The fact that Lloyds Bank Plc has beta test versions of Wall Data Inc’s Rumba micro-to-mainframe software for Microsoft Corp’s Windows to link personal computers to 3090s in IBM 3270 emulation mode suggests that the product from Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington neighbour needs to be taken seriously: Rumba is claimed to give MS-DOS users easy, complete and transparent access to IBM mainframe applications, has a convenient graphical user interface, enabling all corporate users to create automatic mainframe connections and gain immediate use of existing mainframe applications – without prior instruction, special training, or even manuals, the company claims; used with a mouse, it is designed to enable data from any application to be cut or copied to any other application – personal computer to mainframe, mainframe to personal computer or mainframe to mainframe; it also presents a common user interface regardless of the hardware connection between the micro and the mainframe, and supports as many mainframe sessions as the memory can handle; it also supports the creation of macros and remapping of the keyboard for specific applications; out this month in the US, Rumba sells for $600.
