August 23, 2004
(IDG News Service)
At the Share conference last week, Microsoft Corp. announced an upgrade of its Host Integration Server software that's designed to make it easier for users to link Windows systems with IBM's mainframes and iSeries midrange servers.
Host Integration Server 2004 includes new Transaction Integrator development tools that are integrated with Microsoft's .Net Framework and Visual Studio .Net technologies. The tools can be used to turn mainframe and iSeries applications into XML-based Web services, said lead product manager Steven Martin.
The upgrade, Microsoft's first in four years, is due Sept. 1 and will be available in both standard and enterprise editions. Pricing is $2,499 per processor for the standard edition and $9,999 per CPU for the enterprise package, which includes full support for Transaction Integrator plus a bridge between Microsoft's message-queuing software and IBM's WebSphere MQ product.
Martin said about 30 users took part in a "high-touch" testing program while others tested beta versions of the upgrade.
One of the high-touch users was Tom Taglianetti, a platform architect at Fiserv LeMans, a King of Prussia, Pa.-based unit of Fiserv Inc. that sells software for the automobile financing industry. "Our interest in the product is primarily for its application integration capabilities with CICS technology," he said, referring to one of IBM's transaction management systems.
Mainframe Data on PCs
Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), which provides electronic payment processing services, uses Host Integration Server to provide up to 4,000 employees with access to mainframe data on their Windows PCs. Tim Kelly, director of distributed technologies at TSYS, said the .Net integration capabilities built into the new release let the Columbus, Ga.-based company "spoof our apps into thinking mainframe-based data is native."
Host Integration Server has been a sleeper in Microsoft's product line but is becoming more interesting with the upgrade, said Peter O'Kelly, an analyst at Burton Group in Midvale, Utah. "The additional features may not be glamorous, but they're important," he said.
O'Kelly added that he expects "very healthy competition" between Microsoft and IBM, which offers similar functionality in its WebSphere product line.