Microsoft Corp has gone into beta test with a run-time environment code named Cedar that links host-based CICS and IMS transaction processing environments with Microsoft Transaction Server, aka Viper. Cedar will be followed by a companion piece of code known as Thor, now in late alpha test, that provides record- level access to VSAM and AS/400 files from an OLE/DB interface. Microsoft is pushing to have Cedar presentable by May 20, when it’s supposed to publicly debut at Microsoft’s planned Scalability Day – which ClieNT Server News now hears will be called Enterprise Day. The May 20 festivities are to include massive demonstrations of NT-based transaction processing, with a mainframe thrown in to prove NT really can connect to transaction processing’s dominant player, thrusting Cedar into the limelight. Under the Cedar architecture host-based transactions are invoked through object calls on NT Server, with no host code required. Cedar uses automatic object generation, which is supposed to minimize the need to cross-train developers on NT and host software. Thor, meanwhile, lets developers use Visual Basic and VB script to access host-based data that’s needed by applications running on NT. Again that makes life easier for developers, who don’t have to learn mainframe programming just to get at data on legacy systems.
