IBM Corp yesterday announced a stream of communications products and a string of statements of general direction – which means it is less committed to fulfilling them than it is to ones that are not general. Headlines include Escon attachment to the 3745 communications processor, new ACF/NCP and ACF/VTAM releases, and statements on CICS OS/2 2.0 and the 3174. As of June next year, the 3745 Models 210, 310, 410 and 610 will be extended to participate in the Enterprise Systems Connection environment and to provide additional capacity and throughput in Token-Ring environments. The Models 310 and 610 are enhanced to offer up to 16Mb storage. Very high throughputs can be obtained on a Token-Ring network when attached to a new 3746 Expansion Unit Model 900: using this to attach all the Token Rings of a 3745 frees adaptor slots and provides maximum Ethernet and high-speed lines support. A network operator can remotely access the 3745 console functions through the SNA network. Frame Relay support is also added. Installed 3745 Models 210, 310, 410 and 610 can be upgraded to the 3745 Models 21A, 31A, 41A and 61A, which provide the Escon support, increased memory size and high-performance Token-Ring adaptors. In addition, IBM says it plans to extend the 3746 Model 900 to provide more Escon adaptors and more high-performance Token-Ring adaptors, and to give the 3745 Model 170 the Escon adaptors and new Token-Ring adaptors now announced in the 3746 Model 900. On the 3174 terminal concentrator, the company promises to expand its role as a multiprotocol terminal and communication server. Future enhancements will extend the 3174’s range of multiprotocol communications capabilities and align with the Networking Blueprint for the 90s, which enhances client-server systems. Options will include Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol, and Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking.
