Rumba 2000 products sport new integration tools
Organizations are busily evaluating thin-client and Web server alternatives to terminal emulation software, according to executives of Wall Data Inc.
Middleware touts Web-to-host migration, client support cost reduction and emulation improvements
By Florence Olsen
GCN Staff
Organizations are busily evaluating thin-client and Web server alternatives to terminal emulation software, according to executives of Wall Data Inc.
The Kirkland, Wash., company's Rumba 2000 middleware reduces terminal emulation support costs and helps in migrating to Web-to-host access, they said.
Wall Data executive Chuck Robb said the Rumba 2000 host-access products, of which there are about 11, have new facilities for integrating browsers into host-access applications. They improve emulation on TCP/IP networks and reduce client support costs, especially for organizations running thousands of copies of Rumba, Wall Data's host-access software.
'It's a big deal to upgrade all the desktops,' Robb said.
The host access market is changing dramatically, he said, as Web-to-host access products bid to take over 20 percent of total host-access shipments this year. By 2001, he said, the number of Web-to-host shipments will likely surpass conventional clients.
Wall Data has better integrated its new releases with Microsoft Systems Management Server and Zero Administration Kit. Organizations that use Microsoft SMS 2.0 and the Zero Admin Kit can distribute Rumba 2000 to thousands of desktops from a central location, Robb said. The Zero Admin Kit lets administrators configure local desktop PCs and lock them down.''
Rumba 2000 includes a Wall Data utility for installing Rumba clients on a server for scheduled downloads to users' desktop PCs.
Included in the Rumba 2000 Cyberprise Edition are Cyberprise Host Pro, a collection of Microsoft ActiveX controls that display, print and transfer files from any Web server.
Green-plate special
'It's not the full meal deal, it's still the green screen in a browser,' Robb said. But Cyberprise Host Pro has the basic Rumba functions, if not all the productivity features of the 80M fat client. It has an integrated tool bar and status bar, but it lacks an integrated menu bar.''
The ActiveX controls'each 2M to 3M in size'download to the client the first time they are needed, suiting them for intranets 'where you have relatively fast connections and transmission,' Robb said.
The Cyberprise Edition, government-priced at $230 per seat, bundles Wall Data's terminal emulation software and Web-to-host access software with a license for Rumba 2000 for Citrix and Terminal Server.
Wall Data also offers five-user concurrent licenses for Rumba 2000 for Citrix and Terminal Server, priced at $1,005, for mainframe access.
The Rumba 2000 software must be installed on servers running Citrix WinFrame from Citrix Systems Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., along with Microsoft Windows NT 3.51, or Microsoft Terminal Server with Windows NT Server 4.0.''
Contact Wall Data at 425-814-9255.