How This Product Can Work For You
Feature: ETHERNET LAN INTERFACE MODULEScenario: Your company networks all of your PCs together on an Ethernet LAN that runs TCP/IP as the networking protocol. You'd like an easy method to provide these users mainframe access while keeping things as simple as possible. Additionally, a lot of telecommuting workers in various geographic locations also need access. You want to avoid expensive long distance dial-up charges and wish there was some way they could get into your host using their local Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Solution: Using the HYDRA 3000's Ethernet LAN Interface Module and TCP/IP networking protocol, users simply fire up their TELNET or TN3270 (recommended) emulator, point it to the IP address of their host and get access to the IBM mainframe. No muss, no fuss, no special host software, no direct-dial long distance charges, and no elaborate gateway systems. Depending upon the emulator program used, they can even perform file transfers.
Note: this feature is not to be confused with Asynchronous PPP dial-up access, Remote Access Services (RAS), or Protocol Routing / Bridging Features. Its intended purpose is designed for shops who already have an established and fully functional TCP/IP based Intranet/Internet strategy in place.
Feature:
HYDRA LINKScenario: Your company has 16 different divisions spread throughout the country and you're looking for an affordable alternative that will allow them access to all of your installations. Some of these sites have their own mainframes and others are just satellite offices that require occasional access to the system in your corporate data center.
Solution: Suppose you're in New York and your remote division is in Los Angeles. HYDRA LINK allows you to take a single HYDRA 3000 Async port and tie it into another HYDRA 3000 that may or may not be connected to a host CPU. The connection happens over a leased line and inexpensive CSU/DSU equipment. After doing so, there can be a maximum of 256 ports in your remote office that "think" they are direct-connected to your CPU. These ports can have all types of ASCII devices attached to them such as Micros, Dumb Terminals, Printers, Modems, etc. This all sounds very much like multiplexing but there's more! If the remote site in Los Angeles has their own mainframe, your staff in New York has the ability to link into the LA facility and use their system resources just as if they were logging into your own local host.
Wait, it gets better.... Unlike Multiplexing which is more of a point-to point thing, you can link up to 16 HYDRA 3000's forming your own private network facility without having hundreds of dial-up lines into each site. What about throughput? No problem, HYDRA LINK lines can be set up in parallel with automatic load balancing. When used with more than two sites HYDRA LINK uses intelligent routing practices to get the data requests to the desired destination in the least amount of time. With careful planning you can even set up alternative dial-up links for added fault tolerance should one of your facilities go out of service.
FEATURE: MULTIPLE CHANNEL BOARDSScenario: Your company has two CPU complexes in-house. One of them is used for testing and development of applications and the other is for non-stop production. You'd like to find a solution where you can gain access to both systems without having two pieces of hardware on your desk or worse, without having to dial into two separate telephone connections.
Solution: HYDRA 3000 supports multiple channel boards allowing you to connect a single unit to 16 independent CPUs. Since each RS-232 port on HYDRA 3000 is capable of supporting up to 4 logical sessions the system can be configured in a way were each session can be assigned to its own CPU environment. The user connects to the port and then hot-keys or "session swaps" between the different environments.
FEATURE: Line Printer Support & Mixed SNA/NON-SNA
Sessions.Scenario: Your MVS/JES2 or VSE/POWER spooling queues are filled with print data. Programmers are lining up waiting for their listings as the system printers do their best to get the data out. System jobs are running slower and you're running out of queue space as the system becomes "print bound." You can do your best to juggle the jobs around but the system printer just can't keep up with the high demand.
Solution: HYDRA 3000 is flexible enough to allow you to configure both SNA and NON/SNA devices together on a single unit. In addition you can place inexpensive ASCII laser printers throughout your departments and treat them as if they were real high-speed 3211 impact printers. You don't have to worry about application software driving 3286 devices because the print data is controlled by the operating system. Wait, even better.... If you have a token ring connection you can print 3211 data and take advantage of faster bandwidth speeds. HYDRA 3000 is the only product on the market that we know of that can pass NON-SNA data to a LAN environment in this fashion.
FEATURE: DATA ROUTINGScenario: How to get from here to there when you don't have the physical equipment attached to your PC? You're viewing your 3270 mainframe session through your PC which is directly cabled into HYDRA 3000. Later, a coworker asks if you can dial into a software vendor's BBS and download a fix for him. As much as you would like to help him you do not have a modem connected to your PC.
Solution: Data Routing is a very powerful technique that removes the physical constraints of ports, addresses, and their attached devices. One of the HYDRA 3000's data routing features let's you press a key and take control of a modem attached to a different port. From there you can dial out as if the modem was really attached to your terminal or computer.
Data routing also lets you juggle host LU and CUU addresses around to suit your needs. You can make your current port appear as any host LU or CUU. [This one gets complex so bear with us!..] Here's an age old problem: Suppose you ran a CICS transaction that prints out a report. The report is always sent to the same address. Now suppose you're running this transaction on a dial-up modem pool connection. Because you're sharing the modem pool with other users there's no telling what line you're going to connect to each time you call. HYDRA 3000 has the unique ability to over-ride the default port addressing with a custom address scheme making sure that your reports print out on what ever port you connect to.
Not only can you re-route printer output but you can re-route your entire session bi-directionally and link to resources on another HYDRA 3000 other than your own whether it's in the same room or across the country. You can data route to another modem, you can data route to another port that might have another micro computer running BBS software, you can even data route to a different kind of host platform such as a VAX or UNIX system. Remember, not only can you juggle hardware resources around but you can also cloak your port to assume any host addressing identity regardless of its physical location on the HYDRA 3000.
Though it sounds rather complicated, this feature is presented to the user with a simplistic one-page menu of choices. With a simple keystroke the resources become instantly available.
FEATURE: TOKEN RING LAN INTERFACE MODULEScenario: You want to use your existing LAN cabling to provide users mainframe connectivity without having to re-wire your department to use RS-232
Solution: HYDRA 3000's Token Ring LAN Interface Module and operate in either Downstream-PU or Internal-PU mode. It can even be bridged to a dissimilar network such as Ethernet.
HYDRA 3000's DSPU mode is similar to the IBM 9351 (Downstream PU) TIC. With the use of DSPU gateway software such as Novel's SAA, IBM 3270 Personal Communications, or Windows/NT SNA Server, users can obtain 3270 sessions from any workstation on the local area network. Each Token Ring adapter can provide up to 254 simultaneous LU sessions. Printing of 3286 or 3211 data is also possible providing faster throughput and eliminating separate RS-232 cabling schemes to each workstation.
Upstream-PU mode works in conjunction with our HYDRANET/PC terminal emulation product and eliminated the need for a dedicated DSPU gateway computer. The user simply executes the HN/PC application on his workstation which contains all of the necessary information to provide a point-to-point link to HYDRA 3000's Token Ring adapter.
Because the adapter complies with source routing and bridging standards, HYDRA 3000 can also be utilized on an Ethernet network with the addition of a Token Ring-to-Ethernet software or hardware bridge.