WRQ introduces XML, XP to its emulation

Connectivity software’s 9.0 version uses standard for configuration files

WRQ has added the capability to capture and exchange data in Extended Markup Language (XML) in its new Reflection 9.0 versions for HP, Unix and OpenVMS. The product has also been certified for use with the new Windows XP operating system.

WRQ officials said the product passed requirements for Microsoft’s official XP compatibility program, gaining logos for English, Japanese, French and German. By earning the “Designed for Windows XP logo,” WRQ believes Reflection customers are assured they can access their host applications and use the new Windows XP features.

“Our IT customers tell us that managing systems with the limited resources they have today is very difficult, and this challenge becomes even greater when faced with migration requirements,” said Randy Robinson, vice president and manager of WRQ’s Reflection Business Unit. “We are pleased to be delivering the new Windows XP compatibility in a timely fashion that can help make that process easier and more reliable.”

XP was only released on October 25, and it’s not expected to have wide impact on the desktop market at first. An IDC worldwide survey of desktops showed that less than 10 percent are even using XP’s year-old predecessor, Windows 2000; more than 56 percent use Windows 98 or 95.

XML support in the new release may be as novel in the e3000 community as XP installations, but WRQ wanted to break some ground there as well. The company’s Verastream suite was the first place “where we dipped our toe in the waters to provide standard protocols and specifications for settings,” said WRQ’s marketing director Dave Hebert. The XML feature works with some data between host and desktop, as well as the settings files for the WRQ software.

“You can get the information off the host and bring it down to the desktop, where we believe there are a lot more XML-enabled applications, so you can use the data from the HP e3000 on the client side,” said Sue Lindsey, Reflection Market Manager. “That’s why we’ve put it in there. We believe that IT managers are worried about locking into proprietary ways of transferring data. We think XML is a very open way to bring that information to the desktop.”

The first tangible use of XML in Reflection 9.0 is for the product’s integrated settings. “As people are upgrading, saving settings files is a real important thing,” Lindsey said. “We found that XML was a easy way to store those files, because not only can you define what the data and settings are, you can save the settings themselves.

“We already have our configuration files for Reflection for the Web done in XML. Key mappings, colors, terminal settings are all done in XML.”

Product manager Donovan Deakin said XML helps to pull data into the desktop environment. “This is the same thing we’ve been doing for years — pulling data off the 3000 to do a report in Excel,” Deakin said. “If someone wants to configure Reflection for Web and Reflection for Windows, is there a common way to share data for settings. XML is emerging as our way to do that.”

“We’re not going to use it if it’s not useful,” WRQ marketing director Dave Hebert said. “As we go toward a common set of tools to manage both the Web-based and Windows-based products, it’s one of the tools that allows us to produce a common playing field.”

At California’s San Ramon Valley Unified School District, an HP e3000 shop runs applications from Quintessential School Systems with a mix of Windows-based and Web-based access to the e3000. “They needed to expand access to more schools in the district,” said Deakin, “at the same time dealing with a power crisis. So they had to lower their total cost of ownership.”

Deakin said that Reflection for the Web lets the school district deploy access to additional desktops without loading more WRQ Windows software on the PCs. Since San Ramon uses both Windows and Web versions of the WRQ products, Deakin said the school district is a candidate to more closely integrate the two technologies using XML.

“Instead of revolution, it’s renovation,” said Hebert. “You’ve putting new parts in place that work better, and allow the e3000 to communicate better with other parts of the network. When you think of XML and other technologies, it allows us to do that.”

The 9.0 Reflection — available at direct prices which can be discounted down to $114 per seat and a competitive trade-in price of $79 — also uses Reflection Security Components. This is support for Kerberos, SSL and TLS technology to facilitate encryption and authentication with host systems. The e3000 supports SSL in its Secure Apache/iX Web Server.