IBM’s 3270 displays remain ridiculously expensive compared with personal computers, and Rabbit Software Corp, Malvern, Pennsylvania reckons that its Visible Advantage software running on a personal computer is an unbeatable alternative to the 3290 display. The software, which began shipping at the end of last month provides concurrent full-screen display of up to four IBM 3270 host sessions in monochrome or colour – without the need to upgrade to MS-Windows. Rabbit sees the program being used by customer support representatives and network managers – people that need instant access to a variety of data sources to handle inquiries efficiently. All told, Visible Advantage can run up to eight host sessions simultaneously and can choose any four of the eight sessions for concurrent full-screen display on a variety of standard high-resolution monitors. Users can also configure and save up to 10 different screen layouts of their applications as profiles and can switch between them with a single key-stroke – and profiles can be standardised for groups of users. The Visible Advantage costs $500 per personal computer and is available either as a stand-alone product using Token-Ring, coaxial, SDLC or bisynchronous connections, or as a workstation product connected via any RabbitGate local area network gateway. Rabbit Software Corp is now part of the Safeguard Scientifics group of companies.
