platform move, as would data-conversion utilities that provide import/export functions and filters.
Applications that require access to mainframe platforms such as data warehouses require much more robust tools that can resolve differences in file formats, networks, access methods, and platforms. These tools can move data based upon sophisticated selection criteria, reconcile data conflicts according to predefined rules, and operate in both batch and dynamic modes. They can replicate data across platforms on a scheduled or ad hoc basis. In addition, they can act as a workflow engine to move data bidirectionally. Other high-end features include transaction logging and audit trails, multilevel security, and reporting functions.
These multiplatform tools typically only operate at the application and presentation layers. You still have to get the data from the source to the target. For example, a number of tools can exchange data between DB/2 and
Lotus Notes. However, an integrator has to resolve the conversions involved in moving that data from a VSAM data set under MVS, over an SNA network, through a token-ring adapter, to 10Base-T adapters over a TCP/IP network connected to a Windows NT server running a Notes server. These multiplatform tools specify the what, when, where (and sometimes why) of moving data. The "how" is left to the integrator.
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Integration tools, such as Prospero, cut across the traditional divisions of software, hardware, and telecomm devices to create more powerful applications.
Data on the Move
