Connectivity vendor WRQ (206.217.7100) had both good news and bad to offer on the relative performance of HP's Telnet/iX server versus WRQ's NS/VT package, Reflection Suite for HP. The good news is that HP's new bundled Telnet doesn't add any more network overhead than the hardware-based Telnet HP has offered for HP 3000s. The bad news is that the network overhead is still as much as 20 times greater than NS/VT.
Of course, that bad news is relatively good news from WRQ's perspective as it rolls out the 5.5 version of its popular Reflection Suite for HP. The $599 WRQ package, designed to support the 32-bit world of Windows 95 and Windows NT, easily outperforms HP's bundled alternative. The 3000-native NS/VT is the fastest virtual terminal protocol for MPE/iX connections -- a foregone conclusion considering the Telnet competition is an open systems standard designed to work with nearly every computer. Only the margin of victory is of interest in this competition.
WRQ clocked Telnet/iX Server, which is bundled with the 5.5 operating system, against its own Reflection Suite for HP. The results show the same number of packets being passed in the new software-only HP solution versus the hardware-based Telnet Access Card. This measure of network traffic shows one of the chief advantages of using NS/VT: speed. A 40-character line entered in a character-mode application with a one-line reply from the host generates 85 packets using Telnet/iX. The same transaction under NS/VT generates only 4 packets.
Throughput is another matter. WRQ's Steve Fourette said the throughput was "dramatically different" between the hardware-based and software Telnet solutions. WRQ wasn't willing to characterize a typical application and therefore show specifically how much slower Telnet/iX would appear to a user than NS/VT.
The savings in network overhead is countered by an increase in the cost of connectivity software. NS/VT is available from several connectivity vendors since HP began licensing the protocol in 1993. Even with a street price 20 percent below list, HP's Telnet/iX solution bundled with the MPE/iX operating system wins hands down. But WRQ says that Telnet connectivity "may cost you more in the long term, if a large number of your users require access to HP 3000 applications over the network. In this case, you probably have to purchase additional processing power" to handle the network overhead.
Program compatibility is another advantage WRQ cites in offering an NS/VT solution. Even through VPlus block mode applications are supported across Telnet/iX, both HP and WRQ have found it's good policy to test other "home-grown" block mode programs for Telnet/iX compatibility. In some cases, WRQ's testing of such applications yielded "unexpected results" over Telnet connections.
That kind of compatibility marches in lockstep with features as WRQ's primary benefits over bundled alternatives. In addition to selling connectivity against a free HP alternative, WRQ is also selling its TCP/IP stack against a free alternative from Microsoft. As any company in such a situation would do, WRQ is discussing what its extra-cost product provides in extra value.
Reflection Suite for HP includes more than the simple connectivity Telnet/iX offers. In addition to items such as Reflection Basic, an HP 700/98 terminal emulator and network diagnostic programs, the suite merges WRQ's award-winning TCP/IP Smart Stack with NS/VT. WRQ has made headway with evaluators and reviewers while breaking into the stack market during the past three years, offering features and applications that aren't available from the included Windows 95 Winsock stack.
For example, using the Winsock stack with Reflection to make a network connection frequently results in the stack trying to dial up over a modem. The Microsoft Winsock stack must dial when the stack comes up, while WRQ's Smart Stack waits until a packet must be sent and so makes the appropriate connection. WRQ's separating of the dial up logic from the stack is one of the more noticeable nuances in choosing a stack at a price versus a stack that's included.
WRQ also sells the product on the benefit of having a connectivity application, stack and protocol all tuned to the nuances of the HP 3000 system for better compatibility and throughput. For example, its NS/VT connectivity is still supported against non-RISC HP 3000s.
WRQ also supports the nuances of 3000-specific networking in its stack to make more efficient connections on the fly. WRQ's stack supports TCP/IP over IEEE 802.2 networks, the default networking protocol for HP 3000s instead of Ethernet frame types. It also supports the HP proprietary Probe protocol for name resolution and verifying network connections. WRQ also supports a TCP PSH bit, HP's version of an acknowledge bit, as well as support for Resource Sharing.
The suite also includes a set of networking applications, such as an NFS client, a drag-and-drop FTP client and server, a Web client and server for creating departmental intranets or linking with the Internet, a mail client for reading and receiving Internet mail and a Usenet newsreader.
WRQ customers on a maintenance contract will receive the new version of Reflection Suite for HP at no charge. Upgrading a copy of Reflection 1 to the new suite averages $150 to $200 per copy.