Emulation and middleware company UniKix Technologies Inc has developed new software to enable mainframe, Unix and NT-based applications using IBM Corp’s CICS transaction processing monitor, to interoperate with the Object Management Group’s Corba object request broker architecture. UniKix says the software, called KixORB, will enable enterprises to build new Java interfaces to any existing CICS application, and integrate and reuse those CICS applications as part of a new Corba application. UniKix, a former Compagnie des Machines Bull SA spin-off that was bought by Fisher Technology Group Inc earlier this year (CI No 3,182), claims the financial savings associated with programming, staffing and other costs of an enterprise could run into millions of dollars. The server is written in Java, and will enable the applications run by some 80% of major organizations around the world to be used in new Corba-compliant object applications and with new client interfaces created in Java. The KixORB server is currently available in a beta test version on Windows NT, and coincides with the company’s announcement of three new CICS-compatible transaction systems to run on NT and Unix, enabling the integration of mainframe and NT applications. The new products are Enterprise UniKix, Distributed UniKix for NT and Unix, and the UniKix Developer for NT. UniKix has its US base in Phoenix, Arizona and a European base in Whiteley, Portsmouth. The company also released new multimedia features for its Web Client Java product, now on release 1.2, that enables direct internet access to CICS transactions on mainframes. UniKix will release UniKix Server at the beginning of next year. Pricing has not been set.
