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Another Way to Skin the Connectivity Cat: IBM's eNetwork Communications Suite

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Sometimes we forget that AS/400s are often integrated parts of larger enterprise computing environments composed of networks of IBM mainframes and AS/400s. Supporting our users in these environments provides some interesting challenges for installation of cohesive and comprehensive client software. For instance, IBM estimates that more than 16 million people sign on to AS/400s every day. Imagine the task of supporting a network of mixed clients connecting to a combination of AS/400s, 3270s, S390s, and other host-based machines. Just keeping track of the software versions and the CDs could be a significant struggle. With this in mind, IBM has released a new package of client networking utilities designed to make administration easier and more cohesive. This is not the Client Access/400 suite of networking tools, but something far different. The name of this suite is the eNetwork Communications Suite. This software offers a uniquely different path for administrators to provide access to the network, and we should become familiar with it, because it’s an attractive alternative to Client Access/400.

What is eNetwork

Communications Suite? The aim of the eNetwork Communications Suite is to provide the basic connectivity services for the enterprise desktop through a single support medium. The suite consists of a single CD-ROM containing Lotus Notes Mail version 4.5, FTP Software’s OnNet16 version 2.5, FTP Software’s Network Access Suite 3.0, FTP Software’s Secure Client
3.0, Netscape Navigator version 3.0, and IBM Personal Communications AS/400 and 3270 version 4.1. In fact, IBM might well have named this group of connectivity utilities the TCP/IP Communications Suite, because all of these programs rely upon TCP/IP as the basic transport protocol for connecting to the network. It’s a meld of the best utilities on the


market into a cost-effective package for connecting to the real world of enterprise computing.

You get email with Lotus Notes, file transfer with FTP’s suite, Web access with Netscape, and host and AS/400 terminal emulation with Personal Communications. This represents—from IBM’s perspective—what the typical networked desktop requires. The combination of these connectivity utilities comprises a complete package that is solely devoid of secondary Microsoft proprietary products. This means, if your users are running Microsoft operating systems (a likely scenario given Microsoft’s hegemony on the desktop), the organization has a second vendor tier to the network that’s not quite so dependent upon the whims of the Redmond behemoth.

Best of all is the manner in which this support is packaged. First, everything is contained on a single CD-ROM with a single installation interface. This means the administrator doesn’t have to sequentially load CD after CD in order to provide the desktop with the basics; everything is neatly packaged and ready to go. Installation can occur from the user’s CD-ROM or from the network. This makes version control a snap. Secondly, if there is some compatibility problem with the Windows environment, the administrator doesn’t have to gather together four different telephone numbers with four different support account numbers. IBM has packaged the products so that all support happens through a single entity, and problem resolution doesn’t become an endless nightmare of finger- pointing.

What You Get

Let’s look at the offering and describe the products and their features. Lotus Notes Mail Version 4.5 includes the cc:Mail interface, OLE 2.0 support, platform-independent file viewers, enterprise calendaring and scheduling tools, the Personal Web Navigator, task management tools, document libraries, a personal journal, a phone message log, and mobile user support capabilities. Since many AS/400 facilities are implementing Notes—both in stand-alone servers and through the Integrated PC Server (IPCS)—it’s a natural for IBM to include this client in the suite. Installation is quick and easy, and if you’re upgrading your Notes client from Notes 4.0, everything seems to come across fine in the migration. Your personal databases will be upgraded automatically and your user ID files remain intact. I ran into one minor problem with the package; the Notes client I got was made for the international version of Notes. Because there are United States government restrictions regarding the international proliferation of encryption schemes, Lotus had to create a separate encryption-crippled version of the client for international users. This is the version of the Notes client that I received on the CD, and it created a minor configuration requirement on the server. If you get the eNetwork Communications Suite, be sure to specify where your Notes server is located so IBM can include the appropriate client software.

FTP Software’s OnNet16 v2.5 provides a set of applications and a TCP/IP protocol stack for Windows 3.x users that enable Internet and intranet access. This stack is provided for Windows 3.x users, because TCP/IP is not a native stack for Windows 3.x. It’s a significantly more robust TCP/IP stack than the one that Microsoft is currently distributing for its legacy Windows 3.1 and 3.11 desktops, so it’s worthwhile to consider installing this. However, if you already have the TCP/IP stack in place on the Windows 3.x desktop, there’s no need to upgrade.

Also provided with the suite is FTP Software’s Network Access Suite 3.0. This suite provides a set of applications that runs on Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 systems. Used with a TCP/IP stack, these applications connect your desktop computer to your enterprise network and to the Internet. They include a FTP server, an FTP client, and some connection wizards that turn the connections into point-and-click affairs. In addition, the package includes the FTP Software’s Secure Client 3.0, which provides an advanced 32-


bit TCP/IP protocol stack for Windows 95 and a suite of tools for monitoring and controlling many of the desktop’s networking operations.

Of course, no network suite is complete without some sort of Web browser, and IBM evidently reached a bundling deal with Netscape to include the Netscape Navigator version 3.0. There’s little to say about Navigator version 3.0 except that it is a dynamite alternative to relying upon Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

For client to AS/400 connectivity, IBM Personal Communications AS/400 and 3270 version 4.1 is included. This is a repackage of the terminal emulator software that’s included with Client Access/400, and it provides the comfortable, easy-to-use graphical interface that we’ve all grown to love and respect. It provides 5250 and 3270 emulation, connections to AS/400 and S/390 systems, file transfers, dynamic configuration, and support for data transfer with AS/400 systems. Of course, the many other advanced features of Client Access/400, such as the Operational Assistant and Graphical Access, are missing. Nevertheless, if your run-of-the-mill user is only interested in terminal emulation, they won’t see any difference between this terminal emulation and the one used in Client Access/400.

Missing Components?

When IBM first announced the eNetwork Communication Suite, the company indicated that the Adobe Acrobat Reader software would also be bundled with it. This would have provided yet another facility for reading electronic documents online, using the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Evidently, the deal with Adobe didn’t pan out, so eNetwork Communication Suite has no such facility after all.

Function for function, the eNetwork Communications Suite is in pretty close competition with Client Access/400 as another means of delivering AS/400 network connectivity. When fully installed with all the options, it uses only about 109MB of disk space: a pretty mean machine with most everything a user will need. Of course, you can optionally configure smaller implementations.

How would I characterize eNetwork Communication Suite? Would I throw away Client Access/400 and use eNetwork Communications Suite instead? Absolutely not! The power of Client Access/400 is in the suite of applications that the package provides, including printer emulation, Graphical Access, AFP printing, File Transfer, Incoming Remote Command, Operational Assistant, and all the other facilities. But for the unique group of users with specific, less robust needs, eNetwork Communications Suite is an excellent value and a good solution. If you find yourself outfitting a slew of laptops for field sales personnel, or constantly wondering how to cut down on the size of user installations, eNetwork Communications Suite may be just the thing. Everything comes on a single CD, there’s only one phone number to call if things go wrong, and nearly everything that a normal business user is likely to need is provided—all without a single Microsoft product in the mix.


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