It is part of IBM’s strategy to protect its base by quarantining the AS/400 and Systems Application Architecture from Unix, which it would like to confine strictly to an engineering workstation ghetto – but if IBM doesn’t provide the integrating links, third parties will, and already it is starting to happen. Yesterday, Bothell, Washington-based Emerald Technology Inc, which offers a utility to simplify transferring System 36 workloads to AS/400 and claims to be the market leader in 5250 terminal emulation products – last November it announced an AS/400 PC Support compatible version (CI No 1,049), said it had merged with SST Data Inc, a company Milwaukee, Wisconsin company that specialises in Unix-to-IBM AS/400, System 36 and 38 communications systems. Emerald, which is the acquiring company, stresses that the combination strengthens the tie between IBM’s proprietary Systems Application Architecture and the open systems architecture provided by Unix. Products from SST Data include the Handshake line, which links Unix and IBM mid-range systems and is used by such as Sears, Roebuck & Co, Union Pacific Railroad and Reynolds Metal and others – and AT&T Co is to remarket Handshake with its 3B2 and 6386 Unix machines. The company is an IBM Business Partner, with the only IBM-approved link between the AS/400 and Unix systems.
