Legacy integration

Presenting legacy data on the Web is still a big pain in the **** for companies. You'd think that this far down the track of companies connecting to the 'Net, legacy integration would be well-understood and easy to do.

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Not so - the problem is that legacy integration is just one of those problems that is extremely difficult to solve as the number of different scenarios is roughly equal to the number of companies that want to do it.

So, without further ado, here's another solution that is a strong contender in this market: The product is ViewMax from (www.modcomp.com).

ViewMax is based on a Rapid Application Development called the ViewMax Configurator environment that streamlines the process of mapping host screens to an HTML display.

ViewMax's Host System Interface (HIS) supports terminal interfaces for a number of host systems including DEC VT100-420, IBM 3270 and 5250, HP, Tandem, ICL, Stratus while a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) interfaces ViewMax to a Web server. Sitting between the HIS and CGI is the ViewMax Server.

The Server consists of a session manager, a Legacy Object Database (a catalog of all host fields and attributes), and PERL support for adding logic to the mapping of host data to Web content and vice versa.

The system features security controls to manage access rights and session management to ensure that user sessions can't " hang " (an open but unused session) when a user disconnects without properly shutting the session down.

A single user can simultaneously connect to eight different hosts and a single output page can be generated from multiple server sessions.

MODCOMP has a pretty impressive client list (see www.modcomp.com/ecommerce/applications/applications.html) and some interesting demos including linking from Yale's 3270 system to an Internet connected Palm (see www.modcomp.com/ecommerce/demos/demo.html).

Pricing starts at $100 per user per host interface, $7,500 per ViewMax Server (includes a single user license for the ViewMax Configurator - additional licenses are $3,500 per user) and $5,000 for 2 users (volume pricing is available, for example, 512 users costs $400 per user).

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist. He writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, and columnist. He writes the weekly Backspin and Gearhead columns in Network World. Gibbs is also co-conspirator of the Vitally Important Information Web site.

Gibbs can be contacted at webapps@gibbs.com. Press releases to pr@gibbs.com.

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