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  • Stay-Linked Enriches Wireless Emulation Suite

    March 18, 2014 Alex Woodie

    Running wireless environments in industrial surroundings, such as warehouses and distribution centers, is not as simple as it might seem. You won’t have any trouble checking your Twitter feed using the WiFi at your local Starbucks, but there are big hurdles to accessing 5250 host applications wirelessly over TCP/IP networks. A Southern California company by the name of Stay-Linked has a proven track record addressing this challenge.

    Founded in 2002, Stay-Linked has developed a reputation among distributors and logistics firms for its capability to provide stable and secure connections to IBM i hosts from wireless RF devices, such as barcode scanning guns. Dropped sessions are a big problem in traditional RF environments, requiring workers to repeatedly log into their sessions to resume work, hurting productivity.

    The Stay-Linked solution to this was simple. Instead of running the 5250 emulation session on the client device, run it directly on the host instead. And instead of using TCP over IP, use the UDP over IP protocol to communicate between the host and the client component that runs on the device. And instead of having a very chatty application using really big packets of data, keep the chatter to a bare minimum, and keep the packets under 512 bytes in size, ensuring they’re never broken up. These are the technical bases of Stay-Linked’s Client2Host communications protocol.

    In January, the Tustin firm unveiled version 12 of its eponymous software, which brings various enhancements in the areas of screen formatting, logging, and usage tracking. The company also announced a partnership with a new hardware provider to enable its software to run on new RF devices.

    Stay-Linked says the new screen recognition and screen reformatting functions will make it easier to enable information to be passed from device to host, and thereby extend the functionality of host systems without modifying the code. The company says its APIs can be accessed via “screen tap spots” and “key presses.”

    Meanwhile, new row and column filters allow devices to be set up to take multiple actions on a single recognized screen and trigger events based on screen type and cursor location. This helps to reduce the number of screen definitions required and simplifies the management of the actions associated with each screen, the company says.

    Smaller formatted screens will be automatically “up-scaled” so they display correctly on larger devices, thereby enabling organizations to support multiple device types with one format. The company says that it has waived the need for a dedicated “screen recognition” license with version 12.

    New usage-tracking features will allow administrators to monitor who’s using the devices. Stay-Linked says its software allows access to data by user name, and thereby views their productivity. There’s also a new data export feature that will support offline and real-time reporting and analysis.

    Finally, a new Telnet-proxy logging feature allows the Stay-Linked server to have visibility into a raw Telnet data stream. “This feature provides IT and application support personnel with rapid identification of issues for appropriate resolution with minimal downtime,” the company says.

    These new features were all requested by users, says Stay-Linked president Gary Brewsaugh. “The end-user community has requested these enhancements and we are listening. The goal of the Stay-Linked way is to continuously reduce complexity while raising the level of usability and this latest version does exactly that,” he says.

    Last month, Stay-Linked announced a partnership with DAP Technologies, a Tempe, Arizona, provider of handheld devices and mobile computers. The companies will work to pre-load the Stay-Linked software on several DAP tablets, including models M9010, M9700, and MT1010.

    The companies say that working together simplifies support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users, and also simplifies client management by negating the need for version control.

    Eric Miller, vice president of worldwide sales at DAP, says the companies already have mutual customers. “It is a natural extension to recognize our combined strength and formalize the relationship,” he says. “We like the fact that Stay-Linked software matches the attributes of our rugged devices to deliver an unmatched level of reliability in challenging environments.”

    RELATED STORIES

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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.

    CONTINUE READING ARTICLE

    Please visit ucgtechnologies.com/IBM-POWER9-systems for more information.

    800.211.8798 | info@ucgtechnologies.com

    Article featured in IT Jungle on April 5, 2021

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    One thought on “Stay-Linked Enriches Wireless Emulation Suite”

    • The Top iOS Apps For IBM i - vTechno News says:
      November 27, 2017 at 1:11 am

      […] may be interested in StayLinked SmartTE, a terminal emulator from StayLinked specially designed to minimize dropped sessions. The software can also automatically change the 5250 greenscreen into a GUI look and feel. It was […]

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 14, Number 6 -- March 18, 2014
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

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Table of Contents

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  • ‘ALL Out’ Effort Improves Security Tool’s Look
  • IBM’s Unveils Uber MFT Suite to End All MFT Suites
  • Stay-Linked Enriches Wireless Emulation Suite
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