Attachmate boosts emulation

NEW YORK — Attachmate introduced three new emulation products here on Tuesday at the CeBIT show.

All three products are designed to “modernize” existing legacy applications, according to Markus Nitschke, vice president of marketing at Attachmate, in Bellevue, Wash. “Finally, something actually new in the emulation space,” Nitschke quipped.

Attachmate’s new offerings include myExtra Sharp Client, myExtra Presentation Builder, and myExtra Management Control Services.

myExtra Sharp Client is an emulator for C# that enables back-end applications to look like Windows XP, Nitschke said, and includes XP-type functions such as type ahead, dictionary functionality, history, and notepad. The software is aimed at call centers and “anyplace where speed of interaction is relevant,” he said.

Sharp Client also makes it easier for end-users to navigate the applications. The software is currently in a preview phase right now, in which customers are evaluating it, and Attachmate is showing it publicly for the first time here at the show. “Our plan is to have the C# piece launched by the end of this year,” Nitschke said.

Attachmate’s second new offering, myExtra Presentation Builder, enables developers to put a J2EE or HTML interface on top of legacy systems. For instance, customers could tap into several back-end systems to create one HTML screen. Nitschke said that Presentation Builder is currently in production and the company is preparing to formally launch the product.

The final piece that Attachmate detailed at CeBIT, Management and Control Services, enables centralized management of all host-access systems including the clients, both thick and thin. MCS runs directly on the mainframe and allows administrators to deploy to thick clients and to manage and administer those systems.