IBM Corp’s Transarc Corp brings version 2.0 of its Distributed Computing Environment-based Encina 2.0 transaction processing monitor to Unix Expo this week. The new release enables users to use C++ class libraries for building transaction processing application via an Encina++ development framework. Transarc said Encina++ automatically establishes Distributed Computing Environment security mechanisms and object location services without additional code generation and includes interfaces to the Object Management Group’s Object Transaction Service. Also new is an Encina Console, a graphical user interface-based tool for configuring and monitoring distributed application components, with application programming interfaces to reach Simple Network Management Protocol managers. Transarc said the console can be used to automate and administer routine functions, and manage Encina and non-Encina resources, including recoverable queuing service, structured file service, peer-to-peer communications gateway, Encina servers and Distributed Computing Environment application servers, plus database and operating system processes. The company claims that performance improvements of up to 30% can be achieved using Encina 2.0, but that is in no small measure due to the fact that it runs under DCE version 1.1, which Transarc is just beginning to ship. Indeed the server implementation of Encina 2.0 will only run under DCE 1.1. Encina 2.0 source code goes to OEM customers including IBM Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co this month, and should find its way into products such as Encina for AIX and Encina/9000, within six months. Encina 2.0 under Solaris will be available from October at $5,500 on the server and $150 per client. A Digital Unix version will follow later this year. Encina for Windows NT is due in November, DCE Distributed Files System for NT (client-only support initially) by year-end. A lightweight DCE/Encina environment for clients with limited resources is due in the first quarter next year. Transarc expects turnover of $32m this year, up from $20m in 1994, two-thirds direct, the rest from partners. It claims 500 Encina users.
