Java is maturing as a platform for HP 3000 applications, as software firms release solutions that deliver connectivity and improve interfaces by using the object-oriented language as a virtual platform. Software written with Java is designed to take advantage of the built-in networking capabilities of the HP 3000 while redefining the cost of connectivity.
At HP World Minisoft released the first version of its Javelin solution -- software that uses Java to download an on-demand terminal emulator for HP 3000 2392 applications. The Minisoft product is effectively a Java-based version of the MS92 terminal emulator, and it allows users to connect to HP 3000s without a client-based emulation program installed on their local desktops. Instead, Javelin downloads a Java applet in five to 20 seconds into a Web browser on the desktop. The resulting thin client handles HP 3000 terminal emulation tasks.
Minisoft developer Peter Gofton explained that the emulator is downloaded through one compressed file instead of many separate class files like most Java applets. The client browser software then decompresses the files.
Javelin can be hosted on HP 3000s running MPE/iX 4.0 or later. Users click on a Web page link to activate the download of the emulator applet. Minisoft said its solution displays HP 3000 application forms through the Java applet, maintaining the application's designated screen colors, rows, columns and fonts. Javelin won't do the 132-column displays important to MACS II users in its first release, and it doesn't support the VT220 emulation required by the UDMS report writer and Oracle applications on the HP 3000.
But customers won't have to modify existing HP 3000 VPlus application forms to deliver them over browser-based connections using Javelin. It reproduces function keys and special keys as well as performs Windows-grade slave printing. Minisoft's Doug Greenup said the product had been tested against MM/II and MANMAN on the 3000, as well as many VPlus applications, Qedit, Speededit, Powerhouse and Quiz.
"It's a little slower than our Windows product right now," Greenup said, "at least with character-mode applications. Block mode screens are faster." He said the product would be a good fit for inquiry and modest data entry applications, as well as public access to HP 3000 databases in government and university settings or for remote sales staff.
Minisoft engineered several important changes to Java's native behavior to make the Javelin emulator viable. Java ordinarily won't let an application connect to any host other than the one which downloaded the application. Javelin connects to any HP 3000 host even if the application is downloaded from an HP-UX system or another HP 3000.
Javelin also checks for a digital publisher's certificate before connecting to ensure an entrusted connection. If the Java Virtual Machine is hosted on the HP 3000, no security certificate is needed. Java ordinarily wouldn't let an application access local files for security reasons, but an emulator must have this kind of access, so Javelin permits it.
Minisoft officials said Javelin is designed to deliver two of the more compelling benefits that Java promises: reduced cost of connectivity and simplified links for casual users. Companies reduce connection costs by eliminating the overhead of managing client-based terminal emulation. Users who access HP 3000s from outside a company's internal networks can do so without buying an HP terminal emulator. Security continues to be maintained by standard HP 3000 password capabilities.
"You still get an MPE prompt to log on once the emulator connects," said Gofton, "just as you do now. The same security risks inherent in logging on over the Internet -- someone with a sniffer could read your password -- would exist as they do now. So using Java would be no more nor less risky than using the existing emulator."
Javelin provides direct access to IMAGE, KSAM and MPE files from Java applications. Since it operates using Internet "thin clients," Javelin is priced based on concurrent-use licensing -- meaning customers pay only for the greatest number of connections used at one time. Minisoft is starting the product out at a $995 price for a five-user license, $1.750 for 10 users, $3,500 for 25 users and $6,000 for 50 users. It's at the 25- and 50-seat licenses that Javelin starts to beat Minisoft's price for MS92, Greenup points out. Javelin will also be available at a $15,000 unlimited site license. The software operates with Netscape 3.0 or Microsoft Explorer 3.02 browsers on either Windows 95 or Windows NT clients connected over an intranet or the Internet.