The AS/400 is by a long way IBM Corp’s most successful current product line yet Chicago-based System Software Associates Inc, generally regarded as the largest player in the AS/400 applications market, seems to be less than confident about the future of the line. It has begun shipping what it claims is the first software engineering tool designed to regenerate AS/400 applications to run on Unix-based workstations quickly and easily, and has been demonstrating the AS/SET WDK-U product in Anaheim, California at the semiannual conference of Common, the IBM mid-range users group. Designed for AS/400 users considering Unix as an additional system, the generation tool transforms AS/SET-developed RPG applications for the AS/400 into C programs for the IBM RS/6000 – but the regenerated programs also will run on any workstation running Santa Cruz Operation Inc Unix. AS/SET WDK-U-generated AIX and Santa Cruz Unix applications will be consistent with the original AS/400 system, in both operation and appearance, the company says, obviating the need to retrain users or use separate development and maintenance staff for the Unix system – but the company does not say what database it uses on the Unix system. The AS/SET Workstation Development Kernel for Unix is out now for single-workstation and multi-user environments. Price per station is $15,000; the multi-user version is $50,000. It needs AS/SET Application Development Kernel at $35,000 to $100,000, depending on AS/400.
