LinkIt Hooks IBM i to Windows

October 29, 2013 Alex Woodie

Several months ago, we told you about the new VTLBackup4i offering that VRTech launched in 2012. The folks at the Israeli software firm tell us they’re also having success with LinkIt, an integration tool that hooks IBM i applications to Web and Windows programs.

According to VRTech, LinkIt provides integration between a midrange application and the data housed in Windows-based programs, including Word, Excel, Outlook, as well as document archives, document scanners, and biometric authentication. The software gives users another way to access data and documents from the IBM i environment and also provides another data and document output mechanism.

For starters, it allows users to view Windows-based documents directly from a 5250 display session. By clicking on the LinkIt icon in the Windows taskbar, a user can automatically pull up and display Word or Excel documents related to information stored in the IBM i environment.

Similarly, it also allows users to export information already on the 5250 into the Windows environment. By first highlighting subfiles on their 5250 screens and then clicking the export to Excel option, users can automatically move rows and rows of data from the IBM i app into a spreadsheet. Similarly, users can grab data information from their 5250 screens and automatically merge it with a pre-made Word template, or automatically generate an Outlook email message based on information on the 5250 screen.

The software helps with document scanning, too. By clicking on one of the LinkIt commands that appear in the product’s menu, users can scan a document and index it according to data that’s displayed on the 5250 screen.

Pop-up menus controlled by LinkIt can be used to open other business applications, such as CRM, online credit card payments, Web services and websites, and automate the transfer of data from IBM i application as parameters, VRTech founder and CEO Haim Viner tells IT Jungle. “It can also return data from this application back to IBM i screen,” he says.

Viner says LinkIt won’t do much for IBM i shops that want to modernize their 5250 applications. However, the software can alleviate some of the problems that arise in the area of IBM i to Windows integration, and in “preventing IBM i abandonment,” he says.

In addition to supporting the IBM i, LinkIt can work in a mainframe environment. Pricing starts at $280 per PC. For more information, see vetch.biz.

VRTech Offers VTL Backup Software for IBM i

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