software updates released as part of the recent launch of the new iPhone devices. The updates went live on Apple’s Web site on Friday, but many users complained of problems with the updates, which could slow development and release of the 5250 emulator.

Mochasoft acknowledged there could be a setback. “As the release depends on Apple, we cannot at the moment offer a fixed release date,” the company said in a statement on its Web site. “Our best guess at the moment is August 1, 2008.”

The new emulator will be displayed within the Safari Web browser, and support all standard 5250 emulation features, Mochasoft says. It will utilize 24×80 or 27×132 screen sizes, include SSL encryption and device name support, and support macros and auto login features.

Mochasoft currently offers a 5250 emulator for Microsoft‘s Windows Mobile and Windows CE operating systems, a more business-oriented competitor to the iPhone that runs on a variety of mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDA)s, and costs $25.

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This article was corrected. Mochasoft is based in Denmark, not Germany. IT Jungle regrets the error.

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Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

“Hosting” in this context can mean different things to different people, and in general, hosting refers to one of two scenarios. In the first scenario, hosting can refer to a client owned machine that is housed in a co-location facility (commonly called a co-lo for short) where the data center provides traditional system administrator services, relieving the client of administrative and operational responsibilities. In the second scenario, hosting can refer to an MSP owned machine in which partition resources are provided to the client in an on-demand capacity. This scenario allows the client to completely outsource all aspects of Power Systems hardware and the IBM i operating system and database.

The scenario that is best for each business depends on a number of factors and is largely up for debate. In most cases, pursuing hosting purely as a cost saving strategy is a dead end. Furthermore, when you consider all of the costs associated with maintaining and IBM i environment, it is typically not a cost-effective option for the small to midsize market. The most cost-effective approach for these organizations is often a combination of a client owned and maintained system (either on-prem or in a co-lo) with cloud backup and disaster-recovery-as-a-service. Only in some cases of larger enterprise companies can a hosting strategy start to become a potentially cost-effective option.

However, cost savings is just one part of the story. As IBM i expertise becomes scarce and IT resources run tight, the only option for some firms may be to pursue hosting in some capacity. Whatever the driving force for pursing hosting may be, the key point is that it is not just simply an option for running your workload in a different location. There are many details to consider and it is to the best interest of the client to work with an experienced MSP in weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each option. As COVID-19 rolls on, time will tell if IBM i hosting strategies will follow the other strong business trends of the pandemic.

When we say do the math in the title above, it literally means that you need to do the math for your particular scenario. It is not about us doing the math for you, making a case for either staying on premises or for moving to the cloud. There is not one answer, but just different levels of cost to be reckoned which yield different answers. Most IBM i shops have fairly static workloads, at least measured against the larger mix of stuff on the public clouds of the world. How do you measure the value of controlling your own IT fate? That will only be fully recognized at the moment when it is sorely missed the most.

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Article featured in IT Jungle on April 5, 2021