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Entire contents © 2001 by Gartner Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believedto be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or forinterpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

DPRO-91115Serena Lambiase

Technology Overview25 January 2001

Bluetooth Wireless Technology: An Introduction

Summary

Named after the 10th century Danish King Harald, Bluetooth is the English translation of his last name"Blatand." Just as King Harald was famous for uniting the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway and for hisextensive travels, Bluetooth technology unites separate entities (peripherals, laptops, PDAs, palmtops,cell phones) and simplifies life for people on the move. This wireless, low-cost radio solution enablessmall devices to communicate between each other and to the Internet and can also be extended to thedesktop so that printers or scanners can communicate with PCs at short range without wires. The concepthas been termed Personal-Area Network or PAN. Bluetooth operates in the 2.4GHz radio frequencyband, offers 721Kb data rates, and has a range of 10 meters.

Table of Contents

Technology Basics

Bluetooth: How It Works

Technology Analysis

Business Use

Benefits and Risks

Standards

Technology Leaders

Technology Alternatives

Insight

List Of Figures

Figure 1: IEEE 802.15 Bluetooth WPAN


Copyright © 2001 DPRO-9111525 January 2001 2

Technology Basics

Introduction

The use of mobile computing gadgets is growing exponentially— according to Gartner's Dataquest,annual shipments of mobile phones and handheld computers will reach 900 million within five years.However, most users are aggravated by the difficulties they endure when attempting to have their mobileequipment exchange information: schedules, phone numbers, files, and information with other people'sequipment. Besides resolving these issues, Bluetooth-enabled PCs and laptops will be capable of cable-free connectivity to peripherals, such as on-the-fly cable-free printing and wireless headsets for cellphones.

Bluetooth: How It Works

Bluetooth wireless technology is a specification designed to enable wireless communication betweensmall, mobile devices. The original idea behind the technology was to eliminate the need for proprietarycables, which are currently required to enable device connectivity. A typical example would be connectinga digital camera to a PC without cables. Expanding that idea to include all handheld mobile electronicdevices is what Bluetooth is all about.

Bluetooth Lineage

Although the Bluetooth specification contains many unique features, it has borrowed heavily from severalexisting wireless standards. These include Motorola's Piano, IrDA, IEEE 802.11, and Digital EnhancedCordless Telecommunications (DECT).

• Motorola's Piano was developed with the concept of forming ad hoc "Personal-Area Networks," whichwas adopted by the Bluetooth SIG to expand the capabilities of the original Bluetooth concept beyondsimple cable replacement.

• Bluetooth voice data transmission capabilities are derived from the DECT specification.

• Object exchange capabilities are derived from the IrDA specifications.

• Bluetooth inherits the 2.4GHz ISM band, frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), authentication,privacy, power management, and LAN capabilities from the IEEE 802.11 specification.

Bluetooth Wireless Components

There are four major components in any Bluetooth wireless technology system: a radio unit, a basebandunit, a software stack, and application software.

The radio unit is the actual radio transceiver that enables the wireless link between Bluetooth devices.Bluetooth currently can have a maximum of 1 milliwatt (mw) of transmitter power, which allows operationover distances of up to 10 meters; however, the Bluetooth specification permits increasing transmitterpower up to 10 mw in the future.

The baseband unit is hardware, consisting of flash memory and a CPU, which interfaces with the radiounit and the host device electronics at the hardware level. The baseband hardware provides all requiredfunctionality to establish and maintain a Bluetooth wireless connection between devices. Another namefor the Bluetooth baseband is "Link Control Unit." The baseband protocol supports both circuit-switchedand packet-switched communications using frequency-hopping spread-spectrum (FHSS) technology.Bluetooth FHSS operates from 2.402GHz to 2.480GHz, dividing this frequency range into 79 1MHz



subchannels and hopping from channel to channel at a rate of 1,600 hops per second. Transmitting andreceiving devices must synchronize on the same hop sequence to communicate.

Compared with other wireless technologies that operate in the ISM frequency band, Bluetooth usesshorter data packets and a higher hop rate. This makes Bluetooth devices more immune to interferencefrom microwave ovens and other sources of radio frequency (FR) energy, and limits interference betweenusers. Another advantage of FHSS is that it gives users the flexibility of roaming between access devicesin different physical areas.

Bluetooth wireless devices can link to a wired network, such as a corporate Ethernet LAN, through an"access point," which includes a Bluetooth transceiver and baseband controller, the circuitry to convertinformation from the Blue Bluetooth format to Ethernet format, and interface circuitry to connect theaccess point to the wired network through a cable. As long as users remain in range of an access device,they can roam about and still use the wired network resources.

Communications between Bluetooth devices are normally peer to peer, with each device being equal.However, when two or more devices link into a small ad hoc network called a piconet, one device acts asthe master, and the others are slaves for the duration of the piconet connection. All devices in the piconetare synchronized to the master’s clock and hopping sequence. The Bluetooth specification supports up to10 piconets in a coverage area, with up to eight devices per piconet. Initially, Bluetooth networks are likelyto be limited to two piconets because of software restrictions. Each piconet is identified by a differentfrequency-hopping scheme.

• Bluetooth Piconet example: several individuals with Bluetooth-enabled portable computers share adatabase in a meeting. With automatic synchronization enabled, everyone in the meeting can seeany changes made in the shared database on his or her own computer.

• Bluetooth Scatternet: Bluetooth supports point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connections;piconets can be linked together into scatternets. A scatternet consists of two or more piconets linkedtogether by one device in each piconet acting as a bridge between the piconets.

Security

The Bluetooth specification defines three security modes: nonsecure, service-level security, and link-levelsecurity. The device does not initiate any kind of security procedure in the nonsecure mode. Service-levelsecurity offers more flexibility in application access. In the link-level security mode, the device sets upsecurity procedures before the link setup is completed; this allows knowledge of "who" is at the other endof the link and provides authentication, authorization, and encryption services. In spite of these threesecurity modes, current Bluetooth qualification processes do not yet enforce effective securityimplementation, which opens up end users to security risks.

Bluetooth Products: Finally Here

Since its announcement in 1998, Bluetooth has been the subject of marketing histrionics and hype:wireless headsets, "Smart Cars," wireless Web surfing with Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and Bluetooth-enabled laptops or handhelds, and inexpensive wireless computer networking are just a few of the usesBluetooth vendors have claimed will be available through this still emerging technology.

Unfortunately, Bluetooth products, other than components and chips, have primarily been the province ofvaporware; however, a small group of Bluetooth-based products are finally becoming available, with manymore products expected in the immediate future. Bluetooth-enabled PC Cards from 3Com, IBM, andToshiba; headsets from Ericsson and GN Netcom; and phones from Motorola and Ericsson are amongthe first Bluetooth products that are currently hitting the market.



There are several reasons Bluetooth-enabled products have been slow to reach the market: expensivepricing, an extremely rigorous qualification process, insufficient amounts of Bluetooth chips and testingequipment. In addition, there are still software and security issues and a lack of interoperability testing.However, testing equipment and chips are now more readily available, and pricing for the chips hasstarted to drop, which is key to the widespread deployment of Bluetooth-enabled products. Until recently,Bluetooth chips were averaging US$35; prices are currently averaging closer to US$25 and are expectedto drop to US$12 by the fourth quarter of 2001. However, for Bluetooth connectivity products to trulybecome ubiquitous, pricing for the chips will need to drop even further. When Bluetooth chips drop to theUS$1 level, Bluetooth can replace cables for battery-operated devices.

Technology Analysis

Business Use

• Create wireless PANs (WPANs).

• Wirelessly share presentations, files, or contacts between laptops.

• Synchronize contact information contained on a phone with the contact information on a PDA,notebook, and desktop wirelessly.

• Automatically synchronize notebooks and desktops when users walk into a room.

• Send pages of information to a Bluetooth-enabled printer without the use of cables.

• Replace the cabling now used to connect a handheld device to a PC.

• Have wireless headsets that allow users to leave their mobile phones in their briefcases and makehands-free, wire-free phone calls.

• Enable notebooks or PDAs to automatically access the Internet through the nearest Bluetooth-enabled device.

Benefits and Risks

Benefits

• It replaces cables within Wireless PANs (PCs, laptops, printers, etc.).

• It provides on-the-fly printing (aim a Bluetooth-enabled laptop or handheld device at any Bluetooth-enabled printer; no cables or drivers are required).

• Users do not want to employ a single, not-so-great product that purports to do everything; usingdifferent best-of-class products geared to the individual situations and needs, and having those bestof class products work seamlessly, is preferable. Bluetooth offers this possibility.

• Point-to-multipoint capability will allow users to "roam" while performing various applications withoutworrying about line of sight or distance.

Risks

• Information could by intercepted by other devices.

• There is the possibility of interference in highly congested areas.

• Interoperability issues will have to be resolved before wide acceptance.



Standards

The Bluetooth SIG

www.bluetooth.com

The Bluetooth SIG was formed to promote Bluetooth technology. Formed in 1998, the Bluetooth SIG hascreated a network of Bluetooth component vendors to supply equipment manufacturers, from antennasuppliers to coaxial cable vendors. Ericsson, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Toshiba were the originaldevelopers of the Bluetooth technology and Bluetooth special interest group (SIG); currently, there arenine promoter companies of the SIG— 3Com, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia,and Toshiba. There are also currently just over 2,000 member companies that are developing Bluetoothproducts.

The original Bluetooth 1.0 specification was announced in July 1999. The current Bluetooth spec is now1.0B. Ratified in May 2000, it had interoperability problems, forcing Bluetooth developers back to thedrawing board. A new version, 1.1, is expected to be approved in the immediate future. The upcoming 1.1specification is expected to be the new standard for gauging interoperability. Next on the drawing board isthe possible extension of the Bluetooth specification to the Radio2, or High Rate (HR) Bluetoothspecification. Rates somewhere between 2 and 12 Mbps, or possibly higher, are being considered by theIEEE 802.15.3 Working Group.

The IEEE and the IEEE 802.15 WG for WPANs (Bluetooth)

http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/15/

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in existence since 1884, helps advanceglobal prosperity by promoting the engineering process of creating, developing, integrating, sharing, andapplying knowledge about electrical and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanityand the profession. The IEEE Working Group for WPANs (Bluetooth) is the IEEE 802.15 WG.

The IEEE 802.15.1 Task Group 1 is licensed to create a derivative work from the Bluetooth Specificationv1.x and convert it to IEEE Format.

• 802.15.1 (Standard)

• Bluetooth derivative that is a formalization of the original spec

• 802.15.2 (Recommended Practice)

• Coexistence MAC and PHY Modeling

• 802.15.3 (Standard)

• WPAN-HR, High Rate >20 Mbps

• 802.15.4 (Standard)

• WPAN-LR, Low Rate 2 Kbps to 200 Kbps

Figure 1: IEEE 802.15 Bluetooth WPAN



Source: IEEE 802.15.1 WG for WPANs.

Technology Leaders

3Com

5400 Bayfront Plaza

Santa Clara, CA 95052, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 408 326 5000

Fax: +1 408 326 5001

Internet: www.3com.com

Ericsson Microelectronics

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson

Telefonplan

S-126 25 Stockholm, Sweden

Tel: +46 8 719 00 00

Internet: www.ericsson.com

IBM (International Business Machines Corporation)

New Orchard Road

Armonk, NY 10504, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 914 499 1900



Fax: +1 914 765 7382

Internet: www.ibm.com

Intel Corporation (Santa Clara No. 4)

2625 Walsh Avenue

Santa Clara, CA 95052-8119, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 408 765 8080

Fax: +1 408 765 9904

Internet: www.intel.com

Lucent Technologies, Inc.

600 Mountain Avenue

Murray Hill, NJ 07974, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 908 582 8500

Internet: www.lucent.com

Microsoft Corporation

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, WA 98052, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 425 882 8080

Fax: +1 425 936 7329

Internet: www.microsoft.com

Motorola, Inc.

1303 East Algonquin Road

Schaumburg, IL 60196, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 847 576 5000

Internet: www.motorola.com

Nokia Corporation

Keilalahdentie 4

PO Box 226

FIN-00045 Espoo, Finland

Tel: +358 9 180 71

Fax: +358 9 652 409

Internet: www.nokia.com



Toshiba America, Inc. (TAI)

1251 6th Avenue, 41st Floor

New York, NY 10020, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 212 596 0600

Fax: +1 212 593 3875

Internet: www.toshiba.com

IBM, Toshiba, and Logitech Agreement

Both IBM and Toshiba intend to work with Motorola to offer Bluetooth functionality as a customer optionacross portions of their PC lines. Also, Motorola will work with its Digianswer subsidiary to supply a first-generation embedded solution for use inside PCs and peripheral devices such as printers and dataaccess points. Motorola also has agreed to a joint development effort with Logitech aimed at introducing anew generation of cordless peripherals based on Bluetooth technology.

Ericsson and Lucent Agreement

Ericsson and Lucent have agreed to collaborate on developing and licensing solutions for the Bluetoothwireless technology market.

Microsoft and Intel Partnership

Intel announced during June 2000 that it plans to work with Microsoft to integrate its Bluetooth softwarewith Windows. Intel claims that Bluetooth will be native to the Windows operating environment by the firsthalf of 2001. In the interim, Intel will license its current Bluetooth software stack to other vendors. Thestack is already compatible with Windows 98/2000 and offers rudimentary Bluetooth features: filesynchronization, data transfer, dial-up and networking, and the capability of identifying other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Future wireless features from the Intel-Microsoft union will include high-definition audio,video streaming, and sending print commands.

Epson America

Epson was the first printer vendor to demonstrate printing capabilities using Bluetooth wirelesscommunication technology. Epson claims Bluetooth printing promises to be a business application thatwill enhance convenience in both the office and the home, with advantages over infrared connectivity.

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard is working to provide a reliable PAN solution, incorporating Bluetooth technology, to giveusers the ability to eliminate connecting cables and wirelessly synchronize data among notebook PCs,personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, and other peripherals. HP is a member of the BluetoothSpecial Interest Group (SIG) and is leading the development to help establish the Bluetooth 2.0 wirelessstandard. Bluetooth 2.0 is know as "high rate" Bluetooth, or Radio2. The IEEE 802.15.3 Working Group isresponsible for this possible extension to the Bluetooth specification.

Bluetooth Phones

• Motorola Timeport 270: Accepts a Bluetooth add-on; when paired with Bluetooth PC Cards fromMotorola, the new phone allows users to access the Internet on portable computers from up to 30feet. It could enable wireless mobile connections in larger handheld computers that feature PC Card



slots. In addition, the Motorola phone could be paired with Compaq Computer Corp.’s Pocket PC-based iPaq and its PC Card expansion jacket. Availability: 1H01.

• Ericsson R520m: The R520m is a triple-band mobile phone featuring WAP, GPRS, high-speed data,and Bluetooth wireless technology. It is expected to ship in volume in the first quarter of 2001.

Bluetooth Headsets

Bluetooth headsets connect to mobile phones by a radio link instead of a cable. The phone can be up to10 meters (30 feet) away, in briefcases, coat pockets, or in other rooms.

• GN Netcom's GN 9000 Bluetooth Headset requires Bluetooth host devices to operate (GN Netcombase station, Bluetooth card, or PDA) at a range of up to 30 feet. The GN Netcom 9000 beganshipping during October 2000.

• Ericsson's Bluetooth Headset has a built-in Bluetooth radio chip that acts as a connector between theheadset and the Bluetooth plug on the Ericsson phone. When the phone rings, the user can answerby pressing a key on the headset. The Global launch was in December 2000, except for the U.S.,where it is expected to launch by the end of January 2001. This is the first consumer product fromEricsson that utilizes Bluetooth.

Bluetooth PC Cards

• 3Com Bluetooth PC Card: the antenna pops in and out for better wear. 3Com OEMs its Bluetooth PCCard to Hewlett-Packard. In addition to the PC Card, 3Com has also announced a Bluetooth AccessPoint and USB adapter; the access point could be used in offices, airports, or other networked publicplaces. Many users could get wireless access to networks through a single Access Point; the AccessPoint increases Bluetooth's range from 10 meters to 100 meters. Delivery is expected in the first halfof 2001 for all three products.

• IBM Bluetooth PC Card: currently shipping as of 29 December 2000.

• Toshiba Bluetooth PC Card: currently shipping in the U.S. since mid-September and in Japan sinceAugust 2000.

Upcoming: Bluetooth Printing

• Epson expects to be able to use a full line of its printers already on the market in conjunction with itsEpson Bluetooth Print Adapter; the adapter is expected to be available by the end of the first quarterof 2001.

• Lexmark and Axis Communications recently demonstrated a wireless printing solution using aToshiba laptop computer equipped with a Toshiba Bluetooth PC Card and a Lexmark laser printerequipped with an Axis Bluetooth print device.

• Xerox and Compaq held a joint demonstration of wireless printing at Comdex 2000; thedemonstration linked a Compaq Armada notebook computer with a Xerox DocuPrint P1210 personallaser printer using a Bluetooth PC-Card that communicates with the printer's parallel port. Xeroxexpects its first Bluetooth-enabled products within the next 12-18 months.

Bluetooth and Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Bluetooth technology may soon enable workplaces to make document devices, such as printers,accessible to disabled workers. Section 508 of the Americans With Disabilities Act, issued 7 August 2000,requires all U.S. government offices to make information technology accessible to all employees.



According to Xerox, the long list of necessary modifications could prohibitively increase the cost of thedevices; however, Bluetooth adapters could be added to the devices, which could be controlled by using awide variety of user interfaces designed to compensate for specific disabilities.


All of the technologies below are often mentioned as wireless alternatives to Bluetooth. However,Bluetooth was initially developed specifically for use as a Wireless PAN; its key use will largely be as acable replacement for WPANs and pervasive computing.

IrDA

• IrDA requires line of sight and is limited to point-to-point communication; Bluetooth offers point tomultipoint, and line of sight is not necessary.

• IrDA is already built into many notebook PCs, printers, and some cell phones, but has a poor userinterface and is unable to penetrate walls; Bluetooth can penetrate walls.

HomeRF

• HomeRF is intended for longer-range links to 2 Mbps and is geared towards a home-LAN approach,linking PCs; DSL routers; or printers, refrigerators, TVs, and other "smart" appliances to PCs.

• HomeRF is specifically geared towards the SOHO market. Bluetooth is geared more towards abusiness environment, such as a personal area network (PAN), and shorter ranges; however, itsmakers claim that Bluetooth could also be extended for use within the SOHO market.

802.11b

• 802.11 connections can range in transmission rates from 2 Mbps to 11 Mbps and at distances from50 to several hundred feet. Bluetooth requires less power and is meant for transmitting smallamounts of data at 1 Mbps over short distances (up to 10 meters). The Bluetooth spec has a higherpower option that gives it about the same range as 802.11, although that is not expected to be theprimary usage of the technology.

• Bluetooth provides persistent, wireless connections between different kinds of devices, but it uses the2.4GHz radio frequency, the same used by wireless LANs based on the 802.11 standard. When aBluetooth connection collides with a wireless LAN connection, either or both connections can jam,resulting in a transmission error.

Insight

The key application for Bluetooth technology in the foreseeable future is cable replacement and WirelessPersonal-Area Networks (PANs). However, in order for Bluetooth to truly become ubiquitous,manufacturers need to start delivering more products to the marketplace, the pricing for the chips mustbecome substantially less expensive, the software must be improved, and there must be moreinteroperability and interference testing. However, Bluetooth is still an emerging technology, andeventually these issues will be resolved. When that happens, the number of Bluetooth-enabled productswill grow exponentially.



Technology Overview8 March 2001

Web-to-Host Software: An Introduction

Summary

Web-to-host software uses Internet browser technology to allow large numbers of users access toinformation contained within corporate mainframes and promises to strengthen a company’s e-businessstrategy by shortening time-to-market. Until recently, most mainframe usage was accessed with fat-clientterminal emulation connectivity and provided only the proverbial "green screen" interface. The lengthylearning and training curve, software maintenance and user management resulted in steep costs. Web-to-host software changes this scenario— it offers the alluring promise of cutting costs and gaining acompetitive edge. Expensive fat-client connectivity is replaced with a user-friendly GUI, centralizedaccess management, faster responsiveness to business requirements and increased user productivity.

Table of Contents

Technology Basics

Web-to-Host Components

Technology Analysis

Business Use

Benefits and Risks

Standards

Price vs. Performance

Selection Guidelines

Technology Leaders


Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: Features and Functions: Web-to-Host Software Products


Table 3: PC-to-Host-Connectivity


Copyright © 2001 DPRO-911138 March 2001 2

Technology Basics

Introduction

Despite the rise of client/server and network computing, along with Windows NT Server, most mission-critical data still resides on corporate mainframes and midrange computers. A few years ago, industrypundits predicted the demise of corporate mainframes; instead, "Big Iron" sales have actually increased.Why? One reason is the explosive growth of Internet technologies and the promise of e-business. Servingextranet and Internet clients and a growing mobile work force with host data is potentially the foundationfor an enterprise’s World Wide Web presence.

What Is Web-to-Host?

Web-to-host is connectivity software that enables secure browser-based access to information thatresides on mainframes and other host computer systems. Web-to-host software is designed to turn anyJava-enabled Web browser into a secure workstation. Mainframe and other host applications can beenabled for Web-to-host access without changing source code. The user accesses commercialinformation by using a Web browser. The browser communicates on the Internet by using the HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP). Access to proprietary host applications is achieved by using Java appletsembedded within the HTTP code, which are automatically downloaded to the browser client. Some of themore important features touted by most Web-to-host vendors include centralized access management,faster time-to-market for custom e-business applications, improved user productivity and reduced costs.

Web-to-Host Components

Java Applets and ActiveX Controls: Web-to-host products employ Java applets or ActiveX controls—miniprograms designed to be executed from within a Web browser— which either the emulation serverhas to download for three-tier architectures or for two-tier architectures, the Web Server has to downloadif the Web browser is to talk to the host. The larger the size of the applet or control, the longer thedownload takes; applets can be locally stored or cached to eliminate future downloading for products andcan be downloaded to either the browser or hard drive. The majority of Web-to-host vendors use onlyJava applets; however, some offer a choice of either Java applets or ActiveX controls.

• Java: Java applets are inherently safer than ActiveX controls— unlike ActiveX, Java applets do notmake changes to the system configuration and cannot touch the hard disk or Registry; this makesthem more secure. Java applets have a smaller footprint than ActiveX, which can mean a shorter-download time; this is especially important for remote access users. They are also cross-platformcompatible; this is important for enterprises that have a heterogeneous mix of platforms to support.Java-enabled Web-to-host products are a good choice for enterprises that employ cross-platforminteractive Web sites.

• ActiveX: ActiveX controls have full access to the Windows operating system and can be written toany file on the hard drive, not just within the Web browser. This gives them more robust functionalitythan Java applets, but can make them less secure. Also, ActiveX controls are currently limited toWindows environments, as opposed to Java applets, which can be written to run on all platforms.ActiveX-enabled Web-to-host products are a good choice for Enterprises that are Windows-centric ormaintain Web sites that are highly interactive and application laden.

Architecture: Web-to-Host vendors take either a two-tier or a three-tier approach. With two tiers (client-host), the applet communicates directly with the gateway in front of the host. With three tiers (additionalserver), all traffic passes through, or via, the emulation server. In the two-tier model, there is no chance of



the emulation server acting as a bottleneck, since traffic does not travel through it— therefore, two-tierarchitecture can be a good choice in situations that require quicker runtime for remote users. In the three-tier scheme, the emulation server could slow things down; however, three-tier provides better scalability.

Impact of Architecture on Security: One thing often overlooked when discussing security issues is theimpact of the architecture (two-tier versus three-tier) on security. Two-tier solutions send the entire hostdata stream to the client— even if the client runs some customization which masks the display of sensitivedata, the data still resides in memory on the client, which could create a security exposure. However, ifthe customers are using their own Web-to-host software for trusted users to remote sites, the quickerruntime the customer receives from the two-tier, direct-connect model might be the better choice.

Security and Encryption: Web-to-host software exposes the mainframe to the rest of the world, sosecurity is extremely important. All Web-to-host vendors offer elementary password authenticationfeatures, and most offer SSL encryption to protect legacy data passing through the network (RUMBA2000 being the exception). Since there is sometimes a performance penalty to encryption and decryption,it is best to offer a variety of methods and strengths. Sensitive data can use the highest level ofencryption, and more public information can be passed along with less encryption.

Web-to-Host Security Methods: A detailed discussion of the security methods employed by Web-to-hostvendors and how they work is beyond the scope of this introductory report. The following list contains abrief discussion of security methods for Web-to-host software.

• RACF, ACF and TopSecret are legacy security methods and still command the lion's share of thehigh-end security market. Resource Access Control Facility (RACF) was developed 21 years ago byIBM and lends itself well to the distributed environment; ACF and TopSecret were developed byComputer Associates. Virtually all Web-to-host products support RACF, ACF and TopSecret.

• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is the de facto standard for Web-to-host security. Transport LayerSecurity (TLS) extends SSL v3 slightly and incorporates it into the Internet's open standards process;WRQ is currently the only vendor deploying TLS. SSL works by using a private key to encrypt datathat is transferred over the SSL connection. Web pages that require an SSL connection start withhttps: instead of http:. Currently, all Web-to-host vendors that employ SSL use server-sideauthentication, but more recently, some have started to add SSL client-slide authentication for furthersecurity.

• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI): a system of digital certificates, Certificate Authorities and otherregistration authorities that verify and authenticate the validity of each party involved in an Internettransaction.

• Digital/x.509 Certificates: A digital certificate is an attachment to an electronic message used forsecurity purposes; the most widely used standard for digital certificates is X.509.

• Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP): In addition to its strong directory capabilities,LDAP is increasingly being used by Web-to-host vendors to obtain e-mail addresses and PublicKeys, thereby strengthening security.

• Virtual Private Network (VPN): These systems use encryption and other security mechanisms toensure that only authorized users can access the network and that the data cannot be intercepted.Some Web-to-host vendors have started to add VPN support to their software.

• Proxy Servers: For increased security, some Web-to-host venders use proxy servers to sit betweenthe Web browser and server, in order to filter requests.



Gateways: With Web-to-host software, an SNA gateway strips off the IP encapsulation at the host end.Some vendors package this component with their software; others say their products are designed to talkto third-party gateways, specifically, the SNA Gateway from Microsoft or NetWare for SAA from Novell.

Management Support

• LDAP: Directories based on LDAP will eventually play a large role in the deployment andmanagement of remote clients. Several Web-to-host vendors have started to support LDAP for theirproducts, because of its strong group and user-management features.

• Browser-Based Management: Most of the major Web-to-host vendors offer browser-basedmanagement capabilities; it gives administrators the greatest flexibility in managing, configuring anddeploying clients, without having to physically manage from one centralized server. This featurealone is often enough to justify moving to Web-to-host technology for many companies, because ofthe cost-savings that central management brings.

Application Server Compatibility: Compatibility with Web application servers (i.e., Netdynamics fromSun and Kiva Enterprise Server from Netscape) can effect the overall response time by reducing thenumber of times a client has to go to the host to access legacy data by caching data locally. Most of themajor Web-to-host vendors support Web application servers.

Application Development and GUI Screen Rejuvenation: Prospective Web-to-host customers shouldquery the vendor about the inclusion of HACL, and whether such features as open APIs and VB Scriptand Jscript are supported for customization of applications. Also, most Web-to-host vendors support afeature that allows the "green screen" to be automatically changed to a more user-friendly, GUI-likescreen; this is referred to as an "on-the-fly" GUI. Vendors offer varying degrees of support for this feature,and a minority does not yet offer it at all.

Printing Support: The majority of Web-to-host vendors support the capability to print host-based screensto a local printer and copy-and-paste features. However, due to the inherent weakness of Java for printingsupport, the printing features for Web-to-host products that employ Java applets are not as robust as theprinting features available with fat-client computing. For instance, Java does not support graphicsprinting— ActiveX and fat-client PC emulators do. IBM HOD and Persoft Persona 4.3 are currently theonly Web-to-host products that offer improved printing solutions, including PDF capability.

Platform Support: Since Java is supposed to be cross-platform, technically any Java-enabled Web-to-host product could be considered platform independent. Indeed, that is what most Web-to-host vendorsclaim. If that is the case, why do we see a detailed list of platforms listed for some vendors, while othervendors simply claim their software will work on any Java-enabled machine?

It is not enough for Web-to-host vendors to claim that since their software is Java-enabled, the Web-to-host software will work on any Java-enabled machine running in a standard browser. Despite the hype,the "write once, run anywhere" promise of Java has not yet fully materialized. There are minor differencesbetween the different JVM, some of which can affect product function or performance or both. When auser is evaluating a particular vendor's Web-to-host software for an environment that is fairlyheterogeneous, the user should question the vendor as to whether the Web-to-host software has beenpreviously tested with the user's various platforms and whether the vendor will guarantee that its Web-to-host software will work with those platforms.

Emulation Support: Terminal emulation drivers enable PCs to emulate a particular type of terminal sothat users can logon to a mainframe. All of the Web-to-host products in this class include emulationsupport for mainframe, AS/400 and VT (DEC) emulations; however, some offer a very limited number of



VT emulation levels. Other emulations supported by some, but not all, are for HP, CICS, Linux and WYSE50/60.

Technology Analysis

Business Use

• Corporate intranets/extranets: host access for employees, business partners and remote workersor sales forces.

• Custom e-business Applications: custom applications for e-business can be quickly deployedwithout changing code.

• Wireless Web-to-Host: some vendors are designing Web-to-host products for use on personaldigital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones to enable business transactions. These Java-basedproducts connect mobile wireless users and business partners to a host.

• Financial Industry: Web-to-host vendors claim users can securely access account information,investment performance and execute trades from their Web browser.

• Colleges/Universities: students can access grades, registration, admissions, etc; this enablesschools to reduce overhead and improve service.

• Manufacturing: browser-based access to host information lowers operational costs, expands profitmargins and fulfills customer's needs. Companies can quickly match buyers with sellers.

Benefits and Risks

Risks

• GUI front-ends are not always an improvement over "green screen" interfaces, particularly formassive data entry or complex application navigation. Switching over entirely to Web-to-hosttechnology in this instance could pose the risk of slowing down production. These types ofenterprises may want to incorporate Web-to-host technology for their remote users and casual users,along-side their standard PC-to-host and fat-client technologies.

• In spite of the many obvious benefits that come with Web-to-host technology, there are security risksto consider when providing access to legacy applications to business partners, suppliers, customersand employees. Some users may need to support both Web-to-host and PC-to-host concurrently;however, as the security methods used for Web-to-host continue to evolve and improve, this willeventually change.

Benefits

• The time and expense required to train employees and business partners on traditional terminalscreens is eliminated with the more user-friendly GUI that most people are already familiar with; costsare lowered even further with the central administration of applications formerly on fat-client PCs andsimplified maintenance.

• Now that the expenditures and time spent on Y2K issues are over, many corporations are looking forways to quickly and inexpensively put legacy business systems and data on end-user desktops,hoping to expedite their e-business strategies.

• Web-to-host computing reduces or eliminates the challenges of remote backup and data security;since all data remains on the central server, backup of data from remote laptops and PCs is notrequired.



Standards

Open Host Interface Objects (OHIO)

Although Web-to-host vendors incorporate very similar technologies and features within their products,there has yet to emerge a common, nonproprietary Web-to-host connectivity standard. IBM andAttachmate hope to change this situation with the proposed "OHIO" Web-to-host standard. IBM andAttachmate jointly collaborated on the development of the "OHIO" Web-to-host standard which wassubmitted for review to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) during 1998.

HLLAPI has been for many years the de facto standard for writing applications that access host data.OHIO is a set of object classes that defines a new open-programming interface for accessing host data,especially via the Internet, which will enable e-business applications to access either mainframe orAS/400 data. The open APIs, which are based on tn3270 and tn5250 protocols, will work with Webgraphical user interfaces and business applications, such as CICS, that need access to legacy data.Security, service location, response time and session balancing are a few of the issues that could bestandardized by the OHIO standard. Incorporating the OHIO standard would allow Web-to-hostdevelopers to create e-business applications that do not require proprietary solutions.

Price vs. Performance

According to Gartner, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for Web-to-host software versus traditionalterminal emulation software is a 25 percent savings:

• Technical Support: (includes training users and tech support staff, software distribution andinventory reviews): 15 percent savings

• Administration: 45 percent savings (reflects reductions in desktop security tasks, policyadministration and formal audits of desktop computer equipment)

• Capital Costs (equipment): 9 percent savings

• Total Cost of Ownership: 25 percent savings

Selection Guidelines

• Java Versus ActiveX: Java-enabled Web-to-host products are a good choice for Enterprises thatemploy cross-platform interactive Web sites. ActiveX-enabled Web-to-host products are a goodchoice for Enterprises that are Windows-centric or maintain Web sites that are highly interactive andapplication laden.

• Management: Users should question Web-to-host vendors about LDAP support for more robustmanagement needs.

• Printing Capability: The printing capabilities of Java-enabled Web-to-host products are somewhatlimited for Mainframe and AS/400 and lack graphics-printing capability. Users that require graphicsprinting may want to consider Web-to-host products that offer ActiveX. If extensive printing featuresare a must, users should consider a Web-to-host product that offers an improved printing solution forJava-enabled Web-to-host software.

• Platform Support: Web-to-host vendors should be questioned as to whether their Web-to-hostsoftware has been previously tested with the user's various platforms— users should not rely solelyon Java's cross-platform capabilities.



• Emulation Support: Web-to-host Vendors should be questioned as to whether their Web-to-hostsoftware will meet the user's emulation requirements. All of the Web-to-host products in this classinclude support for mainframe, AS/400 and VT emulations; however, some offer a very limitednumber of VT emulation levels. Other emulations supported by some, but not all, are for HP, CICS,Linux and WYSE 50/60.

Technology Leaders

Attachmate Corp.

P.O. Box 90026

Bellevue, WA 98009-9026, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 425 644 4010; +1 800 426 6283

Fax: +1 425 747 9924

Internet: www.attachmate.com

[email protected]

Attachmate e-Vantage Host Access Server

Attachmate e-Vantage Host Access Server is geared towards companies who need to extend theirenterprise information using Internet technologies. Host Access Server differs from its competitors in theway it has been designed as part of an extremely modular architecture and licensing scenario. Forcompanies which require basic Web-to-host technology for occasional users, the "Standard Viewer" partof Host Access Server is usually all they will need. For companies that require more robust capabilities forintensive users, the "Enterprise Viewer" part of Host Access Server provides full-featured desktopemulation, plus licenses for both Java-based technology and ActiveX thin-client applets. This makesAttachmate a good choice for companies that are currently using thick-client PC-to-host connectivity andare looking to upgrade or to add Web-to-host connectivity.

Attachmate eVantage Host Access Server offers an easy-to-use interface and strong platform support; italso includes the capability of loading both Java and ActiveX clients locally. The eVantage ManagementConsole component of Host Access Server is its strongest feature. Other features include support forLDAP and the major directory services for group and user management. However, eVantage offers onlyone level of Virtual Terminal (VT) support, VT420, and lacks HP emulation support. Also, FTP from theAS/400 requires ActiveX, which limits its use to Windows clients. Enterprises looking to move theirbusiness to the Web will want to evaluate Attachmate eVantage Host Access Server.

Esker, Inc.

Persoft, an Esker Co.

465 Science Drive

P.O. Box 44953

Madison, WI 53744-4953, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 608 273 6000

Fax: +1 608 273 8227

Internet: www.persoft.com



Persoft Persona 4.3

Esker, Inc., acquired Persoft during July 1999. All Esker and Persoft Web-to-host software products arecontrolled from Persoft’s Madison, Wisconsin, corporate facility. Persoft is now referred to as "Persoft, anEsker company." The Esker Web-to-host product line includes TunPLUS, Esker Corridor for Active Serverand the Persoft Persona family of Web-to-host products.

Persona 4.3 offers users Web-based, inexpensive, public plumbing; remote access; three-tier capabilityand robust security features. This makes it ideal for secure remote access through the Internet (three-tier). When the user’s fundamental need is to replace PC-based terminal emulation with an intranetsolution, TunPLUS is recommended. Corridor for Active Server is a three-tier HTML conversion solutionfor Internet/extranet environments geared towards Web commerce.

IBM

New Orchard Road


Tel: +1 914 499 1900


IBM WebSphere Host On-Demand, Version 5.0

IBM WebSphere Host On-Demand 5.0 supports direct (two-tier) connections, excellent security features,including SSL 3.0 on both the client and server side and triple DES centrally administered sessions andLDAP support, "on-the-fly" GUI screen rejuvenation, XML scripting, built-in application developmentsupport and the broadest amount of platform support among its competitors. (IBM is currently the onlyvendor that is using both client-side and server-side SSL). However, WebSphere HOD lacks built-inimport capability for NT user databases and does not support HP and higher-end DEC VT terminalemulations.

WebSphere HOD is part of the overall IBM Host Integration Solution; because of this, an enterprise’sentire portfolio of connection types can be incorporated into the per-user license fee. Also, the importanceof the Cisco/IBM agreement should not be overlooked: On 23 February 2000, IBM announced that it hadjoined with Cisco Systems to provide Cisco customers with IBM’s host integration products, whichincludes IBM WebSphere Host On-Demand. According to IBM, WebSphere Host On-Demand is the onlyWeb-to-host product that Cisco intends to actively recommend to its customers. Companies that want toreplace their existing thick-client terminal-emulation software or increase the range of users that can gainaccess to their legacy applications will want to evaluate WebSphere Host On-Demand.

NetManage, Inc.

10725 North De Anza Boulevard

Cupertino, CA 95014, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 408 973 7171

Fax: +1 408 257 6405

Internet: www.netmanage.com

NetManage RUMBA 2000 4.0



RUMBA 2000 4.0 offers fast, simple deployment through a browser, with Java tools for installation androbust emulation support. It is designed to provide Java or ActiveX connectivity to mainframes, Unix andVAX systems through VT terminal emulation, AS/400 and HP3000. Among its competitors, RUMBA 2000supports the largest number of emulation choices. RUMBA 2000 offers a strong migration path forcustomers who are already using PC-to-host technology and want to switch to Web-to-host connectivity orwho require mainframe or AS/400 compatibility. However, it lacks LDAP support and product-levelsecurity (no SSL), making it a poor choice for use outside the firewall. In its efforts to become an industryleader and a single-source provider of Web-to-host, PC-to-host and Web integration solutions,NetManage has acquired several companies with both similar and disparate products. Its challenge willbe to assimilate these products as quickly as possible and to do so without losing existing customerbases.

OpenConnect Systems, Inc.

2711 Lyndon B. Johnson Highway, #80

Dallas, TX 75234, U.S.A.

Tel: 1+ 972 484 5200

Fax: 1+ 972 484 6100

Internet: www.openconnect.com

OC://WebConnect Pro 4.4

OC://WebConnect Pro provides the capability to automatically rejuvenate user interfaces ("on-the-fly" GUIimplementation), optimize performance through applet caching and provide users quick access to hostinformation (mainframes, AS/400, etc.) via a Web browser. It offers robust security features, such as DES,triple-DES (168-bit) and 40- or 128-bit RC4 out to their applets. It also supports all legacy security such asRACF, TopSecret and ACF2 and a patented technology that extends SNA session control over theInternet; however, it lacks HP and higher-end VT terminal emulation. OC://WebConnect Pro is best suitedfor customers who need to integrate mainframe access into their existing Web application environment,and it is geared towards extranets in the business-to-business class. OC://WebConnect Pro containsabove average features within the Web-to-host product class, and it would make a good evaluation choicefor users wishing to Web-enable their sites and enter the age of e-business.

SEAGULL

3340 Peachtree Road, N.E., Suite 900

Atlanta, GA 30326 U.S.A.

Tel: 1 + 404 760 1560

Fax: 1 + 404 760 0061

SEAGULL was founded in the Netherlands in 1990, and initially focused its expertise in developing andimplementing customized, integrated software solutions for customized client requirements in the AS/400market. During 1998, SEAGULL expanded into the mainframe market with the announcement of WinJA,which is geared towards rapid e-business enablement. More recently, SEAGULL has also expended intousing wireless technology to leverage legacy data (wireless-to-host). SEAGULL’s Web-to-Host product isWinJa, whose main strength is using Java to connect to mainframe data.

WRQ, Inc.



1500 Dexter Avenue, N.

Seattle, WA 98109, U.S.A.

Tel: 1+ 206 217 7500

Fax: 1+ 206 217 7509

Internet: www.wrq.com

Reflection for the Web 4.1 offers top-notch security and data encryption: SSL/TLS, triple DES andoptional security proxy server and VPN support. Currently, it is the only Web-to-host vendor that supportsTLS security. It also offers broad terminal-type support and with the Professional Edition, "on-the-fly"green-screen to GUI features. It is a highly scalable product— the number of possible users is not tied tothe server's capability since their applets are used to bypass the Web Server. However, platform supportis limited to Windows 95/98/NT and Mac, and the direct-connect model means that applicationdevelopment will be somewhat limited. Reflection for the Web provides secure Web-based host accessacross enterprises and beyond the firewall, and it is a competitively priced product. Companies that arelooking to Web-enable their enterprise for e-business will want to evaluate Reflection for the Web.


Company Attachmate Corp. IBM NetManage, Inc. OpenConnect

Systems, Inc.

Product Name e-Vantage Host

Access Server Web-

to-Host

IBM WebSphere

Host On-Demand

NetManage RUMBA

2000

OC://WebConnect

Pro

Applets/Clients Java; ActiveX Java ActiveX (Host Pro

and Host Express);

JavaBeans (Host

Java)

Java

Architecture Two tier or three

tier

Two tier Two tier or three

tier

Two tier or three

tier





Systems, Inc.


Access Server Web-

to-Host

IBM WebSphere

Host On-Demand

NetManage RUMBA

2000

OC://WebConnect

Pro

Platform Support Client:

Windows 95/98/NT;

Windows NT

Terminal Server;

Citrix

WinFrame/MetalFra

me; Apple Mac OS

8.x

Server:

Windows NT Server

4.0 SP3 or higher

with IIS; Unix

Edition supports

Sun Solaris 2.7,

HP-UX 11.0, Red

Hat Linus 5.2, AIX

4.3 and Windows

4.0 SP4, each with

JVM supporting

1.1.7b JDK

Client:

Windows 95/98/NT

4.0 with SP3;

Windows 2000; IBM

AIX, 4.2/3; IBM

OS/2 WARP,

Version 4; HP-UX

10.20, 11.0; Sun

Solaris 2.5.1, 2.6;

Red Hat Linux,

Version 5.2, 6.0,

6.1; Caldera

OpenLinux 2.2;

Pacific HiTec

TurboLinux 3.6;

SuSE Linux 6.1

Server:

Windows NT 4.0;

Windows 2000; IBM

AIX, Version 4.2/3;

IBM OS/2 WARP

Version 4 and Warp

Server; Novell

NetWare, Version 5

with JVM 1.17b;

Sun Solaris

Release 2.6; IBM

OS/400, V4R2,

V4R3, V4R4; HP-

UX 10.20, 11.0;

Red Hat Linux,

Version 5.2, 6.0,

6.1; Caldera

OpenLinux 2.2;

Pacific HiTec

TurboLinux 3.6;

SuSE Linux 6.1;

IBM OS/390, V2R5,

V2R6, V2R7, V2R8

Browser-based host

access; deploys

across an intranet

from virtually any

Web server

Client: Supports

any Java-enabled

machine running in

a standard browser,

although somewhat

limited with Macs

Server: Sun Solaris,

IBM AIX, HP-UX,

Windows NT





Systems, Inc.


Access Server Web-

to-Host

IBM WebSphere

Host On-Demand

NetManage RUMBA

2000

OC://WebConnect

Pro

Emulation Support Mainframe, AS/400;

VT420; Unix/VMS

Note: Lacks HP

emulation

Mainframe, AS/400;

VT52/100/220;

Linux; CICS Java

Gateway Access

Note: Lacks HP

emulation

Mainframe, AS/400;

VT52/100/101/102/

125/131/220;

VT240/241/320/330

/340/420; HP 3000;

VAX/Unix

Note: Supports

largest number of

emulation choices

Mainframe, AS/400;

VT220 and NVT

transport

Note: Lacks HP

emulation; VT

emulation ends at

220

File Transfer

Functions

IND$file; DISOSS;

FTP

Note: FTP from the

AS/400 requires

ActiveX

IND$file; FTP file

transfer (AS/400)

IND$FILE + FTP

(Host Pro and Host

Java); FTP (Host

Express

IND$FILE

Gateways Supports third-party

gateways; optional

e-Vantage SNA

gateway

HOD supports any

TN server; IBM

Communications

Server included

with the IBM "Host

Integration

Solution"

RUMBA products

support wide range

of SNA or TN

gateways; third-

party support

includes Microsoft

SNA Server, IBM

Direct, NetWare for

SAA, OpenConnect

SNA

Supports any TN-

based gateway;

includes Cisco CIP,

Cisco IOS,

OpenConnect

Server, TCP/IP for

MVS and VM

TCP/IP for AS/400,

Microsoft SNA

Server and

TN3270/TN3270E

Optional:

WebConnect SNA

Access Server

Printing Support Print screen;

LU1/LU3; TN3270e;

TN5250e

Print screen;

LU1/LU3; 5250 host

HPT printing

Optional:

Interface Systems’

Document Server

receives print

streams and

converts into PCL,

postscript or PDF

3270E; TN5250E +

Print Transform;

HP3000

Passthrough,

VAX/Unix

Passthrough;

Screen Print

3287 LU1/LU3;

screen print; 3812

print





Systems, Inc.


Access Server Web-

to-Host

IBM WebSphere

Host On-Demand

NetManage RUMBA

2000

OC://WebConnect

Pro

Security and

Encryption

SSL 3.0 (server-

side); RC4, and

Triple DES; public

key/digital

certificates;

Windows NT

Domain and Novell

NDS/Bindery

authentication;

RADIUS, CHAP,

Secure ID

authentication;

Attachmate VPN

SSL 3.0 (client- and

server-side); RC2,

RC4, DES, Triple

DES; public

key/digital

certificates

Note: HOD is the

only product with

both server- and

client-side SSL

Supports public

key/digital

certificates, RAS

and VPN; optional

RUMBA Security

Services provides

authentication

encryption over

single HTTPS port

Note: Lacks SSL

and built-in product

level security

SSL 3.0, public

key/digital

certificates; HTTPS;

RC2, RC4, DES,

Triple DES

Management Robust access

control to

administrative

capabilities via e-

Vantage

Management

Console; includes

software

management,

usage metering,

license control,

LDAP and directory

services support

Web-based remote

administration;

LDAP support for

storing user

profiles; IBM

License Use

Management

support; User and

group

management;

AS/400

RSTLICPGM

install; S/390

SMP/E install from

tape; Service

Location Protocol

(SLP) load-

balancing support;

IBM SecureWay

On-Demand Server

integration

Supports

customizable user

and group profiles,

license

management to

manage and

monitor concurrent

users, and support

for several NT

domains

simultaneously.

Note: Lacks LDAP

support

Browser-based

management;

Group and user

management

features offered

through HTML user

interface

Note: Lacks LDAP

support





Systems, Inc.


Access Server Web-

to-Host

IBM WebSphere

Host On-Demand

NetManage RUMBA

2000

OC://WebConnect

Pro

Application

Development

Open APIs; HACL

included; Host

Session Services

enables custom-

developed

applications that

reside on the server

and are not

downloaded to the

client

Host Access Class

Library API for Java

(HACL); Host

Access Beans for

Java, including

Terminal, Session;

File Transfer,

Macro and other

beans; Host Access

ActiveX Controls

Robust API support

for customization;

API supported:

EHLLAPI (32 bit),

WinHLLAPI,

(WOSA), DDE,

EHLLAPI (16 bit),

DOS EHLLAPI;

Keyboard mapping;

color mapping; auto

macro (login); User

macros

JHLLAPI allows

interfaces to be

constructed

between any third-

party development

tool and

WebConnect Pro;

Autovista converts

green-on-black

mainframe format

to a GUI display;

OpenVista provides

an IDE for custom

development of

applets

GUI "HotGUI" feature

automatically

changes green

screen to GUI-like

screen.

Note: "HotGUI" is

standard with the

Unix edition

Default GUI

provides limited

"on-the-fly"

rejuvenation;

converts any

3270/5250 screen

into its graphical

equivalent

Optional add-on:

Screen Customizer

provides robust "on-

the-fly" host

application

rejuvenation.

Lacks "on-the-fly"

capability

Visual Rejuvenation

Tool option offers

robust "on-the-fly"

GUI capability;

Persistent

Connection keeps

client screens

synchronized with

the mainframes


Company Persoft, an

Esker

Company

SEAGULL WRQ, Inc.

Product Name Persoft

Persona

WinJa/JWalk WRQ Reflection for the Web

Applets and

Clients

Java; C++ Java; ActiveX Java

Architecture Three tier Two tier or three tier Two tier




Company Persoft, an

Esker

Company

SEAGULL WRQ, Inc.


Persona


Platform

Support

Client:

Platform

independent

Server: Any

Windows NT-

based Web

server

Client:

Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000;

Windows NT Terminal Sever;

Cit4ix, any JVM 1.1 and 1.18

compliant devices running served

Java clients through a browser.

Server:

Windows NT/2000; Sun Solaris;

OS/390 2.5 or higher (WinJa

only); OS/400 V4R3 or higher

(Jwalk only)

Client: Will support any Java-

enabled machine running in a

standard browser; native platform

support limited to Windows and

Mac running Mac OS Runtime for

Java 2.1.1+

Server: Supports major Web

servers

Emulation

Support

Mainframe,

AS/400;

VT52/100/101/

102,

VT220/320/42

0; Data

General

(Persona

Insight)

Note: Lacks

HP emulation

WinJa includes its own internal

emulator for mainframe; external

emulators not required.

Supported: RUMBA 5.2;

Attachmate Extra! 6.1 – 6.4;

NetManage Chameleon 8.02;

IBM Personal Communications

4.2; TCP/IP to SNA Server

Mainframe, AS/400; Unix;

OpenVMS; VT52/100/102;

VT220/400; extensive HP

emulations

File Transfer

Functions

Not supported Not supported IND$FILE

Gateways Microsoft SNA

Server

Supports gateways of third

parties

Not required; supports SNA

Server and NetWare for SAA, as

well as other SNA gateways




Company Persoft, an

Esker

Company

SEAGULL WRQ, Inc.


Persona


Printing

Support

Supports local

printing

through the

browser;

supports

delivery of

host reports to

IBM 3270 or

5250 users in

PDF format

Note:

Currently the

only Web-to-

host product

with a built-in

PDF delivery

feature

Screen and GUI panel printing for

all client types;

Text spool file and full TN5250E

for JWalk

TN3270E; Screen printing for all

emulations

Security and

Encryption

SSL 3.0;

Authenticode

2.0, Diffie-

Hellman;

public

key/digital

certificates;

RC2, DES,

Triple DES;

MD5; SHA-1

Note: 168-bit

is optional

(Triple DES)

SSL 3.0;

Proprietary encryption method for

Java Clients

SSL/TLS; DES and Triple DES;

Java-based security proxy server;

VPN support; HTTP tunneling;

WRQ VeriSign certificate

provides applet verification (no

HTTP proxy server required)

Note: WRQ is currently the only

Web-to-host vendor that supports

TLS security




Company Persoft, an

Esker

Company

SEAGULL WRQ, Inc.


Persona


Management Windows-

based

console;

central

management;

supports

Windows NT

NTFS-based

file systems

Note: Lacks

LDAP support

and

user/group

management

Servers managed with XML-

based server management

console (SMC)

Note: Lacks LDAP, but can port

LDAP info into WinJa or JWalk

Browser-based management

includes HTML content and Java

applets

Note: No LDAP; Lacks any built-

in user or group access control;

must use authentication and

authorization features built into

the Web server

Application

Development

Browser script

integration:

JavaScript,

VBScript, CGI

scripts and

Macros; Applet

parameters

Open APIs to Java, VB;

"Collector" technology gathers

screen maps and display files

Java-based APIs automate logon

tasks, access dialog boxes,

create Web framework; Java-

based APIs accessible through

HTML, JavaScript, VBScript and

Java

GUI "On-the-fly"

GUI features

Complete customization; also

"On-the-fly" GUI capability

"On-the-fly" GUI features only

available with the Professional

Edition


Table 3: PC-to-Host-Connectivity

Thick-Client Thin-Client

Installed on individual desktops; the user interface is a

Windows GUI, and the client platform is Windows.

Geared towards power users that require high

performance and end-user flexibility.

Installed at a single point to a Citrix or TSE network

server; the user interface is a Windows GUI, and the

client platform can be Windows or non-Windows.

Geared toward users that require flexibility and IT

personnel that require better administrative control.

Traditional Emulation Connectivity Versus Web-to-Host

Web-to-host connectivity promises to deliver mission-critical host information to a broader user base—faster, easier and more cost-effectively than traditional emulation software. More importantly, it promisesto open the doors to the data contained within legacy systems to a broader user base while maintainingcentralized control and lowering software ownership costs; this can be key to a company's e-business



strategy. Does this mean that companies should switch to Web-to-host? Not quite; process-intensivetypes will probably want to continue using their traditional tools. Many companies will find they need toincorporate Web-to-host alongside thick-client and thin-client PC-to-host technologies.

Insight

Web-to-host furnishes point-and-click access to the proprietary information contained within corporatemainframes quicker, easier and cheaper than traditional PC-to-host connectivity methods— users cansimply link their Java-enabled Web browsers to the "big iron". Downloading a thin-client terminalemulation applet to establish sessions can free management from administering and maintainingtraditional client terminal emulation software on each PC; this adds up to considerable savings.Additionally, the cost of Web-to-host software is substantially cheaper than traditional terminal emulationsoftware for PCs. More importantly, Web-to-host can enable companies to implement e-businessstrategies more quickly. However, there are still security concerns, and for some process-intensive types,Web-to-host may not be enough. On the other hand, Web-to-host is still evolving; as vendors continue toadd more robust security and customization features, even larger numbers of users will be able to employWeb-to-host technology.

Web-to-Host GlossaryActiveX Control: A local resident control based on Microsoft’s Component Object Model (COM) that loads within aWeb browser providing host-access capability.

Applet: A Java program that is run from inside a Web browser.

Certificate: A digital document that contains information about a person or organization, including the identity andpublic keys.

Client: The computer that displays the Web page that contains an applet.

Data Encryption Standard (DES): An algorithm for encoding messages by breaking them into logical blocks andencrypting each one.

Diffie-Helman: A key agreement protocol allowing two entities to agree upon and exchange public keys prior tocombination with private keys.

Host Access Class Library (HACL): A core set of classes and methods that allow development of platform-independent application that can access host information at the data-stream level.

Host: The mainframe or midrange computer to which the PC connects.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): An application of SGML that uses tags to mark text and graphics in adocument. Web browsers use the tags to structure and format Web pages.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): A client/server protocol that allows information exchange between Web serversand browsers.

Proxy: A server that works in conjunction with a firewall to provide network security.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): The de facto security standard used with most Web-to-host software; a group ofprotocols based on public-key cryptography and digital certificate for encrypting private information.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP): A set of communication protocols that allowcommunication between computers on a local network or the Internet.

Terminal Emulation: The capability of personal computers to act as if they were a particular type of terminal andcommunicate with another computer, such as a Unix system or a mainframe.

Telnet: A protocol that allows a user to access a remote computer on a TCP/IP network as if the user were using atext-based terminal, such as a 3270 terminal.



Transport Layer Security (TLS): A group of protocols incorporating the specifications used in other securityprotocols, including SSL for encrypting private information.

TN3270 and TN5250: Protocols used by an IBM mainframe or AS/400 to communicate with other devices, includingPCs.

VT Emulation: The use of software that enables a client to emulate Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) terminals suchas the VT52, VT100, VT200 and VT220. VT emulation is widely used with Unix systems.

Entire contents © 2001 by Gartner, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to bereliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretationsthereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.


Technology Overview5 April 2001

Peer-to-Peer Computing Technologies: An Introduction

Summary

The newly updated peer-to-peer networking model is currently being referred to by many in the industry(most notably Intel) as a paradigm that is about to change IT in much the same way the Internet has.What is peer-to-peer computing, why is there so much industry hype concerning it, what are the benefitsand risks, and are there viable business uses?

Table of Contents

Technology Basics

Technology Analysis

Business Use

Benefits and Risks

Standards

Technology Leaders

Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: Peer-to-Peer Companies and Categories


Copyright 2001DPRO-972055 April 2001 2

Technology Basics

Since peer-to-peer computing has existed from the very beginnings of PC computing, why has it recentlybecome so popular, and what are the implications for businesses and enterprises? How was the "old"model of peer-to-peer computing implemented, and what has suddenly caused this model of networkingto be resurrected into new uses?

Peer-to-Peer Networking versus Client/Server Networking

The original PC networks were based on file-sharing peer-to-peer architectures. In a peer-to-peernetwork, each workstation has equivalent capabilities and responsibilities; this differs from today’sclient/server architectures, in which some computers are dedicated to serving the others. Peer-to-peernetworks were simpler to implement, but they did not offer robust performance under heavy loads. In the1990s, PC LAN computing evolved because the capacity of the file sharing was strained as the number ofonline users grew (it can only satisfy about 12 users simultaneously) and graphical user interfaces (GUIs)became popular. As a result of the limitations of file-sharing architectures and the faster speeds thatbecame available through technologies such as Ethernet, the client/server architecture for networkingbecame the preferred model of business networking, where every computer on a client/server network iseither a client or a server.

The Impact of Recent Industry Changes on Peer-to-Peer Development

Over the past few years, the sheer number of PCs has increased exponentially. At the same time, thecomputing capabilities of PCs have become more powerful; in fact, most PCs today are more powerfulthan earlier servers. Broadband has become more readily available, and PCs have also become bothmore powerful and affordable. During this same time frame, Internet technologies have drasticallyimproved; the increasing availability of broadband, together with more powerful PCs, has led to newbusiness uses for Internet technology (intranets, extranets, using browsers to gain access to mainframedata, etc.).

During 2000, file-sharing peer-to-peer networks such as Napster became extremely popular. Napsterallows users to utilize the worldwide reach of the Internet to share music files stored on their local harddisks. Although the Napster program initially gained notoriety because of its music-pirating ability, the realnews here is the importance of its very powerful distribution platform and search engine that Napsterprovides. This simultaneous occurrence of the changes and improvements within the PC industry,including the newer Internet technologies, and the wildly popular Napster phenomenon has given rise tothe possibility of an entirely new type of peer-to-peer (P2P) business model for computing.

The New Peer-to-Peer Computing Models

The new peer-to-peer model abandons the networking notions of separate clients and servers andinstead allows every networked machine to connect to another machine. New peer-to-peer applicationswill enable people to search for information stored on an individual user's hard drive via the Internet— theoriginal P2P networks worked by exchanging information directly between computers. This would not bepossible if PCs had not become ubiquitous, more powerful, and had more broadband available. The newP2P models can be implemented in a pure peer-to-peer fashion as totally server-free implementationsthat directly connect desktops over an IP network, or Napster-style, using servers to direct traffic. Peer-to-peer proponents claim that new Internet-based standards and protocols will make P2P computing easierto implement and believe it will soon become practical for many businesses. Many universities and



research organizations have been using P2P models for years; now these technologies are beingdeveloped for the enterprise space.

Peer-to-peer technology allows enterprises to leverage their computing resources by enabling a directexchange of services between computers. This includes exchanging data, processing cycles, cachestorage, and disk storage. This past year has seen a plethora of start-up companies materialize that aregeared towards utilizing P2P computing. Distributed computing (reducing computation costs), file sharing(protected content distribution), collaboration (secure file sharing in ad hoc groups), intelligent agents(cooperative search engines), and distributed storage sharing (reduce the need for file servers; migratefiles to area of use) are examples of the ways P2P is being developed by these companies.

Technology Analysis

Business Use

Peer-to-Peer Distributed Computing and Cycle Sharing

The Boeing Aerospace company, oil company Amerada Hess, and Intel claim they have been able toreduce the need to buy high-end computer systems, including mainframes, by using P2P networking totap into the processing power that is already available on their companies’ desktop PCs. Enterprisemanagers can use existing resources for storage and computing from every computer on the network ona global basis. Companies that stand to benefit from P2P Distributed Computing are in the followingindustries: biotech, search engines, computer-aided design, film animation, and financial services.

Peer-to-Peer Collaboration

Peer-to-peer collaboration applications can be used for real-time meetings and communications andsecure file sharing in ad hoc groups. Business groups can form and dissolve self-organized webs forcollaboration on projects. Peer-to-peer collaboration can also be used to speed the development of newproducts and to decrease the cost and time involved in developing manufactured products, as exemplifiedby Oculus Technologies, Inc. Several companies are currently developing P2P collaboration applicationsgeared towards the investment management industry. They claim the more simplified and automatedworkflow process will allow participants in the financial services community to connect directly withinvestment managers without going through an intermediary, currently represented by the B2Bexchanges; this could have significant impact on B2B exchanges. NextPage is an example of this type ofcompany.

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and Superdistribution

Peer-to-peer can also be used to disseminate the latest security measures in real-time, including antivirusand personal firewall updates to an entire enterprise. Another use for the new P2P model would be theauthorized peer-to-peer sharing of music or book files, giving retailers and consumers the ability to passcontent to multiple recipients; this would be geared towards companies in the media industries.

Benefits and Risks

Benefits

Peer-to-peer tools can save time and money by lessening the need for corporate IT to expand some oftheir services, such as Web servers, backup storage, and replacing outdated documents. Peer-to-peercomputing also has the potential to allow a certain amount of network traffic to move from the corporatebackbone to less expensive infrastructure, such as switches, hubs, and routers.



Many corporations have stretched their resources for the server layer to the limits, while their network ofunderutilized client PCs sit idly by. This represents an enormous untapped resource for storage. Largecompanies might be able to utilize their client layer in order to offer as much as 10 terabytes of sparestorage (2,000 clients x 5GB/client) with trillions of operations per second of spare processing poweravailable for intense calculations performed over the network without placing additional strain on thebackbone.

Peer-to-peer computing can extend computing to the "edges" of the Internet, allowing every computer toserve as an "edge server" to those computers around it. Intracompany training is one of many businessapplications that could benefit from this benefit. One of the key inhibitors to the use of multimediaaudio/video files for the purposes of intracompany training is their typically enormous size; since so manycompanies are now global and need to distribute files to trans-Atlantic locations, they have been heldback by trans-Atlantic bandwidth constraints. Peer-to-peer could allow every computer to act as an edgeserver to those computers around it. After the first employee downloads a file, the second employee’ssystem automatically recognizes that there is a local version of the file within the overseas office andbegins a direct exchange between the computers, as opposed to accessing the file over a trans-Atlanticline. From that point on, every subsequent employee is able to access the file over a 10/100 Mbpsnetwork.

Cycle sharing allows workstations on the network to access the computing resources of underutilizedmachines. Design teams that require massive computing resources can leverage the machines from othergroups who are not currently using their machines for heavy computations. This would lessen the time tomarket for the development and manufacturing of new products.

Other benefits include substantially faster transaction times for the financial and brokerage industries anddownloading important files, such as updated antivirus and firewalls, in real-time on a company-widebasis.

Risks

Peer-to-peer applications enable other people to search for information stored on an individual user’s harddrive via the Internet; this can lead to security problems. Therefore, software needs to be developed thatwill enable users to restrict the peer-to-peer applications access rights to only those areas specified by theuser.

Since P2P computing is not centralized, managing P2P within a corporation is problematical. The lack ofcentralization also poses a problem for search engines.

Most enterprises do not have enough Internet bandwidth to sustain a flood of large file transfers that couldbe caused by the unauthorized use of P2P programs by their employees; enterprises will need to restrictthe unauthorized use of P2P applications by their employees.

The still nascent peer-to-peer industry needs to develop common protocols and improve scalability,security and management, and standards for interoperability.

Standards

Without the timely development of effective standards for interoperability and security, the much hypedexpectations for P2P will not come to fruition. To expedite P2P’s adoption, the following groups are layingthe groundwork for standardization.

The Peer-to-Peer Working Group

http://peer-to-peerwg.org



The "Peer-to-Peer Working Group" is a consortium for the advancement of infrastructure standards forpeer-to-peer computing and the sharing of computer resources and services by direct exchange. Thestated charter for the Peer-to-Peer WG is to determine areas for standardization, rapidly developspecifications, and promote adoption of these specifications as standards throughout the computerindustry.

• Peer-to-Peer Working Group Member Companies: Alliance Computing; BIAP Systems Inc.; BrightStation PLC; CenterSpan; Endeavors Technology; Entropia, Inc.; Fujitsu PC Corporation; GlobalNetwork Computers; Information Architects, Intel Corporation; J.D. Edwards, NetMount; NextPage,Inc.; OpenDesign, Inc.; Proksim Software, Inc.; Science Communications, Inc.; United Devices.

• Peer-to-Peer Working Group Supportive Companies: AppleSoup; Applied MetaComputing;Distributed Science; Dotcast; Enfish Technology; Engenia Software; Groove Networks; HP; IBM;Kalepa; MangoSoft; Static; Structural Analysis Tech, Inc.; Thinkstream, Inc.; Uprizer; Vtel.

Global Grid Forum (Global GF)

www.globalgridforum.com

The "Global Grid Forum" (Global GF) is a community-initiated forum of individual researchers andpractitioners from industry and academia working on distributed computing or "grid" technologies (peer-to-peer). The Global GF focuses on the promotion and development of Grid technologies and applicationsvia the development and documentation of "best practices," implementation guidelines, and standards.The Global GF efforts are also aimed at the development of a broadly based "Integrated GridArchitecture" that can serve to guide the research, development, and deployment activities of theemerging Grid communities.

• Global Grid Forum Registered Participants: The majority of the registered participants consistslargely of universities and National Science Labs, along with a smaller group of companies. A partiallist includes the following: Argonne National Laboratory, Centrata, CERN, Compaq, CSC-NASAAmes Research Center, Entropia, Fujitsu America, GE Corporate R&D Center, IBM, Intel, JetPropulsion Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Microsoft Research, MIT, NASA,Sandia National Laboratories, Sun Labs and Sun Microsystems.

The New Productivity Initiative (NPI)

www.newproductivity.org/npi_in.html

A small group of companies, which include Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and SGI, have formed an allianceto take advantage of the growth of distributed computing. The purpose of the New Productivity Initiative(NPI) is to define and develop a reference model and a set of open APIs to enable the sharing ofdistributed computing resources regardless of platform. It is also the goal of the NPI to create a distributedresource management (DRM) standard that will allow software from different vendors running on differenthardware platforms to work in concert.

According to the NPI, distributed resource management is key to P2P because it enables users andapplications to interact as if they are using a very large, single, virtual distributed computer. DRM providesa way of sharing processing cycles with other computers, automatically finding the best computer in thenetwork to run the desired application, and distributes processing in a secure and reliable manner withoutuser or application intervention. DRM itself operates as a central service that may be implemented byeither hybrid or pure P2P technologies.

Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Project



www.uddi.org

On 6 September 2000, Ariba, IBM, and Microsoft announced the Universal Description, Discovery andIntegration (UDDI) Project, designed to create a standard format with which enterprises engaged in e-commerce can describe themselves and their method of conducting e-business transactions. Thespecification defines a platform-independent, open framework for describing services, discoveringbusinesses, and integrating business services using the Internet.

Many design problems associated with directory services, communication protocols, and messageformats are being addressed by P2P applications in a proprietary manner; UDDI and other Internet-derived standards are expected to reduce the complexity and amount of effort required to create P2Papplications.

Peer-to-Peer Trusted Library (PtPTL)

Intel has recently developed security software code that other companies can use when developing P2Papplications. The Peer-to-Peer Trusted Library (PtPTL) includes full API documentation and providessupport for peer authentication, secure storage, encryption, and digital signatures. Intel has made the APIfreely available to developers online; it is Intel’s hope that releasing the PtPTL will aid innovation in thepeer-to-peer security market.

The Peer-to-Peer Trusted Library (PtPTL) allows software developers to add the element of "trust" to theirpeer-to-peer applications. It provides support for digital certificates, peer authentication, secure storage,public key encryption, digital signatures, and symmetric key encryption. The library also provides simplesupport for networking and some operating system primitives, such as threads and locks, to ease thedevelopment of applications that are portable to both Win32 and Linux.

Sun Microsystems’ Juxtapose (JXTA)

On 15 February 2001, Sun Microsystems Inc. announced that the company is developing a Web-basedprogramming language called Juxtapose for use by companies looking to build distributed peer-to-peercomputing applications. In April, the company plans to host an online conference related to JXTA, atwhich time it will release the specifications for the technology.

According to Sun, security mechanisms in JXTA will be a priority for Sun. The language is expected tocontain some monitoring features and to support collaborative development capabilities. There are fourmechanisms planned for JXTA: the ability to connect peers, group them together logically, monitor andcontrol what they do, and add a security layer.

Technology Leaders

Intel and Cycle Sharing: NetBatch

Intel was the initial founder of the Peer-to-Peer Working Group and has been extremely vocal in itssupport of P2P technology. According to Patrick P. Gelsinger, Vice President and Chief TechnologyOfficer of the Intel Architecture Group, peer-to-peer computing will spark the next wave of Internetinnovation much as the Mosaic browser did for the last. "Intel sees peer-to-peer computing as a naturalcomplement to the infrastructure that we’ve been building."

Intel has developed a P2P program called NetBatch, which allows Intel’s design engineers to leverage theidle computing resources in any of Intel’s global facilities. Simulation jobs submitted to NetBatch areassigned to one of the many resources (computers) comprising the NetBatch queue across Intel’s globalcomputing network. Intel claims that by using NetBatch, resources that would otherwise be utilized 50percent or less are deployed on Intel’s most mission-critical computing tasks. NetBatch now processes



2.7 million jobs on a monthly basis. Mr. Gelsinger claims that during the 10 years that Intel has been usingNetBatch, the company has increased the utilization of its aggregate computing capacity from 35 percentto over 80 percent. Mr. Gelsinger claims that Intel was able to accelerate its validation process by eightweeks on a recent chip project and delivered the chip ahead of schedule. Intel claims that NetBatch hassaved them greater than a half-billion dollars.

Intel is also responsible for the development of the new Peer-to-Peer Trusted Library (PtPTL) securitycode, which was discussed in the above "Standards" section of this report.

Microsoft and the .NET Initiative

New services are being developed by several companies, which will allow users to synchronize messagesfrom all their devices and retrieve them from a central Web site. This new way of using data utilizes theInternet itself as an operating system, thereby eliminating problems created by conflicting formats andallowing users to store data safely on the Internet and access it from any personal computer, cell phone,or Web appliance. Microsoft is expected to aid the creation of such online applications through its .NETinitiative. On 22 June 2000, Microsoft announced what it calls a new generation of software, Microsoft.NET, which they claim will enable every developer, business, and consumer to benefit from the newInternet devices and programmable Web services that characterize the Next Generation Internet.

Microsoft also plans to incorporate new P2P features into future versions of Windows. To provide Internet-based security features for P2P applications, Microsoft is considering opening its Passport user directoryin order to authenticate a wide range of P2P applications; Microsoft is also considering using Windows toenable P2P services in the background. File-sharing and printer-sharing features have been embeddedinto Windows for years, and Microsoft Office 10 will incorporate MSN Messenger Service for person-to-person collaboration.

IBM: EMMS and Superdistribution

The IBM Electronic Media Management System’s (EMMS) upcoming superdistribution capability will allowthe authorized peer-to-peer sharing of music or book files, giving retailers and consumers the ability topass content to multiple recipients. EMMS’s new feature set is intended to address the music industry’simmediate need for a solution to create e-commerce and a viable business model around consumers’growing affinity for sharing music files over the Internet. Along with superdistribution, EMMS also providessupport for the MusicMatch Jukebox digital music software and the RealNetworks, Inc. RealJukebox.

Groove Networks, Inc. and Groove

Amongst the new P2P start-ups, the company that has probably attained the most attention is GrooveNetworks, Inc. This is because its founder and CEO is Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes. Grooveproposes software infrastructure that will allow groups of coworkers, regardless of location, to sharedocuments, collaborate on them, and converse about them over VoIP links. The software enablescoworkers to use whatever communication channel is open to them. The initial release of the softwarewas a 10MB client that includes browser, instant messaging, and other tools.

Groove hides the complexity of dealing with firewalls, encryption, and other security issues. Groove runson each user’s computer and handles all communication functions. To establish communication withanother person, the user sends an invitation via e-mail. Groove is intelligent and detects the connection;when modem users are not using Groove, it puts itself into a low priority to free up bandwidth. Also,Groove can detect if the connection is internal or external. The platform works through firewalls by routingall traffic through port 80, the HTTP port used by Web browsers; connections are fully encrypted, as is theshared space, which takes place on a router at Groove’s data center. Groove is an open-architecture



platform with full support for standard data formats, protocols, APIs, and development tools. According toGroove, any business process that requires dynamic communication and collaboration can be enhancedand extended. Examples of these business processes include purchasing, inventory control, distribution,exchanges and auctions, channel and partner relationship management, and customer care and support.

In addition to being a P2P application for interactivity among business individuals, Groove is also a peercomputing platform which can be used by an e-business or a solution developer. As a platform, Grooveincludes the ability to integrate edge-based functionality with centralized systems and businessprocesses, which can be extended outside the corporate firewall to external partners and customers. Italso provides users with the ability to add functionality and additional members "on the fly." Theunderlying peer services include security, local XML object storage, and XML object routing services.

Other Companies and Initiatives That Are Peer-to-Peer Influencers

The SETI@home Project, or ET Call Home

Napster may be the most notorious and well-known example of P2P, but SETI@home is arguably a closesecond in fame. SETI@home began distributing its P2P software in May 1999, just a few months afterNapster was released. SETI@home allows individuals, or "volunteers," to donate unused processingcycles on their PCs to a worldwide "grid" of approximately 2.6 million computers, turning it into the mostpowerful supercomputer on the planet. The goal of the SETI@home project is to search for extraterrestrialintelligence (SETI) using radio telescopes. At a glance, SETI@home looks like a screensaver; in order toparticipate in the project, volunteers download a small program to their PC. The program then downloadsa batch of data and processes it while the PC is idle. When the batch is complete, the program connectsto the SETI@home server over the Internet, returning the results and obtaining the next batch of data.

Porivo Technologies, Inc. and PEER

Porivo Technologies’ PEER enables users to contribute the spare capacity of their PCs to large-scalecomputing projects across the Internet, while turning their PC’s otherwise wasted resources intosweepstakes entries for cash and prizes. Users that download and install the Porivo PEER will help testthe performance of high-volume Web sites while they earn sweepstakes entries. Using otherwise wastedCPU and bandwidth resources, each Porivo PEER autonomously tests the performance of Web sites,returning valuable performance data that companies can use to optimize their Web site design, contentdistribution strategies, and technical infrastructures.

Porivo has formed a partnership with The Daily Jolt, a network of college-specific Web sites at 105campuses, to promote its Porivo PEER technology to college students nationwide. The Daily Jolt networkreaches more than 1.2 million students daily. Each Daily Jolt site is built and maintained by students oncampus and driven by those who use it each day. Porivo will be The Daily Jolt’s exclusive partner in thepeer-to-peer computing space.

NextPage and NXT 3

NextPage is currently using P2P content networks to create a secure exchange of business-criticalinformation, where users have integrated access to relevant data that is distributed on the Internet,intranets, partner’s databases, commercial publishers, or other resources through a Web browser.According to NextPage, the company was first to employ P2P technology to enable businesses tomanage, access, and exchange distributed content from partners, suppliers, customers, and employeesin real time. In other words, enterprises can use their P2P software, NXT 3, not just within their owncompanies, but also outside of their companies. NXT 3 is geared towards information-intensive industries,such as high-tech financial services and professional services. According to a company spokesperson,



NXT 3 was developed to be able to create access on a business-to-business framework and enablesdistributed access to corporate information content, from e-mail, to documents, to slides.

Oculus Technologies, Inc. and CO

Utilizing P2P to speed the development of new products, P2P computing applications can be used todecrease the cost and time involved in developing manufactured products. Start-up Oculus TechnologiesInc. lets companies link engineering applications and share information about product design amongdepartments, workgroups, and partners that play a role in bringing manufactured goods to market. Itssoftware, CO, routes shared data directly from PC to PC. The company claims the application eliminatesthe phone calls, faxes, and meetings that ordinarily take place when changes to a design are requestedand also may encourage innovation by making it easier and faster to evaluate design options.

The application is meant to enhance existing enterprise resource planning, computer-aided design, andproduct data management applications. Once users download CO from the Web, they can create links todocuments, such as a CAD file, and send those links to others over an IP network. CO also lets usersmake just a single field of a document accessible, rather than the entire file, to protect intellectual propertyand minimize network traffic.

DataSynapse

DataSynapse is attempting to bring distributed computing to the marketplace by creating a network ofhome computers that will serve as a virtual supercomputer for DataSynapse’s clients. Individual computerowners download proprietary software; when the computer is idle, the software retrieves a portion of thetask from the DataSynapse server, performs the calculation, and returns the results to the company. Theindividual computer owner is paid a small fee for processing time.

DataSynapse has targeted the financial services industry as its first market. Since speed is crucial in thissector, DataSynapse believes large financial services firms will pay a premium for access to its networkedcomputing power. According to the DataSynapse CEO, its clients now have the ability to perform inseconds or minutes calculations that could require five to 10 hours using their usual installed softwareapplications. Critical decisions about pricing, risk assessment, and other matters involving complexcalculations can now be made in real time.

myCIO.com

Rumor, distributed by myCIO, a subsidiary of Network Associates, is a distribution system for antiviruspatches. Rumor enables users at a customer site to share the ASP’s latest security measures in real-time,including antivirus and personal firewall updates. A typical example would be: instead of 10 users at acustomer site separately downloading an antivirus update, one person would do it, and other users wouldget the update transparently from a "peer" on the LAN. Digital signatures ensure the update originateswith myCIO.com.


Peer-to-Peer

Companies

Peer-to-Peer Categories

2AM Distributed Computing, Gaming, Superdistribution

3Path Superdistribution, Messaging

Aimster File Sharing, Instant Messaging, Messaging Infrastructure

Alibre (Alibre Design) Collaboration




Peer-to-Peer

Companies


Applied

MetaComputing

Distributed Computing, Internet Operating System

Aviatis (LiveDoc) Collaboration

Bad Blue File Sharing

BearShare Search Engines, File Sharing

Biz2Peer

Technologies

Development, Infrastructure, Portal, Platform

Buzzpad, Inc. Gaming

CenterSpan Gaming, Messaging

Centrata Distributed Computing

Clip2 Develops and provides technical data and research for the Gnutella developer and

end user communities.

Search Engines, File Sharing

Consilient, Inc. Infrastructure

CuteMX.Com

(GlobalScape, Inc.)

File Sharing

Datasynapse Distributed Computing

Distributed.net Distributed Computing

Distributed Science Distributed Computing

eMikolo Licensed Media File Sharing

Endeavors

Technology, Inc.

Magi P2P technology.

Web Publishing, Wireless

Engenia Software Engenia’s Unity is XML-based Web-enabled software for managing corporate and

personal data.

Collaboration, Messaging

Entropia Distributed Computing

Everything Collaboration, Web Publishing

eZ Real-time shared whiteboard and real-time chat.

Collaboration, Messaging

File Navigator Finds media files on Open Napster (Open-Nap) networks.

File Sharing

File Rouge, Inc. File Sharing

Filetopia Search Engines, File Sharing

Flycode Napster cofounder Bill Bales’ project to create a video version of Napster’s music-

swapping software; originally named AppleSoup.

Licensed Media Distribution

Freenet File Sharing, Superdistribution




Peer-to-Peer

Companies


Frontcode

Technologies

File Sharing

Gnutella Gnutella is an open-source project with several clients registered under the GNU

License.

File Sharing

gonesilent.com (aka

InfraSearch)

Based on the Gnutella technology, InfraSearch was built by Gene Kan and other

Gnutella developers.

Search Engines

Groove Networks Developed by Ray Ozzie, creator of Lotus Notes; Groove’s "Transceiver" provides

robust file-sharing and collaboration capabilities for businesses.

Collaboration, Messaging, File Sharing

grub.org Search Engines

IBM EMMS IBM Electronic Media Management System (EMMS).

Superdistribution

Hotline

Communications Ltd.

File Sharing

Ikimbo, Inc. Collaboration

iMaestro iMaestro is focused on e-commerce applications of P2P technology.

File Sharing, Messaging, Infrastructure

iMesh Ltd. File Sharing

Infobot Perl-based online fact-gathering service that relies on the Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

protocol. The fact-gathering involves factoids, an online research tool.

Search Engine

Interbind Collaboration

Jabber Instant Messaging, Messaging Frameworks

Jabberzilla This site is devoted to Jabberzilla, a Jabber client that installs into Mozilla-based

browsers.

Instant Messaging

Jungle Monkey Unix-based file-sharing service developed by the Electrical Engineering and

Computer Science Department University of Michigan.

File Sharing

Kalepa Networks,

Inc.

Provider of Internet content delivery infrastructure. Individual investors include

executives at Excite@Home and Ziff Davis.

Licensed Media Distribution

KaZaA Search Engines, File Sharing




Peer-to-Peer

Companies


MangoSoft File Sharing

Manila Manila Example: Editthispage.com.

Web Publishing

Microsoft.NET Microsoft’s .NET consists of a "set of building block services as well as services for

file storage, user preference management, calendar management, and other tasks."

Infrastructure, Distributed Storage

Mithral

Communications &

Design Inc.

Infrastructure

Mojo Nation

(Autonomous Zone

Industries)

System designed to enable publishing and sharing of any kind of data; each

transaction costs some "Mojo," and as user’s credit limits are reached, cash or

resources must be contributed to the "community."

File Sharing

myCIO.com (Rumor) Rumor enables antivirus and personal firewall updates.

File Sharing

Napster The most famous peer-to-peer file sharing service; its success has drawn attention

to the power and capability of peer-to-peer computing.

File Sharing

NextPage (NXT 3) Collaboration, File Sharing, Messaging

Ohaha File Sharing

OnSystems, Inc.

(InterFriendly)

Formerly named "InterFriendly"; develops Virtual Internet Networks (VINs) that allow

people to create virtual networks between PCs over the Internet.

File Sharing, Infrastructure

OpenCOLA Search Engine, Distributed Computing

OpenNap OpenNap is an open source effort to create a version of the proprietary Napster

server.

File Sharing

Parabon

Computation

Distributed Computing

Phoenix Integration

(Model Center)

Collaboration

Plebio Search Engines

Pointera File Sharing, Search Engine, Infrastructure

Popular Power Distributed Computing

Porivo Technologies,

Inc.





Peer-to-Peer

Companies


Proksim Software

(NetZ 1.0)

Infrastructure, Gaming, File Sharing

Publius File Sharing

Radio Userland A "personal radio station" that acts as a music organizer and player that allows

users to program music for themselves, and share their creations with others, over

the Internet, also works as an HTTP server.

Web Publishing

RightsMarket Inc. Licensed Media Distribution

Sandia National

Laboratories

National security laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by

Lockheed Martin; has a technology that allows multiple agents to form a cooperative

aimed at network security.

Infrastructure

Scour Exchange Video Swapping

SETI@home: The

Search for

Extraterrestrial

Intelligence


Spinfrenzy.com File Sharing

Splooge, Inc. File Sharing

Swapoo Game Swapping

The Free Haven

Project

File Sharing

Toadnode.com, LLC File Sharing

Tripnosis, Inc. File Sharing

United Devices, Inc. Distributed Computing

vTrails Superdistribution, Bandwidth Balancing

WebDAV Web Publishing

WebV2 WebV2 provides an application platform and network infrastructure to enable

commercial peer-to-peer applications.

Infrastructure, Search Engine

Wiki Wiki Web Web Publishing

WorldOS

Corporation

Development, Infrastructure

WorldStreet Collaboration

Yo!nk Messaging, Media Distribution

Zion Technologies Development, Infrastructure

Insight

Peer-to-peer technology extends computing to the "edges" of the Internet, which allows every computer toact as an edge server, thereby unlocking idle end-user computer resources (i.e., PCs). As the availabilityof broadband connections and more powerful PCs continues to grow, and if standards for security and



interoperability are quickly developed, the business uses of P2P architecture will expand. Peer-to-peertechnology not only promises to answer the constantly growing demand for more types of information, italso promises faster access to that information. Because of this, P2P technology stands to fundamentallychange many business models.



Product Report9 January 2001

IBM’s WebSphere Wireless Web-to-Host Solution

Summary

IBM’s Wireless Web-to-Host Solution provides mobile access to mainframe and host information. IBMaccomplishes this by combining two stand-alone products, WebSphere Host Publisher (WHP) andWebSphere Transcoding Publisher (WTP). Together, these products are used to extend the reach of hostdata applications beyond the Web to pervasive technologies; e.g., SmartPhones, cell phones, PDAs, andPalm Pilots. Host Publisher offers Web-to-host connectivity and high-end HTML formatting to usersrequiring Internet publishing; Transcoding Publisher transforms traditional Web content for wirelessenvironments. WTP also transforms Host content for wireless environments when used with HostPublisher. Together, these two products become "IBM’s Wireless Web-to-Host Solution."

Note

This report focuses on IBM’s "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" and therefore covers only the features andcapabilities of WHP and WTP that allow wireless, mobile connectivity to mainframe and host information,using the various Web technologies.

Table of Contents

Overview

Analysis

Pricing

Competitors

Strengths

Limitations

Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: IBM WebSphere Transcoding Publishing 3.5 Features and Functions

Table 2: IBM WebSphere Host Publisher Features and Functions

List Of Figures

Figure 1: IBM’s Wireless Web-to-Host Solution



Corporate Headquarters

International Business Machines Corp.

New Orchard Road


Tel: +1 914 499 1900


Overview

Table 1: IBM WebSphere Transcoding Publishing 3.5 Features and Functions

Content Sources • HTML, GIF, JPEG, XML

Output Formats • HDML, HTML, GIF, iMode (a variant of cHTML), JPEG, wireless bitmap, WML,

XML

Devices Supported • WAP devices, PCs, HDML, iMode, PDAs with wireless/browser capability, any

device with a standard HTTP browser

Server Operating

Systems Supported

• AIX, Linux, Solaris, Windows NT 4.0, 2000

Other Platform

Requirements

• Support for JDK 1.2.2

Special Platform

Features

• Load Balancing and Cache Exploitation with WebSphere Edge Server

• Key component of IBM WebSphere Everyplace Suite

• Support for SyncML

Special User

Features

• No effort required by end user on client. Customizes content by user-agent field in

device

Profile

Management/Person

alization

• Ships with several device profiles

• Wizard-based profile creation tool

Session

Management

(automatic reconnect

to disconnected

session)

• Yes

Single (Global) Log-

In

• Supported if user signs on via cookies-based user ID and password, and if the

user's browser supports cookies

Voice

Transformation

• WTP must be used with IBM WebSphere Voice Server to enable voice-data

integration

Interactive Voice

Response (IVR)

• No

Development Tools • SDK, Java based. JavaBeans. Open APIs. Request Viewer. Transform Tool.

Samples and documentation.

Admin./Management

Tools

• Centralized administration via LDAP

• Remote site monitoring. Wizards for adding transcoders, style-sheet association,

and device profiles

Security • In servlet: Supports SSL and transforms content before encryption



Comments • Four deployment configurations: servlet, proxy, reverse proxy, or as JavaBeans.

Pluggable framework. Supports image transcoding.

Support • Services and training classes available through IBM, which provides a wide variety

of software support and services to help install and maintain the product

International

Language Support

• Support for 10 languages, including Japanese and Chinese

Table 2: IBM WebSphere Host Publisher Features and Functions

Backend Data

Sources

• Support applications written for 3270, 5250, VT52, VT100, VT220, Java classes,

and JDBC-enabled databases

Performance and

Scalability

• Load balancing and failover are provided by IBM Network Dispatcher, which runs

on AIX, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Linux, and Solaris operating environments

• WebSphere Host Publisher applications run unchanged on any supported server

platform, allowing users to move their application to a higher-capacity platform as

demand increases

• Pages are precompiled into Java servlets and rerun anytime a user requests the

same Web page

• Connection pools improve response time during runtime through connected,

logged-on, and ready connections

• Object chaining provides flexibility and performance

Compatibility and

Usability

• Includes IBM WebSphere Application Server, Standard Edition

• Integrates IBM WebSphere Studio, Professional Edition for developing advanced

e-business applications

• Enables access to other IBM connectors, such as MQSeries

• Enables users to create HTML pages, which can be enhanced using industry-

standard HTML editors

• Lets users generate reusable Integration Objects, which can be used by

WebSphere Host Publisher applications and standard Java IDEs

• Provides access to Host Publisher Integration Objects from remote Java

applications or applets

• Enables import of Java classes created outside WebSphere Host Publisher to

WebSphere Host Publisher applications

• Allows users to encapsulate the interaction and data retrieval with host

applications, using GUI point-and-click customization tools

• Provides a load-and-go HTML emulator for 3270 and 5250

• Extends 3270 and 5250 application data in XML format

Security • 128-bit data encryption (RC/2, RC/4, DES, and Triple DES)

• SSL 3.0 support (X.509 certificate)

Memory and

Software

• Host Publisher Studio runs on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT Ver 4, and

Windows 2000

• Requires at least an Intel Pentium 166 processor, 128MB of RAM, and 90MB of

available disk space

• Host Publisher Server runs on several platforms

• Requires at least 256MB of RAM

• 512MB of RAM recommended

• OS/390, Version 2 Release 7, or higher, requires WebSphere Application Server,

Standard Edition, Version 1. 2, running on a machine with at least 512MB of RAM

• OS/400, Version 4 Release 4, or higher, running on a machine with at least 512MB



of RAM

• AIX, Version 4.3.2, or higher, running on a machine with at least 256MB of RAM

• Solaris operating environment, Version 2.6 or 2.7 SPARC, with the Native Threads

package, running on a machine with at least 256MB of RAM

• Windows NT, Version 4 requires Service Pack 4, or higher, running on a machine

with at least 256MB of RAM

• Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server, running on a machine with at least

256MB of RAM

Analysis

IBM’s "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" allows mobile users to connect to corporate or commercialmainframes and retrieve data. This can be accomplished by using the various pervasive technologiesavailable today; e.g., SmartPhones, cell phones, PDAs, Palm Pilots, and laptops. This solution consists ofthe following components:

• IBM WebSphere Host Publisher—high-end HTML formatting for customers requiring Internetpublishing.

• IBM WebSphere Transcoding Publisher— Filters, enhances, converts, or reformats data (e.g., Hostand Web content).

Figure 1: IBM’s Wireless Web-to-Host Solution

Extending Legacy Application Reach to Mobile Users

Source: IBM

IBM’s Wireless Web-to-Host Solution: How It Works



IBM uses WebSphere Host Publisher to "pull" Host screen data and change it into HTML format. Then,WebSphere Transcoding Publisher "transcodes" that data and makes it readable for any pervasivedevice; e.g., SmartPhones, cell phones, PDAs, and Palm Pilots.

Possible Wireless Web-to-Host Customer Scenario Example

• Host Publisher: Company A, a bottled soft-drink distributor, deploys IBM WebSphere Host Publisherto extend the company's legacy purchasing and inventory management system to their retailBusiness Partners. Retailers are able to place inventory refill orders directly over the Internet andreceive immediate status as to stock-on-hand to fulfill the order. This solution makes purchase orderstatus information available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Transoding Publisher: Company A also has a large mobile workforce in the form of the drivers whodeliver its products to the retailers. The drivers are equipped with small tablet devices on which theirdaily delivery schedules are downloaded, but have no way to address requests for back-order statusor available inventory information while making their daily deliveries— the drivers need access to thepurchasing application, but do not have a PC or Web browser available to them. TranscodingPublisher can take the output of Host Publisher, transform the output to fit the small form factor of thetablets, and manage the wireless protocol used by the tablet devices to provide real-time access thepurchase order application.

• IBM's WebSphere Wireless Web-to-Host Solution: IBM WebSphere Host Publisher is deployed byCompany A to extend legacy applications to Web users in an HTML format; then, in combination withTranscoding Publisher, Company A extends legacy application access to an even broader range ofnew users.

Back-end Data Sources and Supported Devices

The two most important requirements for products that supply mobile, wireless access to mainframes arethe ability to interface with and interact with any back-end data source, and the ability to render the data toany device. Within IBM's "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" scenario, WebSphere Host Publisher takescare of the back-end sources, and WTP can render the data to wireless devices:

• Supports applications written for 3270, 5250, VT52, VT100, VT220, Java classes, and JDBC-enableddatabases.

• Supports WAP devices, PCs, HDML, iMode, PDAs with wireless/browser capability, any device witha standard HTTP browser.

Platform Support

IBM's "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" is highly scalable and includes extensive platform support. Serveroperating systems supported include AIC, Linux, Solaris, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000. By way ofWebSphere Host Publisher, IBM's "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" allows applications to run unchangedon any supported server platform; users can move their applications to a higher-capacity platform asdemand increases.

Performance

Connection pools improve response time during runtime through connected, logged-on, and readyconnections, thereby shortening the connection time. Additionally, WTP transforms data before sending,further reducing connection time; however, the downside is that this can cause a heavier footprint, asmuch as 256 Mb RAM. Response time is also enhanced by precompiling pages into Java servlets, which



can be rerun anytime a user requests the same Web page. Additionally, object chaining is supported,which provides flexibility. Load balancing and failover are provided with IBM Network Dispatcher.

Image Transcoders

IBM’s "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" allows data to be dynamically modified to new environments;HTML content can be transcoded "on the fly" to WML, iMode, and HDML; and XML can be transformed toXML variants through the use of XSL style sheets. In addition to the ability to transcode data, IBM’s"Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" can transcode image content to mobile devices. Specifically, JPEG andGIF images can be transformed to mobile devices:

• JPEG to GIF

• GIF to JPEG

• JPEG or GIF to WBMP (Wireless Bitmap)

Server Operating Systems Support

IBM's "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" is highly scalable and includes extensive platform support. Serveroperating systems supported include AIC, Linux, Solaris, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000.

SyncML

One feature of particular note is IBM's support for SyncML. This emerging mobile synchronizationstandard enables WTP to interoperate with other synchronization products which also support SyncML.As the use of pervasive devices grows, the ability to synchronize a large number of different devices, andto do so both effectively and in the background (invisible to the user), becomes increasingly moreimportant. The successful deployment of SyncML will help to accomplish this.

Management

• Remote site monitoring is supported.

• LDAP: IBM's "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" deploys centralized administration through its LDAPsupport (when used in conjunction with the new 3.5 version of WTP). Session Management is alsosupported— sessions are automatically reconnected if disconnection occurs.

• Global log-in: Web server administrators can manage the configurations of multiple copies of WTPfrom a single, central location through LDAP. However, global log-in for users is available only if theyuse a cookies-based user-ID and password process, and if their handheld browser supports cookies.

Development Tools

Development tools include a Java-based SDK, JavaBeans, Open APIs, a "Request Viewer," transformtool, samples, and documentation. Wizards for adding transcoders, style-sheet association, and deviceprofiles are included.

Security

IBM's "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" includes robust security support, including SSL, which issupported within the servlets. One security feature of particular note is that the content is transformedbefore the encryption.

Pricing

WebSphere Transcoding Publisher



The price of WebSphere Transcoding Publisher Version 3.5 is based on the number of processors in thesystem executing all or any part of WebSphere Transcoding Publisher. In the case of a symmetricmultiprocessor (SMP) system, the user must also acquire the "one processor install entitlement." Thefollowing example illustrates the pricing methodology: Two 4-way SMPs, for stand-alone systems in alarger system, would require the WebSphere Transcoding Publisher Version 3.5 program package andseven "one processor install entitlements."

• WebSphere Transcoding Publisher is priced at US$30,000 per processor.

Host Publisher

Host Publisher pricing is based upon the number of sessions or connections needed to the legacy systemapplications, an example of a session being a TN5250 session between HostPub and an AS/400application. There is a charge for the base server and the usage pack that are purchased to supportgreater numbers of sessions:

• Price of HostPub server for AS/400 is $10,000 and includes up to 25 sessions. Additional usagepacks cost $5,000 and provide an additional 25 sessions, buy as many as needed.

• Price of HostPub server for AIX, NT, Solaris is $15,000 and includes 50 sessions. Additional usagepacks cost $10,000 and provide an additional 50 sessions, buy as many as needed.

• No additional charge for use of the Host Publisher Studio, included within above pricing; customercan use as many as needed to support their environment.

GSA Pricing

Yes.

Competitors

• Attachmate PalmFrame

• Eicon Technology: Aviva Web-to-Host Server and Aviva for Java

• Esker Corridor Wireless

• NetManage OnWeb

• ResQNet.com: ResQ/Me

• Seagull: Seagull Wireless-to-Host

Strengths

• HTML can be dynamically transcoded to WML, iMode, and HDML.

• JPEG and GIF images transform to mobile devices "on the fly."

• Is highly scalable and has extensive platform support.

• Session Pooling reduces connection time.

• Transforms data before sending— reduces connection time.

Limitations

• Transforms data before sending— downside is larger footprint.



• Limited Single (global) log-in support.

• Voice/data integration requires separate add-on (WebSphere Voice Server).

Insight

Transcoding technology is still an emerging and evolving technology. Because of this, any wireless Web-to-host solution will not be perfect. However, as this technology improves, so will products based upon itsuse. The biggest plus to IBM's "Wireless Web-to-Host Solution" is IBM itself. It's difficult to compete withthe worldwide consulting and professional services offered by IBM. IBM's "Wireless Web-to-HostSolution" allows companies to create one Web site and deploy its content to many devices. Its plug-inarchitecture allows developers to configure the server for a wide variety of devices, including handheldPDAs and smart phones, and the modular architecture is a plus for developers. Companies looking togrow their e-business or to improve their business-to-business abilities will want to evaluate the "IBMWireless Web-to-Host Solution."



Technology Overview5 September 2000

PhoneLine Technology: An Introduction to HomePNA

Summary

PhoneLine technology is essentially Ethernet technology modified for Home Networking use, replacingconventional Ethernet cables with existing telephone wiring, using standard telephone wiring to pass databetween PCs in a home, small office, or MDU (Multiple Dwelling Unit). It’s inexpensive (less than US$100per node), and simple to install— it does not require cables to be strung within walls and floors. Users canshare one broadband modem for access to the Internet, using a single ISP account. Using only onetelephone line, up to 25 computers can share peripherals, files, and drives at the rated speed of 10 Mbps.In addition to these features, PhoneLine technology satisfies the "no new wires" requirement for thesuccessful growth of the nascent Home Networking industry.

Table of Contents

Technology Basics

Technology Analysis

Business Use

Benefits and Risks

Standards

Technology Leaders


Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: Home Networking Technologies


Copyright © 2000 DPRO-922785 September 2000 2

Technology Basics

PhoneLine Technology: An Introduction

PhoneLine technology is supported by the HomePNA standard, started by the Home PhoneLineNetworking Alliance (HomePNA or HPNA). The HomePNA is an incorporated, nonprofit association ofindustry leaders who wish to ensure the adoption of a single, unified PhoneLine networking industrystandard and rapidly bring to market a range of interoperable home networking solutions.

PhoneLine technology is essentially Ethernet technology that has been modified for Small Office/HomeOffice (SOHO) and Home Networking use, replacing conventional Ethernet cables with existing telephonewiring. PhoneLine networks use telephone wiring to pass data between PCs in a home, small office, orMDU (Multiple Dwelling Unit). The PhoneLine network communicates at a different frequency from othercommunication services within the home, so it can coexist with voice calls, fax machines, modems, anddata: standard voice occupies the range from 20Hz to 3.4kHz in the U.S. (slightly higher internationally);xDSL services occupy the frequency range from 25kHz to 1.1MHz; HomePNA base PhoneLinenetworking can operate in a frequency range above 2MHz.

Using the same phone line, users can talk on the phone and share peripherals; they can also share oneInternet connection simultaneously. The only exception is if a dial-up modem is used instead of DSL orcable modems; in that case, users can still share peripherals, files, and applications, but would not beable to talk on the phone at the same time the dial-up modem is in use.

PhoneLine Technology

Initially, the Home PhoneLine Networking Alliance adopted Tut Systems’ 1 Mbps technology as its first-generation networking standard, HomePNA 1.0. This standard uses Ethernet technology with a fewmodifications for the home environment, using standard residential telephone wiring instead of Ethernetcabling. HPNA-based PhoneLine technology supports distances up to 500 feet between adapters, andhousing structures up to 10,000 square feet; installation is "plug-and-play." Up to 25 PCs can beconnected to an HPNA network.

The second-generation HomePNA standard, HomePNA 2.0, was developed by the Epigram Division ofBroadcom. Currently, HomePNA PhoneLine technology operates at 10 Mbps; within a year, PhoneLinesilicon is expected to be developed to the limits of the HPNA 2.0 specification, 32 Mbps. Additionally, afuture version of the HPNA technology will be capable of ramping up to speeds as high as 100 Mbps.

PhoneLine technology uses Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) to simultaneously operate multipleservices over a single pair of wires. Consumers can simultaneously use the phone or send a fax, andaccess the Internet via an "always-on" broadband connection, such as xDSL or cable.

PhoneLine technology was designed to ensure compatibility with other communications services withinthe home or SOHO environment, such as voice, ISDN, and xDSL data services. The technology occupiesthe passband frequency range between 5.5MHz and 9.5MHz. Passband filters attenuate frequenciesbelow 5.5MHz very rapidly, so there is no interference with the xDSL services or traditional phones.

PhoneLine technology is deployed using IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/CollisionDetect) methods for multiple access to a common communication's medium— the basis of Ethernet.Therefore, PhoneLine technology is essentially Ethernet over phone lines. This is what allows HomePNAnetworks to leverage the huge amount of Ethernet-compatible software, applications, and existinghardware in the market today.



How Is PhoneLine Technology Deployed?

A typical PhoneLine network consists of PhoneLine adapters and a choice of interfaces: USB port, PCIcard, or parallel port. Standard telephone wire is connected from the adapters to the interfaces, and fromthe adapters to any standard telephone jack.

Typical PhoneLine Hardware

• Users with newer equipment who wish to avoid opening up the insides of their PC or laptop shouldchoose USB models— they can simply connect the PhoneLine adapter to a USB port. ThePhoneLine USB models work only with Windows 98.

• PCI Card PhoneLine adapters will work with either Windows 95 or 98. Also, users who often havevery large file transfers or use streaming, full-motion video might want to consider PCI CardPhoneLine products— they operate at a higher speed than most USB models. Users will be requiredto open up their PCs to install a circuit board.

• Users with legacy equipment, such as a 486 machine and Windows 3.x, should consider a parallelport PhoneLine adapter; however, these usually run at the slower, HomePNA 1.0 speed of 1 Mbps.The adapter for a PhoneLine parallel port model plugs into a PC's Parallel port.

Typical PhoneLine Software

HomePNA networks can connect multiple PCs to the Internet simultaneously while sharing only one ISPaccount and one modem— the modem can be broadband (DSL/cable) or dial-up. This ability, in additionto not requiring any "new" wiring or cabling, is currently the main driver behind PhoneLine networking.This feature requires Internet-sharing software; all PhoneLine networks include some form of Internet-sharing software. Some vendors include their own or third-party software for this purpose; others dependon the Internet-sharing capability that is included with Microsoft 98 SE (Second Edition). If users choose avendor that deploys Windows 98 SE for Internet sharing, they will be required to upgrade if they are usingan earlier version of Windows.

There is one drawback to this scenario. The "main" or "server" computer, which is the one with themodem (usually broadband), must always be turned on in order for the other PCs to share the Internet.However, some vendors have recently started to offer gateways to resolve this problem. A gateway is atype of network hub, to which the PhoneLine adapters can be connected, along with the broadband ordial-up modem— this alleviates the need to have one computer turned on at all times. Gateways alsooffer firewall software for improved security.

Another key component of the software typically included with PhoneLine networks is how the softwarehandles connecting to a corporate network. Remote employees, regardless of whether they are full-timetelecommuters or occasionally bring their laptops home from the office, normally require a VPN to gainaccess to their corporate mail or intranet. Some PhoneLine vendors use software that allows users to setup profiles, and then switch between the normal PhoneLine network and the corporate networkautomatically, but a user cannot be in the VPN-accessed network and the PhoneLine network at the sametime. Other vendors allow use of a VPN for corporate access without the need to exit the PhoneLinenetwork. Users who regularly require corporate access should question the PhoneLine vendor about thisfeature.

There will also be sharing and mapping software to set up access to drives, files, and peripherals on thePhoneLine network, and installation software. Some PhoneLine vendors have software that installsautomatically; others require manual installation and setup. Automatic installation is definitely a plus;however, users should inquire as to whether the network setups and profiles are installed separately from



the Internet-sharing software. Since PhoneLine technology is standards based, users can mix and matchdifferent HomePNA products from different vendors on the same network; however, there are oftenproblems when trying to install conflicting Internet sharing software from different vendors. If there isalready Internet-sharing software installed, it is not necessary to add another vendor’s version of thissoftware to the mix, only the software drivers for the adapters.

Pricing

The average cost of connecting each HomePNA-enabled device is less than US$100 per node. A typicaltwo-node network kit retails under US$200. Additional NICs and adapters can be purchased for underUS$100.

Technology Analysis

Business Use

Current Uses

• Internet Sharing

• Peripheral Sharing

• File and Application Sharing

Next Stage Developement

• Environmental control and security systems

• Voice and Video over IP

Benefits and Risks

Benefits

SOHO and Home Networking

• Simultaneous Internet sharing on LAN, using a single ISP account

• Shares resources (peripherals, files, applications, drives)

• Inexpensive

• Simple to install

Enterprise

• Offers an economical alternative to expensive, Ethernet LANs for enterprises that require LANs inareas where standard, structured data wiring does not already exist

• Economical alternative for enterprises that need to provide network services for remote workers

Risks

• HPNA devices cannot be controlled by physical monitoring; this could be problematical for enterpriseuse, or for SOHOs with shared wiring, such as an apartment complex or office suite.

• Although the HomePNA technology allows for wireless products to interoperate on the same networkwith PhoneLine, none of the PhoneLine products currently on the market allow this. Upcoming"gateway" products will be required to alleviate this problem.



• As the speed of the connection increases, the link can become more susceptible to radiotransmissions, especially from amateur and police radios.

Standards

Home Phoneline Network Alliance

2694 Bishop Drive, Suite 105

San Ramon, CA 94583, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 925 277 8110

Internet: www.homepna.org

HomePNA 2.0

PhoneLine technology is supported by the HomePNA standard, started by the Home PhoneLineNetworking Alliance (HomePNA or HPNA), which was founded in 1998. The HomePNA is anincorporated, nonprofit association of industry leaders who wish to ensure the adoption of a single, unifiedPhoneLine networking industry standard and rapidly bring to market a range of interoperable homenetworking solutions. The HomePNA is not a standards body. It relies on established global standardsorganizations that take input from members in determining formal standards.

The founding members of HomePNA include 3Com, AMD, AT&T Wireless Services, Compaq, Conexant,Broadcom, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Lucent Technologies, and Tut Systems. HomePNA memberscurrently number in excess of 150. HomePNA is an open alliance and it encourages all interestedcompanies to join.

According to the HomePNA, their primary objectives are:

• Ensure mass deployment of consumer-friendly, low-cost, high-speed "no-new-wires" solution for in-home, PhoneLine-based networking.

• Develop certification standards to ensure interoperability among HomePNA member companyproducts from the broadest possible range of technology and equipment vendors.

• Achieve industry standardization both nationally and internationally through deployment andacceptance by appropriate standards bodies such as ITU and IEEE.

Technology Leaders

Intel AnyPoint Home Network

Intel offers both USB and PCI card options for 10 Mbps networking (PhonePNA 2.0), plus a parallel portoption for legacy computers, backed by the older PhonePNA 1.0 standard. Access to corporate networksvia a VPN is accomplished by using Intel's included "Network Switching Software": users set up a profile,and then can switch back and forth between the AnyPoint network and the corporate network. Intelincludes its own software for Internet sharing, called "Internet Sharing Software." In addition to automaticinstallation from the included CD, AnyPoint products also include a manual and quick-start setup chart.

3Com Home Connect

3Com offers a 10 Mbps PCI solution, the 3Com HomeConnect Home Network Phoneline Kit, but it doesnot offer a USB option. 3Com has recently announced a Home Network Gateway, which will allow thePhoneLine network to be an "always-on" network, without tying up one of the computers for the purpose



of Internet sharing. 3Com uses HomeClick software from Microsoft to enable users to set up profiles, sothat users can switch between their corporate network (using a VPN) and the 3Com HomeConnectNetwork automatically. A hard-copy manual is included.

Diamond Multimedia (S3) HomeFree Phoneline 10 Mbps

Diamond Multimedia offers USB and PCI 10 Mbps PhoneLine products. The CD that ships with S3’sproducts has an application called AlterNet. This application allows the user to boot into different networkconfigurations. Once it’s configured, the computer will ask the users which network profile they want touse; i.e., "Home" or "Office." This allows users to take the computer back and forth between home andoffice without having to constantly make manual changes to their network settings. Diamond also offersthe HomeFree Residential Gateway, which acts as a bridge between Ethernet and HomePNA products.

Farallon HomeLINE (Proxim)

Unlike its competitors, Farallon’s PhoneLine products are based on the older HomePNA 1.0 standard,which operates at 1 Mbps, as opposed to the current HomePNA rated speed of 10 Mbps. However, theyare currently the vendor offering PhoneLine products that interoperate with both Windows and Mac.Farallon, recently acquired by Proxim, offers both USB and PCI card PhoneLine configurations, and anEthernet-to-Phoneline adapter. Customers that use a VPN to connect to their corporate network do notneed to switch back and forth between the Farallon HomeLINE Network and the corporate network.Corporate users can access their company e-mail using a VPN without leaving or switching out of thePhoneLine network— currently, this is the only PhoneLine product with this software ability. Farallon willalso be offering the NetLine Broadband Gateway, an Ethernet-to-HomePNA bridge, by Fall 2000.

NetGear Phoneline 10X

NetGear offers both USB and PCI card options. NetGear's software does not currently have the ability toautomatically switch the Windows settings from the corporate network (i.e., using a VPN) to the homenetwork. According to a company spokesperson, this ability will be available in the near future. AnEthernet-to-PhoneLine Bridge will be available in October which will support a 10 Mbps HomePNA 2.0port with a built-in splitter and a 10/100 auto-negotiating Ethernet port. NetGear also offers a BroadbandGateway, which, when combined with the NetGear Phoneline 10X, allows customers to share their high-speed DSL or cable modem connection.

D-Link 10 Mbps Home PhoneLine Adapter/Network in a Box

D-Link offers both USB and PCI card options, either as single add-on adapters or as complete kits.Currently, it also offers a Residential Gateway that can be configured for use with a HomePNA network,but only if the computers with the HomePNA PCI cards also have a separate Ethernet NIC installed.


Home Networking Technologies

PhoneLine technology is geared toward the Home Networking market, and supports the HomePNAindustry standard. Home Networking technologies, including HomePNA PhoneLine, HomeRF SWAP(wireless), and HomePLUG (PowerLine) are geared specifically for SOHO (Small Office/Home Office)networking and home networking.

There are four technologies that compete for the Home Networking space: conventional Ethernet,wireless, PhoneLine, and PowerLine. Of these, only Ethernet requires new wiring. PhoneLine usesexisting telephone wiring and jacks, and PowerLine uses the existing AC power lines— Wireless does notrequire any wiring at all.



Wireless Alternatives

Currently, wireless technologies are either inexpensive but much slower than HomePNA 2.0 kits (i.e.,HomeRF), or about the same speed but significantly more expensive— typically $200 to $300 per PC(i.e., 802.11b).

Home RF SWAP

Wireless products, based upon the HomeRF SWAP (Shared Wireless Access Protocol) wireless industrystandard operates in the 2.4GHz Radio Frequency band, can currently support 10Mbps transmission(voice and data), and a range of 10 meters (33 feet). HomeRF was designed specifically for the SOHOHome Networking market; it is intended for long-range links, and is geared towards a home-LANapproach, linking PCs, DSL routers, printers, refrigerators, TVs, and other "smart" appliances to PCs.

Currently, wireless products that are based on the HomeRF standard can only offer a maximum speed of1.6 Mbps, even though the HomeRF technology allows for up to 10 Mbps. The HomeRF Working Grouphas applied to the FCC for permission to deploy the maximum speed of 10 Mbps in products that supportthe HomeRF standard.

HomeRF is not an "end-of-the-line" technology— in other words, it is still evolving. For instance, theHomeRF Working Group has petitioned the FCC for rules modifications that will permit the use of 5MHzchannels, instead of the current 2.4GHz radio frequency band. This is important, since there arecompeting technologies (802.11b, Bluetooth) which use the same 2.4GHz band, thereby possibly causinginterference. It is also entirely possible that future products utilizing the HomeRF technology will be able toemploy even higher transmission speeds than the pending 10 Mbps— speeds as fast as 50 Mbps orfaster may be available by 2001. As the Home Network market expands to include streaming video, PCtelephony, entertainment networks, and Internet appliances, these higher speeds will become necessary.

IEEE 802.11b

This "wireless Ethernet" specification was originally geared towards corporate use, and could becomeHomePNA and HomeRF's stiffest technology competitor for the emerging Home Networking market.Wireless products based on 802.11b share the same 2.4GHz spectrum as HomeRF, but supports thefaster transmission speeds of 11 Mbps at distances from 50 to several hundred feet, and is already inplace within many corporations.

Supporters of this specification claim that employees who work at companies already employing IEEE802.11b will want to use these products in their home offices when they bring their laptops home; theyalso claim there is only room for one wireless standard for both the enterprise and home networkingwireless space. HomeRF supporters claim that although 802.11b works well for sharing peripherals, files,and Internet access, HomeRF will provide the better fit for future Home Networking requirements:telephony (802.11b is data only), entertainment systems, universal remote controls, and other consumer-oriented devices. HomePNA was also designed from the ground up as a Home Networking standard, andsupports both voice and data.

Unlike HomeRF, IEEE 802.11b may require access points, and the radio design itself is more expensivethan HomeRF designs. HomeRF is also less complicated to use, and supports both voice and data;802.11b supports data only. HomeRF systems are also more immune to interference from other devicesoperating in the 2.4GHz band, and have the potential of consuming less power compared to competing802.11b systems. Future products utilizing the HomeRF technology may be able to employ even highertransmission speeds than the pending 10 Mbps— speeds as fast as 50 Mbps or higher.



HomeRF-based systems are considered to be more secure than 802.11b; this is because HomeRF usesa frequency-hopping modulation spread spectrum, as opposed to the direct-sequence spread spectrumthat 802.11b uses. The frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) technology is considered to be moresecure than direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS).

HomeCast Open Protocol (HOP)

HOP is the only wireless industry standard, besides HomeRF, which was developed specifically for theSOHO/Home Networking market, and has a 1 Mbps transmission rate. HOP was created by AlationSystems, and is a semiproprietary standard— it does not have the wide industry support that HomeRFhas.

Alation was recently acquired by Cypress Semiconductor Corp. According to a Cypress spokesperson,Cypress acquired Alation to be combined with Radiocom into a Bluetooth-focused business unit within theCypress Interface products Division.

Going forward, Cypress will not be creating any new products using HOP, but will use the expertise andknowledge of the team gained from working on HOP to create Bluetooth solutions. The HOP technologyis currently implemented by the Diamond Multimedia (S3) HomeFree Wireless product line.

OpenAIR

OpenAir is a proprietary wireless standard developed by Proxim for use in both the corporate and SOHOenvironments, with capabilities that are similar to HomeRF. OpenAir supports data only; HomeRFsupports voice and data. Being able to use one technology to support both voice and data will becomeextremely important as more products are developed for the Home Networking market. Proxim's WirelessSOHO product line, Symphony Cordless, supports the OpenAir standard. Proxim's next-generationwireless SOHO product line, Symphony HRF, will support HomeRF.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a relatively new wireless technology— the original Bluetooth 1.0 specification was announcedin July 1999. The specification consists of a common set of specifications for wireless voice and datatransmission, the hardware and software for connecting computers, peripherals, cellular phones, andPDAs at short range (10 meters or 33 feet). The Bluetooth 2.0 specification is currently expected to bereleased by the end of this year, but its rate is still under intense debate.

Bluetooth was originally conceived as a way to connect devices, such as laptops, PDAs, and cell phones,without requiring cables. Vendors are now trying to extend the Bluetooth technology into the HomeNetworking space; however, as of the date of this report, there are still no Bluetooth-enabled end productsthat have been shipped. Also, the initial Bluetooth-enabled products to reach the market will be itemssuch as wireless headsets for cell phones, and various Bluetooth-enabled automobile kits.

PowerLine

PowerLine technology uses existing AC power lines, and was developed specifically for the SOHOmarket. PowerLine products with speeds as high as 10-14 Mbps are in development; however, productscurrently shipping are only capable of speeds of 350 Kbps. PowerLine technologies, such as Intelogis'PassPort, connect directly to AC outlets and use a home's wiring system to transfer data between PCs.However, these products are currently subject to higher rates of transmission interference than HomePNAproducts. Although PowerLine-based products cost slightly less per PC than HomePNA 2.0 solutions anddon't require direct cabling between computers, the current low data rate will limit its deployment until thehigher speed products in development are available.



Conventional Ethernet

Developed for enterprise use, conventional 802.3 Ethernet kits have been available for the SOHO andHome Networking market for several years. The kits are inexpensive; however, they can be difficult toimplement, and require installing cables within walls.

The "Home Networking Technologies" table includes the industry standards and features for the fourcompeting SOHO technologies: conventional Ethernet, PhoneLine, PowerLine, and wireless.


Industry Standard Features

Conventional Ethernet IEEE 802.3 and IEEE

802.3u

• Originally developed for

Enterprise

• Inexpensive kits available

for SOHO market (10

Mbps)

IEEE 802.3: 10 Mbps

IEEE 802.3u: 100 Mbps

• Requires installing

Category 5 wire in walls,

ceilings, floors

• Requires opening PCs

• Requires hub, router,

server

Wireless HomeRF SWAP 1.2

• SWAP was developed

specifically for the SOHO

Networking market

• Designed for both voice

and data

• Interoperates with

HomePNA and

HomePLUG

• 1.6 Mbps Data

• 2.4GHz

• 10 meters

• Non line-of-sight

• FHSS (Frequency

Hopping Spread Spectrum)

HomeRF SWAP 2.0

(proposed)

• SWAP was developed


Networking market


and data


HomePNA and

HomePLUG

• 10 Mbps Voice/Data

• 2.4GHz (has petitioned

FCC for rules modifications

that will permit the use of

5MHz channels)

• 10 meters

• Omnidirectional

• FHSS (Frequency


WLI OpenAir

• Proprietary specification

developed by Proxim, for

use within both the SOHO

and Enterprise networking

industry

• 1.6 Mbps Data

• 2.4GHz

• 10 meters

• Omnidirectional

HomeCast Open Protocol

(HOP)

• Created by Alation

Systems for SOHO market

• Currently implemented by

• 1 Mbps Data only

• 2.4GHz

• 50 to 100 meters

Note: Alation systems




Diamond HomeFree

Wireless Home Network

bought by Cypress

Semiconducter; HOP

specification will no longer

be developed by Cypress

IEEE 802.11

• This specification was

originally developed for

commercial, medical,

academic use.

• Vendors are trying to

extend its reach into the

SOHO market.


• 2.4GHz

• 100 meters

• Omnidirectional

• DSSS/FHSS

IEEE 802.11b (hi-rate

802.11)

• This specification was


commercial, medical, and

academic use.



SOHO market.


• 2.4GHz

• 100 meters

• Omnidirectional

• DSSS only

• Not compatible with

Bluetooth

IEEE 802.11a

Still in development


(Proposed)

• 5GHz (Proposed)

• 40-bit RC4 Encryption

• Omnidirectional

• Single carrier

HiperLAN2

Still in development;

basically, the European

version of 802.11a, with

minor differences


(Proposed)

• 5GHz (Proposed)

• DES, 3DES Encryption

• Omnidirectional

• Single carrier with

Dynamic Frequency

Selection

Bluetooth

• Originally conceived as

cable replacement, data

and voice access points,

and ad hoc networks

• Vendors are now

extending the Bluetooth

technology into the SOHO

market


• 2.4GHz

• 10 meters

• Omnidirectional

• Point to multipoint


802.11b

IrDA

• Transmits data via

infrared light waves


• 1 meter

• Line-of-sight




• No cables

• Short range; narrow angle

• Point-to-point

PhoneLine HomePNA 2.0

• Ethernet-type technology

• Uses existing phone lines

• Developed specifically for

the SOHO market


• 500 feet

• Connects up to 25 PCs,

up to 500 feet apart, in

homes/offices up to 10,000

sq. feet

PowerLine (Power Line Carrier— PLC) HomePLUG 2.0

• Uses existing AC power

lines


the SOHO market

• Improved resistance to

transmission blocks and

interference

• Higher speeds than

earlier PLC attempts

• Today: 350 Kbps Data

only

• In development: speeds

as high as 10 to 14 Mbps

• In development: enabling

high-frequency PLC data

networks and low-

frequency home

automation apps to coexist

on the same in-house

electrical infrastructures

Insight

PhoneLine networking offers the ability to employ Ethernet technology using standard, residentialtelephone wire to network computers in SOHO or Home Network environments. This "no new wires"technology offers the advantages of Ethernet, but without the inconvenience of requiring new wiring orcables. In the Enterprise space, HomePNA-based products offer an alternative to Ethernet LANs in areaswhere standard, structured data wiring does not already exist, or where network services for remoteworkers are required. In existing homes with adequate telephone wiring and jack distribution, HomePNA2.0-based PhoneLine networking is currently the more appropriate choice.



Product Report21 March 2001

Proxim Harmony Wireless LAN Product Line

Summary

Supporting multiple technologies and standards, the Proxim Harmony Wireless LAN includes wirelessLAN (WLAN) cards and access points (APs) based on the IEEE 802.11b standard or Proxim’s proprietaryOpenAir standard. The Proxim Harmony WLAN is unique in its use of an AP controller; the controller isradio-independent and can simultaneously manage access points and WLAN cards based on IEEE802.11b, OpenAir, upcoming 10 Mbps frequency hopping, and future 5GHz technologies. ProximHarmony is geared towards the enterprise and university sectors for customers who require either indooror campus-style wireless mobile computing; however, because of its flexibility, it can also be used bysmall business users.

Table of Contents

Overview

Analysis

Pricing

Competitors

Strengths

Limitations

Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: Harmony Product Line Overview: 802.11b APs and WLAN Cards

Table 2: Harmony Product Line Overview: OpenAir APs and WLAN Cards

Table 3: Harmony Product Line Overview: AP Controller

Table 4: Harmony Product Line Overview: Harmony Power System

Table 5: Price List: Proxim Harmony Wireless LAN Product Line

List Of Figures

Figure 1: Proxim Harmony WLAN Architecture

Figure 2: Proxim Harmony WLAN




Proxim, Inc.

510 DeGuigne Drive

Sunnyvale, CA 94085, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 800-229-1630

Tel: +1 408-731-2700

Internet: www.proxim.com

Overview


Vendor Proxim, Inc. Proxim, Inc. Proxim, Inc.

Product Harmony

8550/8551

802.11b

Access Point

Harmony 8432 802.11b PC Card Harmony 8110 802.11b PCI Card

Frequency 2.4GHz 2.4GHz 2.4GHz

Modulation DSSS DSSS DSSS

Standards

Compliance

IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11b, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b

Semiconductor

Type

Intersil Intersil Intersil

Data Rates

(Throughput)

1, 2, 5.5, and

11 Mbps

1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps 1, 2, 5.5, and 11 Mbps

Antennas

Supported

8550:

Integrated

diversity

antenna

8551: Dual

RTNC

connectors

support a

variety of high-

gain antenna

options

Integrated antenna Patch antenna with 6’ cord for

best placement

Number of

Client Users

Supported

With AP

Controller:

10,000

In stand-alone

mode: 512

Does not apply Does not apply

Typical Range

at 1 Mbps

(indoors)

1,300 ft.

(400 m.)

1,300 ft.

(400 m.)

1,300 ft.

(400 m.)




Typical Range

at 2 Mbps

(indoors)

890 ft.

(270 m.)

890 ft.

(270 m.)

890 ft.

(270 m.)

Typical Range

at 5.5 Mbps

(indoors)

660 ft.

(200 m.)

660 ft.

(200 m.)

660 ft.

(200 m.)

Typical Range

at 11 Mbps

(indoors)

500 ft.

(140 m.)

500 ft.

(140 m.)

500 ft.

(140 m.)

Wired LAN

Interfaces

10BaseT,

100BaseT

when used in

conjunction

with the

Harmony AP

Controller


Security 40- or 128-bit

Wired

Equivalent

Privacy (WEP)

Network ID;

Enterprise

class 10,000

node MAC

address

authorization

table via AP

Controller

40- or 128-bit WEP 40- or 128-bit WEP

Power Over

Ethernet

Capability

Yes Not Applicable Not Applicable

Roaming

Across

Subnets

APs can be

placed on any

subnet

Yes Yes

Diagnostic

Support

Ethernet, radio

and link

statistics via

AP Controller

Radio and link statistics via site

survey tool


survey tool

Remote

Configuration

Automatic IP

address

assignment via

DHCP. All

other

parameters via

Web-browser.





Auto

Configuration

Yes, via AP

Controller

using

SmartAttach

All other parameters via included

configuration utility

All other parameters via included


Operating

Systems

Supported

Does not apply Windows 95/98/2000/ME/CE/NT

Mac OS

Windows 95/98/2000/ME/NT

Additional

Software

Ships with

graphical site

survey tool

Ships with graphical site survey

tool


tool

Management

Access

Via HTTP and

SNMP

Client statistics available via AP

Controller


Controller

Warranty 1 year parts

and labor

1 year parts and labor 1 year parts and labor


Vendor Proxim, Inc. Proxim, Inc. Proxim, Inc.

Product Harmony 7550

OpenAir

Access Point

Harmony 7431/32 OpenAir PC

Card

Harmony 7630 OpenAir

CompactFlash Card

Frequency 2.4GHz 2.4GHz 2.4GHz

Modulation FHSS FHSS FHSS

Standards

Compliance

OpenAir OpenAir & HomeRF OpenAir & HomeRF

Semiconductor

Type

Proxim Proxim Proxim

Data Rates

(Throughput)

800 Kbps, 1.6

Mbps

800 Kbps, 1.6 Mbps 800 Kbps, 1.6 Mbps

Antennas

Supported

Ships with 1

dBi dipole

antenna.

RTNC

connector

supports a

variety of high-

gain antenna

options.

7431: Dipole antenna

7432: Snap-on antenna

Snap-on antenna

Number of

Client Users

Supported

10,000 via AP

Controller


Typical Range

Outdoors

1,000 ft.

(305 m.)

1,000 ft.

(305 m.)

1,000 ft.

(305 m.)

Typical Range

Indoors

500 ft.

(150 m.)

500 ft.

(150 m.)

500 ft.

(150 m.)




Wired LAN

Interfaces

10BaseT,

100BaseT

when used in

conjunction

with the

Harmony AP

Controller


Security Scrambled

security ID;

Enterprise

class 10,000

node MAC

address

authorization

table via AP

Controller

Scrambled security ID Scrambled security ID

Power Over

Ethernet

Capability

Yes Does not apply Does not apply

Roaming

Across

Subnets

APs can be

placed on any

subnet

Yes Yes

Diagnostic

Support

Ethernet, radio

and link

statistics via

AP Controller


survey tool


survey tool

Remote

Configuration

Automatic IP

address

assignment via

DHCP. All

other

parameters via

Web-browser.

Automatic IP address assignment

via DHCP for Win 98 and 2000

Automatic IP address assignment

via DHCP for Win 98 and 2000

Auto

Configuration

Yes, via AP

Controller

using

SmartAttach

All parameters via included


All parameters via included


Operating

Systems

Supported

Does not apply Windows 95/98/2000/ME/CE/NT Pocket PC (Windows CE 3.0)

Additional

Software

Does not apply Ships with graphical site survey

tool


tool

Management

Access

Via HTTP and

SNMP


Controller


Controller

Warranty 1 year parts

and labor

1 year parts and labor 1 year parts and labor



Table 3: Harmony Product Line Overview: AP Controller

Vendor Proxim

Product Harmony 7550 AP Controller

Wired LAN

Interfaces

10/100BaseT

Radio Independence • Supports Harmony IEEE 802.11b and Harmony OpenAir Access Points

• Supports any radio standard

• Supports multiple Access Point types simultaneously

APs per AP

Controller

• Up to 10 Harmony 802.11b Access Points

• Dependent upon traffic utilization

Auto AP

Configuration

Yes

Security Password protected Web-interface. Enterprise class 10,000 node MAC address-

based access control list (Harmony Acess Points and PC/PCI cards support WEP).

Automatic Network

Map Generation

Yes

IP Address

Assignment

DHCP

Management Access HTTP, SNMP

Firmware Upgrade Via HTTP or serial connection. One click updates all APs and AP Controllers in the

system.

Warranty 1 year parts and labor

Table 4: Harmony Product Line Overview: Harmony Power System

Vendor Proxim, Inc.

Product Harmony 7562 Power System

Number of Access

Points

Simultaneously

Powered

6

Compatibility Powers both Harmony 802.11b Access Points and OpenAir Access Points

Port Type 10/100BaseT

Input Power Universal 100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz

AP Distance from

Power System

Up to maximum Ethernet cabling length, 100 m.

Auto-Sensing Yes, senses whether device supports power over Ethernet

Auto-Shutoff Yes, will automatically turn off power over Ethernet to non-supported devices

Warranty 1 year parts and labor

Analysis

The Proxim Harmony Wireless LAN was announced in June 2000, and shipping began in October 2000.The complete Proxim Harmony WLAN product line consists of the Harmony Access Point "Controller,"IEEE 802.11b-based Access Points, PC and PCI cards; an OpenAir-based Access Point and PC card;and the optional Harmony Power System. The Harmony Access Point controller is the strong point of thisWLAN product line.

Proxim Harmony AP Controller



Proxim engineers approach the typical WLAN topology differently than its competitors. In addition to theusual mix of WLAN access points and PC cards, Proxim Harmony includes a WLAN access point"controller." The Harmony Access Point Controller is radio-independent and can simultaneously manageAPs and WLAN cards based on IEEE 802.11b, OpenAir, upcoming 10 Mbps frequency hopping, andfuture 5GHz technologies.

Wireless access points (APs) typically contain two components, a network management component and aradio. When users need to switch to WLAN products that use different standards (i.e., from OpenAir toIEEE 802.11b, or from IEEE 802.11b to the upcoming IEEE 802.11a), they must either remove the old PCcard and replace it with the new card or, if the AP has two slots, add a second PC Card. This method canbe problematical; the various radio technologies do not have the same coverage patterns, and userswould eventually need to reconfigure their access point placement. Proxim has devised a unique way ofsolving this problem with its AP Controller.

Proxim Harmony separates the network management and radio components that are typically containedwithin APs. The Harmony AP Controller deploys the network management functions, and the HarmonyAPs handle the radio functions. The radio-independent AP controller can manage up to 10 access pointsusing any type of radio on the same network.

Figure 1: Proxim Harmony WLAN Architecture

Source: Proxim, Inc.

Proxim Harmony Access Points

Harmony access points may be placed anywhere within the network. Since all configuration andmanagement is deployed through the controller, the Harmony AP architecture is simplified, which allowsthe APs to be less expensive and easier to manage than traditional APs which require individualadministration. Smaller networks can be used without the AP controller, which can be added at a latertime when the user wishes to upgrade system capabilities.

Proxim Harmony IEEE 802.11b and Harmony OpenAir PC Cards



Proxim Harmony offers a choice of PC and PCI cards based on either the IEEE 802.11b standard orProxim’s proprietary OpenAir standard. The IEEE 802.11b cards can offer speeds up to 11 Mbps andsupports the WEP security standard; the OpenAir PC card offers throughput up to 1.6 Mbps, and 20-character alphanumeric encrypted security ID.

In spite of the higher throughput offered by IEEE 802.11b-enabled WLANs, there are very specificscenarios where the OpenAir PC card might be preferred. The OpenAir technology offers the longestbattery life amongst the current radio designs; this could be particularly important for individuals that needto transmit data for extensive periods of time. Also, because OpenAir uses frequency-hopping technology,instead of the direct sequence technology employed by IEEE 803.11b, it works particularly well in "dense"wireless network environments.

Emergency rooms in hospitals, stock exchanges and classroom auditoriums are examples of the type ofenvironments where OpenAir is more successful due to its capability to handle large numbers of clientswithin small physical spaces. Additionally, the OpenAir standard supports the Digital Enhanced CordlessTelecommunications protocol (DECT) for voice; upcoming mobile telephone handsets based on theDECT standard interoperate with OpenAir based Radios and can be deployed by doctors and radiologypersonnel.

Proxim Harmony Power System

The optional Proxim Harmony Power System distributes power to up to six access points over Ethernet atdistances of up to 300 feet. This eliminates the need for electrician services where power cabling for theaccess point does not exist.

Figure 2: Proxim Harmony WLAN

Deploying Proxim Harmony with multiple radio types.

Source: Proxim, Inc.

Installation



Proxim Harmony supports the automatic installation and configuration of APs and automatic network mapgeneration through their "SmartAttach" software; automatic IP address assignment of all components ofthe wireless solution is also supported. DHCP is built-in; the Harmony AP controller, APs, and PC Cardssupport IP address assignment from a DHCP server. IT managers can also assign a static address if theywould like to, or the AP Controller can function as the DHCP server for the APs. New access points areautomatically found and configured; also, the 10/100 Ethernet autosensing interface allows for simplifiedintegration into standard wired-networking infrastructures.

Proxim Harmony also supports power over Ethernet. The optional Harmony Power System eliminates therequirement for separate AC wiring for access points; it can also be used as a redundant power source incombination with an AC/DC adapter for access points.

Management and Security

The Proxim Harmony AP controller supports standard enterprise SNMP management packages;additionally, Harmony’s "SmartArchitecture" management system provides all the necessary filtering,management, and security functions for the various radios on the WLAN:

• Software upgrades for the APs and AP Controller are obtained by deploying a one-click methodthrough any Web browser. Firmware upgrades are automatically distributed to all or any set of APsand AP Controllers in the system.

• Harmony supports any type of traffic over Ethernet, including PPPoE, Ipsec and PPPtP.

• Harmony supports WEP encryption, client authentication and authorization. Automatic system-widesecurity updates are available in the event of a lost or stolen PC card.

• Proxim Harmony supports IEEE 802.11b, OpenAir, 10 Mbps frequency hopping and emerging 5-GHzstandards; all of these radio types can be managed simultaneously, enabling migration to newtechnologies using the same management interface, without disturbing an existing installation.

The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance and Wi-Fi Certification

Proxim has recently joined the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA); this means Proxim cannow request Wi-Fi certification for their 802.11b products. Currently, the Harmony Access Point is Wi-Ficertified; certification for the Harmony PC and PCI cards is still pending. This certification is important, asit guarantees that Proxim's Harmony IEEE 802.11b-based products can interoperate with IEEE 802.11bproducts from different vendors. Proxim is the largest vendor of frequency-hopping products and was thelast of the major wireless LAN vendors to support IEEE 802.11b.

Pricing

Table 5: Price List: Proxim Harmony Wireless LAN Product Line

Product List Price (US$)

Proxim Harmony Access Point Controller 1495

Proxim Harmony Power Server 695

Proxim Harmony IEEE 802.11b Access Point 599

Proxim Harmony IEEE 802.11b PC card 199

Proxim Harmony IEEE 802.11b PCI card 249

Proxim Harmony OpenAir Access Point 499

Proxim Harmony OpenAir PC card 199

GSA Pricing



Yes.

Competitors

Proxim’s Harmony Wireless LAN product line is geared towards the enterprise and university sectors forcustomers who require either indoors or campus-style wireless mobile computing. Within this samesector, Proxim’s competitors are as follows:

• Cisco Aironet

• Lucent ORiNOCO

• Enterasys RoamAbout

• Nortel Networks e-mobility

Strengths

• Protects current and future WLAN investments by supporting all current and forthcoming wirelessLAN standards.

• "SmartArchitecture" system provides simplified, system-wide security updates and remote officeinfrastructure management through a single interface.

• Web-based interface provides customizable network maps and traffic statistics.

• Where power cabling for APs does not exist, the Harmony Power System delivers power for up to sixaccess points over Ethernet at distances of up to 300 feet.

• Proxim recently joined the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA); this means Proxim's802.11b products can now be Wi-Fi certified.

Limitations

• No Client support for systems with ISA or USB interfaces.

• Only the Harmony Access Point is Wi-Fi certified; Wi-Fi certification for the Harmony PC and PCIcards is still pending.

Insight

The Proxim Harmony WLAN product line's approach to the WLAN topology allows enterprises tosomewhat "future-proof" their WLANs. Instead of throwing away equipment when standards change orspeed requirements increase, users can simply add new PC cards and access points. Enterprises thatneed to deploy WLANs within a variety of different environments where using different radios may berequired or who want to be able to upgrade to future 5-GHz technologies, will want to evaluate the ProximHarmony Wireless LAN.



Technology Overview5 January 2001

SOHO/Home Networking Technologies: An Introduction

Summary

The growth of multiple PC penetration, at the same time that broadband access is starting to becomewidely available, has created the ideal scenario for the much-hyped and long-awaited "Home Networking"technology explosion. There are four technologies that compete for the nascent Home Networking space:PhoneLine, wireless, Powerline, and conventional Ethernet. Of these, only Ethernet requires new wiring;PhoneLine uses existing telephone wiring and jacks; Powerline uses the existing AC power lines; andwireless does not require any wiring at all. Additionally, broadband access devices are beginning tointegrate these technologies directly into their products. Gartner focuses on the role of the newer "no newwires" technologies: HomePNA-based PhoneLine, HomeRF and Bluetooth-based wireless, andPowerline.

Table of Contents

Technology Basics

Technology Analysis

Business Use

Standards

Technology Leaders

Insight

List Of Tables


Table 2: Company



Technology Basics

The new SOHO/Home Networking "no new wires" technologies offer mobility, ease of deployment, andaffordability. These technologies include:

• PhoneLine (HomePNA)

• HomeRF

• IEEE 802.11a

• IEEE 802.11b

• Bluetooth

• Powerline

• Conventional Ethernet

PhoneLine (HomePNA)

PhoneLine technology is essentially Ethernet technology modified for Home Networking use, replacingconventional Ethernet cables with existing telephone wiring and using standard telephone wiring to passdata between PCs in a home, small office, or Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU). It is inexpensive (less thanUS$100 per node) and simple to install— it does not require cables to be strung within walls and floors.Users can share one broadband modem for access to the Internet using a single ISP account. Using onlyone telephone line, up to 25 computers can share peripherals, files, and drives at the rated speed of 10Mbps. In addition to these features, PhoneLine technology satisfies the "no new wires" requirement forthe successful growth of the nascent Home Networking industry.

PhoneLine technology is supported by the HomePNA standard, started by the Home PhoneLineNetworking Alliance (HomePNA or HPNA). The HomePNA is an incorporated, nonprofit association ofindustry leaders who wish to ensure the adoption of a single, unified PhoneLine networking industrystandard and rapidly bring to market a range of interoperable home networking solutions. HPNA-basedPhoneLine technology supports distances up to 500 feet between adapters and up to 10,000 square feetfor housing structures; installation is "plug-and-play." Up to 25 PCs can be connected to a HPNA network.

The Epigram Division of Broadcom developed the second-generation HomePNA standard, HomePNA2.0. Currently, HomePNA PhoneLine technology operates at 10 Mbps; within a year, PhoneLine silicon isexpected to be developed to the limits of the HPNA 2.0 specification, 32 Mbps. Additionally, a futureversion of the HPNA technology will be capable of ramping up to speeds as high as 100 Mbps.

PhoneLine technology uses Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) to simultaneously operate multipleservices over a single pair of wires. Consumers can simultaneously use the phone or send a fax, andaccess the Internet via an "always-on" broadband connection, such as xDSL or cable. Using the samephone line, users can talk on the phone and share peripherals; they can also share one Internetconnection simultaneously. The only exception is if a dial-up modem is used instead of DSL or cablemodems; in that case, users can still share peripherals, files, and applications, but would not be able totalk on the phone at the same time the dial-up modem is in use.

The average cost of connecting each HomePNA-enabled device is less than US$100 per node. A typicaltwo-node network kit retails under US$200. Additional NICs and adapters can be purchased for underUS$100.



Wireless Networking with HomeRF SWAP

HomeRF Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP)is an industry standard designed specifically forwireless products aimed at the nascent SOHO and Home Networking market. It is intended for long-rangelinks and is geared towards a wireless home-LAN approach, linking PCs, DSL routers, and printers.Eventually, it will also be used to wirelessly network refrigerators, TVs, and other "smart" appliances toPCs.

The HomeRF SWAP standard operates in the 2.4GHz Radio Frequency band, supports an aggregatethroughput of 10-Mbps transmission for voice and data, and has a range of 150 feet at the maximumtransmission speed. It combines elements of the existing Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications(DECT) and the IEEE 802.11 standards. The protocol architecture closely resembles the IEEE 802.11wireless LAN standards in the physical layer and extends the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer withthe addition of a subset of the DECT standard to provide both data-oriented services, such as TCP/IP,and the DECT/GAP protocols for voice. HomeRF uses FHSS transmission. A single connection point cansupport both voice services via Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and data services via CSMA/CA.Quality of Service has been built into the HomeRF standard. Approval for the QOS extension is expectedby year-end 2001.

Wireless products based on the HomeRF standard that are currently shipping only offer a maximumspeed of 1.6 Mbps; however, faster products are on the way. The HomeRF Working Group petitioned theFCC for permission to deploy the maximum speed of 10 Mbps in products that support the HomeRFstandard; this request was approved on 31 August 2000. New HomeRF wireless products that reflect thefaster 10-Mbps speed are expected to be available by the first half of 2001. The new products will bebackward-compatible; however, the older products will still operate at the original 1.6-Mbps speed.

IEEE 802.11b

This "wireless Ethernet" specification was originally geared towards corporate use, and is HomeRF’sstrongest wireless competitor for the nascent Home Networking market. Wireless products based on802.11b share the same 2.4GHz spectrum as HomeRF, but support the faster transmission speeds of 11-Mbps at distances from 50 to several hundred feet. 802.11b uses Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum(DSSS) and works by spreading the signal over a wide range of the 900MHz or 2.4GHz frequency band.802.11b is already in place within many corporations.

Supporters of this specification claim that employees who work at companies already employing IEEE802.11b will want to use these products in their home offices when they bring their laptops home; theyalso claim there is only room for one wireless standard for both the enterprise and home networkingwireless space. HomeRF supporters claim that although 802.11b works well for sharing peripherals, files,and Internet access, products based upon HomeRF will provide the better fit for future wireless HomeNetworking requirements such as telephony, entertainment systems, universal remote controls, and otherconsumer-oriented devices.

IEEE 802.11a

Higher performance integration with personal-area networks (PANs) and wide-area networks (WANs),along with both data and inherent voice capability, are the key drivers for 802.11a and its Europeancousin, HiperLAN2. These wireless standards both operate at the 5GHz channel, as opposed to 2.4GHzfor HomeRF and 802.11b, with data rates ranging from 6 Mbps to 54 Mbps. However, products basedupon the 802.11a standard are not expected to reach the United States Home Networking market before2002.

Bluetooth



Bluetooth is a wireless, low-cost radio solution that enables small devices such as PDAs, cell phones, andpalm tops to communicate with each other and the Internet. The original idea behind the technology wasthe concept to eliminate the need for proprietary cables, which are currently required to enable deviceconnectivity— a typical example would be using a Bluetooth enabled laptop, PDA, or Palm device toconnect to a Bluetooth-enabled printer without cables. Expanding that idea to include all handheld mobileelectronic devices is what Bluetooth is all about. The concept has been termed Personal-Area Network(PAN). Bluetooth operates in the 2.4GHz Radio Frequency band, offers 712Kb data rates, and has arange of 10 meters (33 feet).

The use of mobile computing gadgets is growing exponentially— according to Gartner's Dataquest, therewill be 900 million mobile phones and handheld computers within five years. However, most users areaggravated by the difficulties they endure when attempting to have their mobile equipment exchangeinformation— schedules, phone numbers, and files— with other people's equipment. Besides resolvingthese issues, Bluetooth-enabled PCs and laptops will be capable of cable-free connectivity to peripherals;another use will be wireless headsets for cell phones.

Bluetooth wireless devices can link to a wired network, such as a corporate Ethernet LAN through an"access point," which includes a Bluetooth transceiver and baseband controller, the circuitry to convertinformation from the Blue Bluetooth format to Ethernet format, and interface circuitry to connect theaccess point to the wired network through a cable. As long as users remain in range of an access device,they can roam about and still use the wired network resources.

Powerline

Powerline technology uses existing AC power lines and was developed specifically for the SOHO market.Powerline products with speeds as high as 10 Mbps to 14 Mbps are in development; however, productscurrently shipping are only capable of speeds of 350 Kbps. Powerline products, such as Intelogis'sPassPort, connect directly to AC outlets and use a home's electrical wiring system to transfer databetween PCs. However, these products are currently subject to higher rates of transmission interferencethan HomePNA products. Although Powerline-based products cost slightly less per PC than HomePNA2.0 solutions and do not require direct cabling between computers, the current low data rate will limit itsdeployment until the higher-speed products in development are available.


Originally developed for enterprise use, conventional 802.3 Ethernet kits (10 Mbps) have been availablefor the SOHO and Home Networking market for several years. Although the kits are inexpensive, they canbe difficult to implement and require installing cables within walls.

Residential Gateways

One drawback to networking using the above technologies is that the "main" or "server" computer, whichis the one with the modem (usually broadband), must always be turned on in order for the other PCs toshare the Internet. However, some vendors have recently started to offer residential gateways to resolvethis problem. A "residential gateway" is a type of network hub to which the wireless, PhoneLine, orPowerline adapters can be connected, along with the broadband or dial-up modem. This alleviates theneed to have one computer turned on at all times. Gateways also offer firewall software for improvedsecurity.






IEEE 802.3 and IEEE 802.3u • Originally developed for

the enterprise

• Inexpensive kits available

for SOHO market (10

Mbps)

IEEE 802.3: 10 Mbps

IEEE 802.3u: 100 Mbps

• Requires installing

Category 5 wire in walls,

ceilings, floors

• Requires opening PCs

• Requires hub, router, and

server

Wireless

HomeRF SWAP 1.2 • SWAP was developed


Networking market


and data


HomePNA and HomePlug

• 1.6-Mbps data

• 2.4GHz

• 10 meters

• Omnidirectional

• Frequency-Hopping

Spread Spectrum (FHSS)

HomeRF SWAP 2.0 • SWAP was developed


Networking market


and data


HomePNA and HomePlug

• First products expected

1H01)

• 10 Mbps voice/data

• 2.4GHz (has petitioned

FCC for rules modifications

that will permit the use of 5

MHz channels)

• 10 meters

• Omnidirectional

• FHSS (Frequency


WLI OpenAir • Proprietary specification

developed by Proxim, for

use within both the SOHO

and enterprise networking

industry

• 1.6-Mbps data

• 2.4GHz

• 10 meters

• Omnidirectional

HomeCast Open Protocol (HOP) • Created by Alation

Systems for SOHO market

• Currently implemented by

Diamond HomeFree

Wireless Home Network

• 1-Mbps data only

• 2.4GHz

• 50-100 meters

NOTE: Alation systems

bought by cypress

semiconductor; hop

specification will no longer

be developed by cypress

IEEE 802.11 • This specification was



academic use


• 2-Mbps data

• 2.4GHz

• 100 meters

• Omnidirectional

• DSSS (earlier






SOHO market

deployments included both

DSSS and FHSS)

IEEE 802.11b (hi-rate 802.11) • This specification was



academic use



SOHO market

• 11-Mbps data

• 2.4GHz

• 100 meters

• Omnidirectional

• DSSS only


Bluetooth (FHSS)

IEEE 802.11a Still in development • 54-Mbps voice/data

(proposed)

• 5GHz (Proposed)

• 40-bit RC4 Encryption

• Omnidirectional

• Single carrier

• Orthogonal frequency-

division multiplexing

(OFDM)

HiperLAN2 Still in development;

basically, the European

version of 802.11a

• 54-Mbps voice/data

• 5GHz

• DES, 3DES Encryption

• Omnidirectional

• Single carrier with

Dynamic Frequency

Selection

• Orthogonal frequency-

division multiplexing

(OFDM)

BLUETOOTH 1.1b (IEEE 802.15) • Originally conceived as

cable replacement, data

and voice access points,

and ad hoc networks

• Vendors are now

extending the Bluetooth

technology into the SOHO

market


• 2.4GHz

• 10 meters

• Omnidirectional

• Point to multipoint


802.11b

IrDA • Transmits data via

infrared light waves

• No cables

• Short range; narrow angle

• 4-Mbps data only

• One meter

• Line-of-sight

• Point-to-point

PhoneLine

HomePNA 2.0 • Ethernet-type technology

• Uses existing phone lines


the SOHO market


• 500 feet

• Connects up to 25 PCs,

up to 500 feet apart, in





homes/offices up to 10,000

sqare feet

Powerline (Power Line Carrier— PLC)

HomePlug 2.0 • Uses existing AC power

lines


the SOHO market

• Improved resistance to

transmission blocks and

interference

• Higher speeds than

earlier PLC attempts

• Today: 350-Kbps data

only

• In development: speeds

as high as 10 Mbps to 14

Mbps

• In development: enabling

high-frequency PLC data

networks and low-

frequency home

automation applications to

coexist on the same in-

house electrical

infrastructures

Technology Analysis

Business Use

• Sharing residential broadband connections

• Using "no new wires" networks to eliminate cable installation

• Using "no new wires" networks to share printers, hard drives, and files

• Mobility

Standards

Home Networking and SOHO standards have been developed from the ground up for products gearedtowards the nascent Home Networking market or the SOHO market. These include HomePNA(PhoneLine), HomeRF/SWAP (wireless), and Bluetooth, also wireless. HomePlug (Powerline) is alsoincluded, although it has yet to be realized as more than a smaller, niche market.

HomePNA 2.0

Home PhoneLine Network Alliance

2694 Bishop Drive, Suite 105

San Ramon, CA 94583, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 925 277 8110

Internet: www.homepna.org

PhoneLine technology is supported by the HomePNA standard, started by the Home PhoneLineNetworking Alliance (HomePNA or HPNA), which was founded in 1998. The HomePNA is anincorporated, nonprofit association of industry leaders who wish to ensure the adoption of a single, unified



PhoneLine networking industry standard and rapidly bring to market a range of interoperable homenetworking solutions. The HomePNA is not a standards body. It relies on established global standardsorganizations that take input from members in determining formal standards.

The founding members of HomePNA include 3Com, AMD, AT&T Wireless Services, Compaq, Conexant,Broadcom, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Lucent Technologies, and Tut Systems. HomePNA memberscurrently number in excess of 150. HomePNA is an open alliance and it encourages all interestedcompanies to join.

Primary Objectives

• Ensure mass deployment of consumer-friendly, low-cost, high-speed "no new wires" solution for in-home, PhoneLine-based networking.

• Develop certification standards to ensure interoperability among HomePNA member companyproducts from the broadest possible range of technology and equipment vendors.

• Achieve industry standardization both nationally and internationally through deployment andacceptance by appropriate standards bodies such as ITU and IEEE.

HomeRF Working Group (HRFWG)

5440 SW Westgate Drive, Suite 217

Portland, OR 97221, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 503 291 2563

Fax: +1 503 297 1090

Internet: www.homerf.org

The HomeRF Working Group (HRFWG) was formed in 1998 to provide the foundation for a broad rangeof interoperable consumer devices by establishing an open industry specification for wireless digitalcommunication between PCs and consumer electronic devices anywhere in and around the home. TheHomeRF specification is called Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP). The purpose of the SWAPspecification is to define a new common interface that supports wireless voice and data networking withinthe home and SOHO space— utilizing products from the HomeRF Working Group member companies—to ensure the final specification is complete and robust, and to see that devices envisioned as part of thehome network are interoperable.

The HRFWG includes leading companies from the personal computer, consumer electronics, peripherals,communications, software, and semiconductor industries. There are approximately 100 members of theHomeRF Working Group.

Bluetooth SIG

Internet: www.bluetooth.com

Promoter companies include 3Com, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and Toshiba.There are currently 1,882 member companies of the Bluetooth SIG.

Bluetooth Spec

• The original Bluetooth 1.0 spec was announced July 1999.



• The spec consists of a common set of specifications for wireless voice and data transmission, andthe hardware and software for connecting computers, peripherals, cellular phones, and PDAs at shortrange (10 meters or 33 feet).

• The focus of the new SIG Spec 2.0 will be Radio2, which will include modifications and additions tothe 1.0 specification. Other areas to be expanded are the Bluetooth Profiles, which are being finalizedby the Working Groups. The Bluetooth 2.0 spec should be released by the first half of 2001, but itsrate is still under intense debate.

HomePlug Powerline Alliance

Internet: www.homeplug.org

The HomePlug Powerline Alliance (HomePlug) is a not-for-profit corporation formed to provide a forum forthe creation of open specifications for high-speed home powerline networking products and services. Italso seeks to accelerate the demand for these products and services through the sponsorship of marketand user education programs.

Technology Leaders

Table 2: Company

Technology

Intel HomeRF- and HomePNA-based products

Proxim HomeRF-based products

Farallon (Proxim) HomePNA-based products

3Com HomePNA-based products

NetGear HomePNA-based products

Cayman HomeRF-based products

Motorola HomeRF-based products

Proxim and Intel are currently the only vendors delivering HomeRF based systems to the market. ProximOEMs the wireless hardware for AnyPoint to Intel; however, the AnyPoint software is developed by Intel.Caymen offers HomeRF-based residential gateway products, and Motorola offers DOCSIS cable modemsthat support HomeRF. Compaq offers Proxim's Symphony HRF products as an option to its Presariodesktop and laptop products. Intel, Farallon (Proxim), 3Com, and NetGear offer HomePNA-basedPhoneLine products.

Insight

The Home Networking market, heavily hyped at the moment, is currently driven by a need forsimultaneous Internet connectivity and computer equipment connectivity. Currently, the two mostsuccessful Home Networking technologies are wireless HomeRF and PhoneLine HomePNA; productsbased upon these two technologies are already in use. Products based upon the wireless 802.11bstandard were initially considered too expensive and difficult for use in the Home Networking or SOHOspace; however, as prices drop and 802.11b becomes more simplified, that is changing, and 802.11bproducts could begin to offer serious competition to HomeRF-based products. Bluetooth-based products,originally expected to have hit the market by now, have not yet been delivered to the Home Networkingmarket, and there continues to be a lack of strong demand for Powerline products, which is not likely tochange until the newer, higher-speed rates are implemented. Currently, Home Networking products aregeared towards linking and sharing PCs, peripherals, and Internet access within SOHO and residential



environments. The next step will be linking computers, Internet appliances, TVs, and other digital devicestogether.



Product Report26 February 2001

WRQ Reflection for the Web, Web-to-Host Software

Summary

WRQ’s Reflection for the Web 4.1 is a Java-based, Web-to-host solution geared toward trusted usersacross intranet or extranet and remote mobile workers. It uses a direct-connect (two-tier) architecture andprovides secure Web-based host access across the enterprise and beyond the firewall. Its securityfeatures are above the industry standard for this class of products and include the emerging TLS standard(Transport Layer Protocol), an optional security proxy, VPN support, and triple DES. Reflection for theWeb is component-based, allowing users to download only the functionality they require.

Note

An incremental update of Reflection for the Web, Version 4.1, was released on 1 November 2000. Thisrelease adds fully localized versions of Reflection for the Web in German, French and Japanese. Inaddition, WRQ added the capability for users to display a customizable toolbar and has redesigned itskeyboard-mapping utility to address user feedback regarding usability.

Table of Contents

Overview

Analysis

WRQ Reflection for the Web Components

Pricing

Competitors

Strengths

Limitations

Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: Features and Functions: WRQ Reflection for the Web 4.0

List Of Figures

Figure 1: WRQ Reflection for the Web


Copyright © 2001 DPRO-9087526 February 2001 2


WRQ, Inc.

1500 Dexter Avenue North

Seattle, WA 98109, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 206 217 7500

Fax: +1 206 217 7509

Internet: www.wrq.com

Overview

Table 1: Features and Functions: WRQ Reflection for the Web 4.0

Company WRQ, Inc.

Product Name WRQ Reflection for the Web 4.1

Applets/Clients Java

Architecture Two-tier

Platform Support Client: Will support any Java-enabled machine running in a standard browser;

native platform support limited to Windows and Mac running Mac OS Runtime for

Java 2.1.1+

Windows 95/98/NT/2000 supported through Internet Explorer 4.0+ or Netscape

Navigator 4.06+; Unix supported through Netscape Navigator 4.06+

Server: Supports major Web servers

Emulation Support Mainframe, AS/400; Unix; OpenVMS; VT52/100/102; VT220/400; extensive HP

emulations

File Transfer

Functions

IND$FILE

Gateways Not required; supports SNA Server and NetWare for SAA, as well as other SNA

gateways

Printing Support 3812 for AS/400; TN3270E connectivity; 3287 printer; Screen printing for all

emulations; logging and controller mode printing for VT; HPT and non-HPT support

Security and

Encryption

SSL/TLS; DES and Triple DES; Java-based security proxy server; VPN support;

HTTP tunneling; WRQ VeriSign certificate provides applet verification (no HTTP

proxy server required)

Management Browser-based management includes HTML content and Java applets

Application

Development

Java-based APIs automate logon tasks, access dialog boxes, create Web

framework; Java-based APIs accessible through HTML, JavaScript, VBScript, and

Java

GUI "On-the-fly" GUI features only available with the Professional Edition

Analysis

Reflection for the Web 4.1 is component based— the functionality has been broken down by emulations,and the different emulations can be further broken down from there. The resulting smaller applet sizesand automatic caching of the applets allow for faster initial connections. Reflection for the Web 4.1deploys keyboard mapping, an integrated Security Proxy Server Wizard, and an automatic green-screento GUI tool; however, the "on-the-fly" GUI tool is only available with the Professional version. According to



WRQ, their component-based architecture enables remote access users to download only the featuresthey need, resulting in faster start-up times.

WRQ Reflection for the Web Components

Java Applets and ActiveX Controls: Java Applets and ActiveX Controls: Web-to-host productsemploy Java applets or ActiveX controls— miniprograms designed to be executed from within a Webbrowser— which either the emulation server has to download for three-tier architectures or for two-tierarchitectures, the Web Server has to download if the Web browser is to talk to the host. The larger thesize of the applet or control, the longer the download takes; applets can be locally stored or cached toeliminate future downloading for products and can be downloaded to either the browser or hard drive. Themajority of Web-to-host vendors use only Java applets; however, some offer a choice of either Javaapplets or ActiveX controls. Reflection for the Web employs Java applets.

• Component-based architecture: WRQ Reflection for the Web uses "Java components" that aredownloaded on demand by the user and then stored locally to the hard drive on the user's machine.At the initial connection, users receive applets as little as 200KB or as large as 1MB. After the initialconnection, only a 40KB manager applet is downloaded, along with any additional functionality usersmay require. This "automatic applet caching" feature enables the terminal emulation components tobe stored locally and updated automatically and should reduce the time it takes to get connected.

• Using applets to bypass the Web Server: Users can choose between enabling the optionalsecurity, which links browser users to a mainframe host through a proxy server or having the appletconnect directly with the host instead of through a Web server. Clients download a Java applet fromthe corporate Web server; the applet then resides in the user's cache. A manager applet checks tosee if the emulation applet needs to be updated; if an update is needed, only the manager applet willconnect to the Web server. Some users may prefer to bypass the Web server, since the number ofpossible users is not tied to the server's capability, which means greater scalability.

Gateways: With Web-to-host software, an SNA gateway strips off the IP encapsulation at the host end.Some vendors package this component with their software; others say their products are designed to talkto third-party gateways, specifically, the SNA Gateway from Microsoft or NetWare for SAA from Novell.

WRQ Reflection for the Web is a direct-connect, Java-based terminal emulation applet. According to thevendor, a gateway or any intermediary between the client and the host system is not required. WRQReflection for the Web supports SNA Server and NetWare for SAA, as well as other SNA gateways.

Architecture: Web-to-host vendors take either a two-tier or a three-tier approach. With two-tier (client-host), the applet communicates directly with the gateway in front of the host. With three-tier (additionalserver), all traffic passes through or via the emulation server. In the two-tier model, there is no chance ofthe emulation server acting as a bottleneck, since traffic does not travel through it— therefore, two-tierarchitecture can be a good choice in situations that require quicker runtime for remote users. In the three-tier scheme, the emulation server could slow things down; however, three-tier provides better scalability.

WRQ Reflection for the Web was an early supporter of two-tier architecture (direct-connect model).According to the vendor, this choice was made based on its large enterprise customers' desire forscalability (additional servers are not required to add users) and to reduce server bottleneck and singlepoint of failure.

Security and Encryption: Web-to-host software exposes the mainframe to the rest of the world, sosecurity is extremely important. All Web-to-host vendors offer elementary password authenticationfeatures and most offer SSL encryption to protect legacy data passing through the network. Since theresometimes is a performance penalty to encryption and decryption, it is best to offer a variety of methods



and strengths. Sensitive data can use the highest level of encryption, and more public information can bepassed along with less encryption.

Most of the major Web-to-host vendors use SSL, but SSL does not define the user datagram protocol(UDP) port on the Web server that should be used for the encrypted session, which can result inincompatibility when multiple products are used. The transaction layer security protocol (TLS), whichcomes out of the IETF, specifies telnet port 23 for encrypted traffic and helps to resolve this security hole.Reflection for the Web’s security is based on the TLS standard, and WRQ is the only Web-to-host vendorthat currently supports it. Triple DES (168-bit) encryption is supported, and the TLS protocol is backwardcompatible to SSL; a 56-bit version for some export-restricted markets is also available. Secure serverauthentication and HTTP tunneling are included; also, VPN support and an optional security proxy serverare included. Additionally, Reflection for the Web includes a security "Wizard."

The direct-connection model that Reflection for the Web uses does not require a dedicated server, butconnecting to a host through a corporate firewall can be more difficult with a direct-connect model.Specifically, it is more difficult to connect external users than internal ones. WRQ deals with this byincluding a proxy server; the proxy server allows remote clients to pass safely through the firewall,authenticate on the proxy, and then access the host computer. This feature, along with the triple DES,TLS and VPN support, makes Reflection for the Web a good evaluation choice for Web-to-host users thatrequire the best possible security solutions.

Impact of Architecture on Security: One thing often overlooked when discussing security issues is theimpact of the architecture (two-tier versus three-tier) on security. Two-tier solutions send the entire hostdata stream to the client— even if the client runs some customization which masks the display of sensitivedata, the data still resides in memory on the client which could create a security exposure. However, if thecustomer is using his or her Web-to-host software for trusted users to remote sites, the quicker runtimethe customer receives from the two-tier, direct-connect model might be the better choice.

WRQ Reflection for the Web uses a two-tier, direct-connect model. According to WRQ, the two-tier modelis best suited for trusted users, in spite of the security issues, because it is the best-performing and mostscalable architecture. The security issues stem from the fact that the entire data stream is sent to theworkstation, and the user has direct access to the host. However, the majority of production/knowledgeworkers where performance is a primary concern are trusted users; they need immediate and completeresponses from the host. For these types of customers, the simplicity and scalability benefits of a two-tiersolution outweigh the security risks. For customers that require better application development,customization and the three-tier architecture, WRQ offers its Verastream Host Integrator solution.

Management Support: Most of the major Web-to-host vendors offer browser-based managementcapabilities; it gives administrators the greatest flexibility in managing, configuring and deploying clients,without having to physically manage from one centralized server. This feature alone is often enough tojustify moving to Web-to-host technology for many companies, because of the cost-savings centralmanagement brings.

Reflection for the Web's management and administration infrastructure is browser based, with HTMLcontent and Java applets to walk the users through the deployment and management process. However,Reflection for the Web does not have user/group-based management built into the product. To deployuser/group management, the administrator can use the authentication and authorization features built intothe Web server. Since all Reflection for the Web host sessions are deployed through Web pages, theadministrator can create different pages for different groups and use the Web server to control access tothe appropriate Web page depending on what group the user is in.



Directories based on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) will eventually play a large role in thedeployment and management of remote clients, and several Web-to-host vendors have started to supportLDAP for their products, because of its strong group and user-management features. WRQ does not offerLDAP support with the current 4.0 version of Reflection for the Web.

• Administrative WebStation— A self-contained Web site containing all the information and toolsneeded to configure Reflection terminal sessions and create Reflection Web pages.

• Deployment Director— The set of utilities included in the Administrative WebStation; guides theuser through the steps for creating Web-based host sessions and uploading the files to the Webserver.

• Usage metering— Java-based tools for auditing and controlling access to Reflection for the Web-host sessions.

• Security proxy server— An optional, Java-based proxy server that provides encrypted dataconnections to host computers from Reflection for the Web sessions. The Reflection security proxyserver includes a Security Proxy Server Wizard that helps the user set up the server and generatesthe required security certificates automatically.

Application Server Compatibility: Most of the major Web-to-host vendors support Web-applicationservers; WRQ supports any HTTP 1.0-compliant Web server, including Microsoft Internet InformationServer, Netscape Enterprise Server, and Apache Web Server.

Printing Support: The majority of Web-to-host vendors support the capability to print host-based screensto a local printer and copy-and-paste features. However, due to the inherent weakness of Java for printingsupport, the printing features for Web-to-host products that employ Java applets are not as robust as theprinting features available with fat-client computing. For instance, Java does not support graphicsprinting— ActiveX and fat-client PC emulators do.

WRQ Reflection for the Web supports screen-printing for all emulations; this allows users to quickly get ahard copy of their current screen. Reflection for the Web also supports 3287 printing for IBM mainframes.Additional printing capabilities include 3812 printing for AS/400 and logging and controller mode printingfor VT emulation users; also, AS/400 users can format and scale print jobs that allow printing to a file,local printer or a networked printer. Support for Host Print Transform (HPT) and non-HPT devices is alsoincluded.

Emulation Support: Terminal emulation drivers enable PCs to emulate a particular type of terminal sousers can log-on to a mainframe. All of the Web-to-host products in this class include emulation supportfor mainframe, AS/400, and VT (DEC) emulations; however, some offer a very limited number of VTemulation levels. Other emulations supported by some, but not all, are for HP, CICS, Linux and WYSE50/60.

WRQ Reflection for the Web offers an extensive list of emulations. IBM mainframe support includesTN3270 and TN3270E; IBM AS/400 support includes TN5250 connectivity. Unix and OpenVMS emulationincludes Telnet connectivity, VT 220 with VT 400 extensions, VT 102, VT 100, and VT 52 (DEC). HPemulation includes HP 700/92, HP 700/94, HP 700/96, HP 700/98 and HP 239A. WRQ also offers anextensive list of HP emulations, in addition to the usual Web-to-host offerings for IBM mainframe, Digitalminicomputers, Unix systems, and AS/400 support. Additionally, the terminal emulation sessions rununder a browser but retain the look of a standard-host connection.

Platform Support:



• Server: Major Web servers:

• Client (desktop): Will support any Java-enabled machine running in a standard browser, althoughsomewhat limited with Macs; can also support thin-client network terminals. Windows 95/98/NT and2000 are supported through the use of either Internet Explorer version 4.0 or higher or NetscapeNavigator/Communicator version 4.6 or higher. Unix users are supported through NetscapeNavigator.

The Relationship Between Platform Support and Java: Since Java is supposed to be cross platform,technically any Java-enabled Web-to-host product could be considered platform independent. Indeed,that is what most Web-to-host vendors claim, including WRQ. Despite the hype, the "write once, runanywhere" promise of Java has not yet fully materialized. There are minor differences between thedifferent JVM, some of which can affect product function or performance or both. When prospectivecustomers are evaluating a particular vendor's Web-to-host software for an environment that is fairlyheterogeneous, the Web-to-host vendor should be questioned as to whether the software has beenpreviously tested with the user's various platforms.

Application Development and GUI Screen Rejuvenation: Prospective Web-to-host customers shouldquery the vendor about the inclusion of HACL and whether such features as open APIs and VB Script andJscript are supported for customization of applications. Also, most Web-to-host vendors support a featurethat allows the "green screen" to be automatically changed to a more user friendly, GUI-like screen; this isreferred to as an "on-the-fly" GUI. Vendors offer varying degrees of support for this feature.

WRQ Reflection offers several customization host-access options for users who require or prefer a GUI-type browser interface, as opposed to the typical mainframe "green-screen." Macro recording support isalso included:

• WRQ Reflection for the Web: Features Java-based APIs to automate logon tasks, access dialogboxes, and create a Web framework to improve usability of legacy applications. The Java-based APIsare accessible through the standard Web languages of HTML, JavaScript, VBScript and Java. Themacro recorder function automates routine tasks, which allows capture and playback actionsperformed each day with Reflection for the Web. This feature can be used to eliminate several stepsfrom a user's host log-in process.

• WRQ Reflection for the Web, Professional Edition: Includes the same features as the standardedition, but also offers tools to automatically generate ("on-the-fly") Web-style graphical interfacesfrom traditional "green-screen" IBM host applications and transform them into a graphical interfaceform— WRQ calls this process "rejuvenation." The Professional Edition also includes the capability todeploy a GUI interface to the application with thousands of screens, without screen by screenreengineering. The author mode and the context sensitive help are geared towards aiding navigationfor IBM Mainframe and AS/400 users.

Differentiators: Reflection for the Web 4.1; Reflection for the Web 4.1 Professional Edition; Verastream HostIntegrator

The only difference between Reflection for the Web and Reflection for the Web PE is that the"Professional Edition" supports the auto rejuvenation of IBM Mainframe and AS/400 screens (green-screen to GUI). Both products have the same architecture and security and are geared towards trustedusers over either an intranet or extranet. For example, one WRQ customer has 40,000 resellers usingemulation on the extranet for catalog access. For customers that require more robust applicationdevelopment and customization, and a three-tier architecture, WRQ offers its Verastream Host Integrator



solution, application-integration software for the mining and dynamic reuse of host information in e-business systems.

Figure 1: WRQ Reflection for the Web

Reflection for the Web is downloaded from a Web server to the desktop browser on demand— providing directconnections to IBM, HP, Unix and OpenVMS hosts.

Source: WRQ, Inc.

Pricing

WRQ Reflection for the Web 4.1

• One concurrent license: $199

• Per user: $115

WRQ Reflection for the Web 4.1, Professional Edition

• One concurrent license: $239

• Per user: $138

Volume pricing available.

GSA Pricing

Yes.

Competitors

• Attachmate: e-Vantage Host Access Server



• IBM: WebSphere Host On-Demand

• NetManage: RUMBA 2000, Web-to-Host

• OpenConnect: OC://WebConnect Pro

• Persoft, an Esker Co.: Persona Entry/Insight

Strengths

• Strong security and data encryption:

• (Transaction layer security TLS): WRQ is the only Web-to-host vendor with TLS

• Triple DES

• Optional proxy server

• VPN support

• Broad terminal-type support for Digital Equipment Corp., IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Unix hosts.

• Simple, Web-based administration tools.

• Usage metering tool.

• Proxy server eases host access through a corporate firewall.

• 40K initial downloads enables faster remote access.

Limitations

• User/group management not integrated within the product and depends on the Web server.

• No LDAP support.

Insight

Reflection for the Web 4.1 offers top-notch security and data encryption: SSL/TSL; triple DES; andoptional security proxy server and VPN support. WRQ's emulation support is broad and extensive;compared to its competitors'. WRQ offers the longest list of supported emulations. It is a highly scalableproduct— the number of possible users is not tied to the server's capability since its applets are used tobypass the Web Server. Additionally, Reflection for the Web includes enhanced printing features forAS/400 users; however, Reflection lacks LDAP support. Reflection for the Web provides secure Web-based host access across enterprises and beyond the firewall and is a competitively priced product.Companies that are looking to Web-enable their enterprise for e-business will want to evaluate Reflectionfor the Web.

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