Lowell, Massachusetts-based Spartacus Technologies Inc – no information on whether it is related to the Spartacus that tried to build a business building servers to run IBM Corp’s VM operating system in New Canaan, Connecticut – has signed a technology partnership with Network Systems Corp under which the two are to pool their TCP/IP knowledge: Spartacus is to contribute upper layer protocols including File Transfer Protocol, Remote Login (Telnet), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, 3270 Terminal Emulation and Network File System, which will be used with Minneapolis-based Network Systems’ TCPexcel. The Spartacus technology is derived from its KNET MVS TCP/IP technology, which is designed to link in IBM Corp mainframes to non-IBM workstations and personal computers on a local network. It is said to do this by implementing TCP/IP protocols on the IBM host, enabling information and application exchanges between the mainframe and the local networks. Under the new agreement, this is to be integrated with TCPexcel, which is already marketed by Network Systems and is designed to lighten the processing load on the mainframe through the use of a TCP/IP co-processor board, an application interface, and software applications including local network backup, disaster recovery, and file transfer between dissimilar systems. It is also said to manage remote printing, tape spooling and job execution. There is no word yet on when the enhanced version of TCPexcel will be released, or what it will cost.
