05/25/2006 - New Keynai Security Offering

IO Thin clients can ease the pain.

by Gordon Flitton
Published 11/03/2005

Most IBM midrange users believe that finding old 5250 dumb terminals connected to twinax cable is like finding a telex machine clicking away in a back office. But as surprising as it may seem, there are a number of IBM host shops that are still making the transition from twinax to Ethernet and that are switching twinax displays to PC’s or thin clients. Latecomers are not just limited to the smaller “Ma and Pa” businesses, but are often larger companies that have consciously delayed making the change—usually for good business reasons (even though the network folks would love to get rid of the old, bulky twinax cables).

One medical supply manufacturer recently made the switch from twinax to Ethernet. They continued to use their legacy equipment for as long as they could as there were many good reasons to do so. For instance, all of their data processing applications were limited to 5250 “green screen” input utilizing the features of IBM style 122-key keyboards. In addition, one of their mission -critical applications required keyboard wedges attached to Twinax displays so that high-speed production line scanners could capture and send data to its AS/400. These scanners are used to scan packages as they rapidly moved down a conveyor belt in the final phases of preparing products for shipment

As they considered which Ethernet-capable input devices to choose, it was critical that the new displays met a variety of criteria: they had to be totally compatible with required scanning devices, they had to maintain the same level of end-point security as their twinax displays and the total cost of ownership had to be low.

Cost of Ownership

As the medical supply company began its analysis, the company looked at replacing its twinax terminals with either PCs or thin clients. The initial hardware cost for both options was relatively close but when it came to the expense of maintaining and managing the input devices, thin clients clearly won out. It was estimated that a PC would be approximately three to four times more expensive to maintain and manage over thin clients. Thin clients could be centrally and remotely maintained and managed whereas PC’s would all require individual attention. End-user training was also a significant cost consideration. Making the leap to PC’s would have required greater instruction and training (thus increased cost) than thin clients.

Security

Twinax-attached 5250 displays had offered the medical supply manufacturer a relatively closed environment. If the company went with PCs it would open a whole new world of security exposures. It was determined that the same type of end-point security of a twinax display could be realized by installing a thin client. As with twinax displays, secure information would be stored at the server level as opposed to local hard drives. Sensitive and confidential information could not be taken away from the facility on a floppy or a CD. Viruses and unwanted software could not be introduced to the system.

Applications

The medical supply company did not want to reprogram its host applications so regardless of whether it went with PCs or thin clients, the interface had to be compatible. Given the cost and security disadvantages of PCs, any thin client that was chosen had to meet several criteria: First, it had to include a high-level 5250 display emulation for their day-to-day “green screen” applications. Second, the thin client needed to be able to accommodate an IBM-style 122-key keyboard for fast host input. Third, it needed a TN5250e printer session that allowed an ASCII printer to print IBM host print jobs from the iSeries host.

There was still the issue of the specialized high-speed scanners. The medical supply manufacturer had modified its Twinax terminals so that when an input-inhibit condition was raised by the AS/400, the scanner would stop scanning. This allowed the operator to remove the package for re-working. If the invalid package was allowed to continue, it would be assembled on a shrink-wrapped pallet with other packages to be shipped. Therefore it was important to prevent invalid packages from being palletized. Removing such a package could become a large and expensive task.

It turned out that athin-client manufacturer could create a customized solution by enabling the thin client’s serial port to be a direct connection to the scanner. It also eliminated the need for expensive keyboard wedges. In addition, the thin client’s 5250 emulation module was customized to enable and disable the scanner when the IBM host application raised and lowered anthe input-inhibit condition. Finally, some minor tweaking of the scanner’s configuration was required to coordinate the timing of the IBM host application and the scanner’s ability to quickly read and send bar codes.

Summary

The medical supply manufacturer concluded that the move away from twinax terminals was not as difficult as had been expected. Ethernet-connected thin clients with IBM host capabilities aligned well with the medical supply company’s data processing objectives: High-speed scanners were up and operational. End-users maintained their level of productivity by continuing to use IBM style 122-key keyboards and not having to change to a PC style keyboard. Corporate security was maintained by not having to open the computing environment to PC’s. Best of all, the company did not have to increase its IT budget as cost effective workstation maintenance and management could be initiated from a central location.

Gordon Flitton is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at I-O Corporation, a provider of thin clients focused on the IBM midrange and mainframe market. Gordon has 15 years of IBM host experience.