Computer Marketing Plc is offering a new licensing programme in the UK for the Irmalan V2.01 family of communication products from Digital Communications Associates Inc. The Camberley, Surrey-based company is Digital Communications’ sole distributor in the UK, although the latter emphasises that it never appoints exclusive distributorships for its personal computer-to-mainframe connection products. The Irmalan gateway supports all IBM NetBIOS-compatible local area networks, and the server gateways support PS/2s and IBM-compatibles. The three server products available under licence are the Distributed Function Terminal (DFT) gateway 2, the Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC) gateway 2, and the 802.2 gateway. The software, which is also available as a stand-alone version, is loaded on to the server and subsequently downloaded to the networked personal computers as required. Each gateway is a complete package comprising gateway and workstation hardware and software, file transfer software, applications program interface, and printer emulation software. Computer Marketing insists that the Irmalan Server hasn’t just undergone a repackaging exercise, but is providing a number of enhancements. The company cites full screen Model 5 support for VGA adaptors, logic numbers displayed on the status line of the client printer, and the addition of Irmalan Lite low memory usage emulation. The entry-level system is the DFT gateway 2. As with the other products, users can copy the software as often as required, but only pay for the number of users that require simultaneous access. The gateway is designed for small local networks. It facilitates connection via coax cabling to a port on the DFT-configured 3174 cluster controller. It costs UKP1,200, and licence conversion kits to increase the number of concurrent users from 16 to 64 or 128 are available. Computer Marketing describes the SDLC 2 gateway as a smart card designed for larger remote networks. It supports up to 128 users, and has an on-board 80186 processor. It costs UKP2,800 for 16 concurrent users, UKP4,400 for 64 users, and UKP5,499 for 128 users. The 802.2 gateway enables workstations to run on a direct attached Token Ring in logical unit mode, and it handles SNA host access activity for the whole network. The 802.2 can be used as a 3270 bridge between a direct attached Token Ring or Ethernet local network, enabling 3270 sessions to be passed from one to another without establishing a separate gateway from the network into the front-end processor. A stand-alone workstation, using the same software as the rest of the Irmalan family, is available for users that don’t want to run the 802.2 in logical unit mode or don’t need to share applications across the local network. It supports up to five concurrent host sessions, and has 3278 or 3279 terminal emulation. Computer Marketing has also announced that Digital Associate’s 10Net local area network is being enhanced. V4.1 will have more than 640Kb memory, and Unix communications will be provided with a TCP/IP option.
