IBM Corp has been sowing versions of its CICS mainframe transaction processing monitor like wild oats among a string of Unix and desktop operating systems, and now NCR Corp is returning the doubtful compliment by putting its Top End transaction monitor – strangely dubbed client-server middleware – up under IBM’s MVS operating system. The aim is to help customers to simplify the development and administration of applications across their mainframe and distributed systems. NCR’s Top End Remote Server for MVS is designed to enable transparent access between Unix and Windows NT systems and applications and services on the MVS mainframe. Top End Remote Server for MVS enables transactions originating on the mainframe to be shared with NCR WorldMark systems, and servers from Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp, Sun Microsystems Inc and others that support Top End. Available next quarter, Top End Remote Server for MVS is being piloted by a large Swiss-based financial institution as a framework for integrating their MVS-based transactional payment processing system with their Unix environment. The company did not give any prices for it.
