NT Sinks IP Hooks Into Big Iron - Proginet and Cisco Systems - Company Business and Marketing

Of all the newfangled methods for Internet exploitation, one of the most promising combines the old, reliable mainframe with the power and versatility of IP. Cisco Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) and Proginet Corp. (Garden City, N.Y.) have announced that by combining their various products, users can connect their Windows NT networks to mainframe systems using the Internet.

Proginet's HostOffice and SecureOffice suites for the mainframe and AS/400 environments have received upgrades that leverage new Cisco technology provided in Cisco's IOS for S/390 product, which is a mainframe-based implementation of TCP/IP jointly developed with Interlink Computer Sciences Inc. (Fremont, Calif.). The IOS for S/390 software is designed to take full advantage of Cisco 7500 routers and Channel Interface Processors, which eliminate redundant processing and offload network processes from the mainframe.

Proginet has redesigned its suites to include support for Cisco's TCP Assist technology, which removes checksum processing from IBM host machines and makes for faster data transmissions, and to add support for TCP/IP through routers directly attached to mainframes, which eliminates a need for gateways.

In addition, the Proginet suites, which previously required SNA networks, now travel over IP networks. "By adding support for these advanced Cisco technologies, our customers can build TCP/IP networks that are faster, are more reliable and contain fewer points of failure. Our applications can now communicate from the mainframe to the Cisco routers directly, without the need for intermediate devices," says Joe Mohen, Proginet chairman and founder.

Proginet's HostOffice software manages information movement between Microsoft BackOffice and IBM mainframes and AS/400s, while SecureOffice brings together IBM and Microsoft security implementations into a unified system. "Coupled with the advanced TCP/IP and intranet capabilities of Cisco IOS for S/390, Proginet's HostOffice and SecureOffice suites provide a highly reliable and efficient link between the local-area network and the data center," says Chris Markle, Interlink vice president of strategic marketing.

"The main reason stuff like this is becoming so important is that many people want to move away from SNA and move to IP without adding new equipment or gateways," says Robin Layland, president of analyst and consulting firm Layland Consulting (West Hartford, Conn.), who notes that since Cisco hardware is so prevalent in the industry, many corporations choosing to employ the Cisco/Proginet solution will be able to migrate to IP by using their current equipment.

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