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Not Your Grandfather's Terminal Emulator
Host systems, introduced more than 20 years ago, continue to provide over 70 percent of mission-critical data used in the enterprise. These systems might easily have disappeared by now if terminal emulation technology had not continually added to their value, connecting host data to new groups of users with increasing efficiency. The coming year promises advances that will further transform host access to keep it quick, easy, secure, and reliable.
Evolution of Host Access
Terminal emulation began with the advent of personal computers
in the early 1980s. Early emulators replaced dumb terminals connected
to the host via coax cables, with networks that allowed users to
share files and resources. Since then, host access has evolved to
include:
- Access through Windows, via a networked device
- Access over the Internet, without an application installed on the user's desktop
- Access to host data through web services
- Terminal emulation on a hand-held, wireless device to view and input host data, from virtually any location
Today, protocols and standards for terminal emulation are well-established. Still changing, however, are the ways users consume information on Windows and browser-based devices, and the ways network administrators provide users with security and tools to access host data.
Where Terminal Emulation is Headed
Current changes in the IT environment, from the introduction of web-based applications to a greater emphasis on security, provide both an opportunity and a need for rethinking host access. These new technologies have the potential for transforming terminal emulation software.
On the horizon for WRQ Reflection—in a release planned for
later this year—are new features that will address the need
for increased capabilities and lower costs. Reflection will include
expanded security, which will be centrally managed and more tightly
integrated with the desktop. Reflection's total cost of ownership
(TCO) will be reduced by the integration of emulation platforms,
by web-based administration and by new tools for migration and automation.
Windows-Based Reflection
Windows-based Reflection already provides an exceptional degree of integration with the Windows desktop, through customization based on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and certification for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. New features will deepen Reflection's integration with Windows, and at the same time draw on the cross-platform strengths of web-based emulation.
Upcoming features in Windows-based Reflection will include:
- Security: More fully integrated security components, shared with Reflection for the Web
- Management: Centralized, web-based management, shared with all other Reflection products
- Migration: Settings and tools for migrating from out-of-date competitor products to Reflection
- Emulation: Additional emulations and emulation features
- X Window System: Enhanced performance, a redesigned UI, support for the latest X protocol enhancements, and enhancements to centralized deployments of Reflection X
Web-Based Reflection
Web-Based Reflection's total cost of ownership (TCO) is very low,
a result of its thin-client design. New automation features will
further reduce the cost of installing and upgrading client applications,
while added capabilities in the areas of security and portal integration
will help enterprises make their host data available to a wider
user base.
Upcoming features in Reflection for the Web will include:
- Security: More security options, centralized management of security, and single sign on (SSO)
- Management: Centralized, web-based management, shared with all other Reflection products
- Portal Integration: Integration with leading web portal providers
- Improved Installation: Automated standalone installation
on Linux, Solaris, and HP-UX, as well as automated client upgrades
For More Information
See WRQ.com (http://www.wrq.com/products/reflection/) for more information on WRQ Reflection, including news, case studies, white papers and detailed product descriptions.
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