Beyond Software Announces New Tool to "Unlock" Mainframe Applications.ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 1998--Beyond Software Incorporated (http://www.beyond-software.com) a leading provider of solutions for transforming legacy applications, today announced its newest tool to "unlock" mainframe applications at the IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) OS/390 Expo and Performance Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. EnterpriseWeb Legacy Application Server (LASER) is both a World Wide Web server and a powerful applications server for legacy applications which run under MVS/ESA See MVS. MVS/ESA - Multiple Virtual Storage or OS/390 platforms. It transforms the mainframe computer into a centralized superserver, and brings a straight-forward approach to unlocking a company's information assets. "Companies such as Merrill Lynch, Bank of America
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648 ) is the largest commercial bank in the United States in terms of deposits, and the largest company of its kind in the world. , J.C. Penney and IBM have already realized the benefits of transforming their legacy systems into cost-effective, user-friendly productivity tools through EnterpriseWeb products," said Brian Reaves, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Beyond Software. "Today, we introduce another cutting-edge technology, that provides the rapid development tools necessary, to take full advantage of mature information assets and applications stored on the mainframe." EnterpriseWeb LASER functions are similar to traditional Web servers, but were built specifically to facilitate direct access to mainframe applications and data. With EnterpriseWeb LASER, a simple transaction can be enabled in just a few lines of code The statements and instructions that a programmer writes when creating a program. One line of this "source code" may generate one machine instruction or several depending on the programming language. A line of code in assembly language is typically turned into one machine instruction. . OS/390 applications can be accessed, and transactions run, with a simple "point and click" of a Web browser via any desktop environment. "Some of our clients are now beginning to think beyond the year 2000 date issue and are moving to provide enhanced access and graphical, user friendly, interfaces to applications and information stored on mainframe computers. "Because over 70% of the world's business data still remains on the mainframe, solutions that provide easy access via Web technology to legacy applications will be in demand" said Carl Greiner, Vice President of Enterprise Data Center Strategies for the Meta Group. EnterpriseWeb LASER comes with a Software Developers Kit (SDK) that enables Information Systems professionals to quickly construct business logic and wrappers around existing applications built in environments such as CICS (Customer Information Control System) A TP monitor from IBM that was originally developed to provide transaction processing for IBM mainframes. It controls the interaction between applications and users and lets programmers develop screen displays without , IMS (1) See IP Multimedia Subsystem. (2) (Information Management System) An early IBM hierarchical DBMS for IBM mainframes. IMS was widely implemented throughout the 1970s under MVS and continues to be used under z/OS. , TSO, and DB2 using languages like COBOL COBOL: see programming language. COBOL in full Common Business-Oriented Language. High-level computer programming language, one of the first widely used languages and for many years the most popular language in the business community. , REXX (REstructured EXtended eXecutor) An IBM mainframe structured programming language that runs under VM/CMS and MVS/TSO. It can be used as a general-purpose macro language that sends commands to application programs and to the operating systems. , Nomad2, Adabase, SAS (1) (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, www.sas.com) A software company that specializes in data warehousing and decision support software based on the SAS System. Founded in 1976, SAS is one of the world's largest privately held software companies. See SAS System. , FOCUS, 370/Assembler and many others. It combines the power of Web-based technologies with production quality and capacity that is unique to the mainframe environment. Beyond Software designed EnterpriseWeb LASER to enable mainframes and the mainframe programming staff to play an integral role in corporate intranets, extranets, and e-commerce. "Before EnterpriseWeb LASER, a company typically required dedicated programmers, a bank of middle tier servers, support people and Web developers in order to get enterprise-class Web connectivity to its CICS, IMS and DB2 applications," said David Wolff, Senior Executive Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of REAL, a leading reseller of IBM CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. S/390 enterprise systems in the United States. "Now those connections can be accomplished in hours, giving a company not only a competitive edge, but also a significant cost savings in middle tier manpower, software and hardware expenses." EnterpriseWeb LASER Security A full range of security features allow seamless use of existing security infrastructures including support of commercial security managers such as RACF (Resource Access Control Facility) IBM mainframe security software introduced in 1976 that verifies user ID and password and controls access to authorized files and resources. RACF - Resource Access Control Facility , ACF2, and Top Secret. In addition, Web-enabled mainframe applications run with the strongest level of encryption commercially available, including SSL V2 and V3 with cypher suites ranging from 40 to 168 bits. Digital signatures, encapsulation and digital certificates are fully supported as are both client and server authentication. More Than a 2 Tier Architecture In addition to providing a direct two tier environment between the mainframe and a client browser, EnterpriseWeb LASER has been designed to facilitate an "n-tier" architecture. "Many of the corporations we spoke with during the design phase of LASER said that they wanted the ability to move quickly to Web-enable legacy applications today, but desired the option of making the mainframe a key player in a future n-tier architecture," said Erik Woodward, CTO for Beyond Software. "We designed EnterpriseWeb LASER to provide just such a platform, delivering reusable components that can immediately Web enable legacy transactions, and a standards-based framework which is accessible in either two-tier or n-tier environments. "This architecture is particularly powerful because it allows you to leverage not just the existing mainframe hardware and software, but the existing mainframe programming staff and the huge pool of knowledge they possess." General availability of EnterpriseWeb LASER is scheduled for November 9th 1998. More information on EnterpriseWeb LASER can be found at http://www.beyond-software.com/Products/EWeb/MVS/Data.html. About Beyond Software Beyond Software Inc., based in San Jose, California San Jose (IPA: /ˌsænhoʊˈzeɪ/) is the third-largest city in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. , is the leader in providing solutions for extending and transforming legacy applications into Web-enabled enterprise class applications. Combining both legacy systems and Internet/Intranet experience, Beyond Software Inc. delivers technically superior, easy-to-use, cost-effective solutions. The privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. was the first to develop a commercial Web server, EnterpriseWeb, for the IBM S/390 platform and currently has the largest installed base of OS/390 Web servers. |
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