Rochester has quietly unveiled four key enhancements to Client Access/400 for Windows 95 that benefit both RISC and CISC customers. These enhancements will keep our Windows 95 clients moving and will prepare us for the role NT will probably play as the future desktop environment of choice. At the same time, these same announcements help CA/400 fight off competitive attacks from Microsofts SNA Server. Heres what IBM has offered.
Enhancement 1: AnyNet APPC over TCP/IP. A lot of client/server code has been written specifically to SNA/APPC APIs. These APIs include EHNAPPC, CPI-C, and WINAPPC. However, many sites are shifting to TCP/IP. To prevent a massive re-write of user code, IBM is providing AnyNet to the Windows 95 client. The result will be that the Win95 client will be able to execute those APPC calls seamlessly, without modification.
Enhancement 2: E-Mail Support. In addition, IBM integrated CA/400 for Win95 with the AnyMail/400 Mail Server frameworks by embedding the Microsoft Mail API (MAPI) into the client. As a result, CA/400 for Win95 users can now exchange E-mail directly with PC-based mail clients such as Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, and Lotus cc:Mail, as well as OfficeVision. This enhances the ability of the AS/400 to act as an organizations electronic post office. Prior to this enhancement, the only means of connecting these clients was through an SMTP gateway.
Enhancement 3: Dial-Up AS/400 Access. The announcement also provides CA/400 for Win95 with dial-up access to the AS/400 using a simple asynchronous modem. This is accomplished with a SLIP module that interfaces directly with Windows 95 communications services.
Enhancement 4: Unity. Finally, CA/400 for Win95 will sport some of the long- awaited fruits of Rochesters Unity project. Unity gives CA/400 for Win95 an Explorer-
like interface to many OS/400 functions (see Still Waiting for Unity? in this issue). These include Spool File access, OS/400 messages, and printer and job management. Now that Unity is on the Windows 95 client, look for it to appear as well on an enhanced beta version of CA/400 for Windows 95 and NT. A second release of Unity with even more functions will also appear on the final ship version of the 95/NT client during the first quarter of 1997.
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