Furthering its strategy of SNA-AIX integration, IBM Corp has launched three products, two of which are the result of last month’s licensing agreement with CNT/Brixton Systems Inc. IBM Systems Network Architecture Client Access for AIX – which runs on the AIX Systems Network Architecture Server/6000s – operates as a TCP/IP Telnet server, and is said to give Telnet 3270/5250 server functions to TN3270/TN5250 clients by convering Telnet client traffic to SNA format, and vice-versa. While the core Telnet server technology is sourced from Brixton, IBM says it has replaced the latter’s Systems Network Architecture stack with its own implementation, and has also added various configuration options. Availability is from the end of the month, with prices ranging from $2,500 for one to 16 users, up to $138,500 for 2,049 to 4,096 users. Next up is SNA Application Access for AIX, also based on technology sourced from Brixton, which is said to enable SNA 3270 devices to access applications on the RS/6000. It is said to provide communications with any device running SDLC or Token Ring protocols, and to support all protocols supported by the SNA Server/6000. It will be available from the end of January with prices ranging from $14,500 for one to 16 users, up to $250,000 for 2,049 to 4,096 users. The final offering is Desktop SNA for AIX, which is essentially a cut-down version of the SNA Server/6000, designed to come in at a lower price point, and aimed at single users. IBM has stripped out wide area network and Logical Unit support, and implemented it as an Advanced Peer-to-Peer Network end node, rather than a network node/end node, as with the SNA Server. The product costs $500 per user, and is available now.
