Theale, Berkshire-based Integralis Ltd is shipping the Connection System, an intelligent network device for communications between IBM Corp mid-range computers – AS/400, System 38 and System 36 – and the Digital Equipment Corp VAX minicomputer family. The system enables terminal and personal computer support program users to access the VAX system and make use of facilities like VT220 terminal emulation, bidirectional file transfer and Remote Job Entry to VMS batch queues under interactive user or application program control. Also, DEC terminal users and personal computers running Pathworks are provided with access to IBM’s midrange systems. Facilities include 5250 terminal emulation, bidirectional transfer and print job submission. The Connection System supports peer-to-peer networking between the two ranges which enables a program on the IBM system to communicate with one on the VAX using SNA APPC and DECnet task-to-task facilities respectively. The system is a combination of hardware and software which implements both SNA and DECnet protocols, and it uses dedicated concurrent processors to perform network-related operations, data translations and device emulations. By implementing the network protocols, the Connection System appears as a native device to the networks, and it is physically connected through Ethernet for DECnet, and Ethernet, Token Ring or SDLC for SNA.
