ation, advances in Unix middleware, Java, and growing hardware sophistication. Let's look at each challenge separately.
Challenge #1: Unix/NT Integration
NT is becoming a force for Unix resellers to contend with as it makes greater inroads into the realm of desktops, departmental servers, and database servers. But while faster Pentium processors are helping NT break into more large organizations, customers are also demanding bigger systems with fast response times, which is where Unix comes in, according to Marvin Richardson, chief technical officer for MCI Systemhouse (Atlanta).
For example, American Management Systems (AMS, Fairfax, VA) uses Unix systems on the back end for large-transaction, high-volume databases. In some especially large installations, AMS uses Unix servers as a middle tier to integrate front-end clients with legacy systems on the back end, says Jim Simmons, vice
president and director of the AMS performance and testing lab.
AMS created a call-handling system for Airtouch Cellular (Walnut Creek, CA), for instance, that uses Sun servers in the middle for transaction routing and middle-level processing with a Sybase database. Although most of AMS's clients choose a PC front end, Airtouch picked a Smalltalk application with a new business process. The GUI runs on Unix workstations and works with Airtouch's legacy applications.
Simmons says NT also supports X Window System terminals in Unix shops that want Windows applications but don't want to buy full-featured PCs. An NT box with several Pentium Pro processors can support 20 to 30 X terminal users running e-mail, Word, and other PC applications. Forthcoming network computers will also have X terminal capabilities built in, so users will be able to run X, Unix, and Java applications from a Unix server, Simmons adds.
But the relationship between NT and Unix isn't always so cooperative. One example: NT is
squeezing Unix out of the loop when some resellers use Back Office to move data from an AS/400 server to a PC, particularly in data-warehousing applications. With so much emphasis on NT these days, customers are frequently asking resellers to connect new departmental NT servers with existing enterprise Unix servers. This is fairly easy, since both OSes support telnet, FTP, and TCP/IP.
However, David Shaw, an associate with Perot Systems (Dallas), wishes that NT would support NFS but doesn't think Microsoft will make it happen. Many DBMSes, including those from Oracle and Sybase, talk to applications servers running on NT, says Shaw, who specializes in document-imaging and work-flow systems. He adds that any connectivity achievable in a Unix-to-Unix installation is also achievable in an NT-to-Unix system, thanks to third-party software.
Surprisingly, what integrators refer to as "NT tools" are becoming increasingly useful for integrating NT, Unix, and mainframe systems. For example, Back Office is
fairly easy to connect to Unix, asserts Dave Backstrom, who handles technical and sales support for Vital Integration Solutions (Des Moines, IA). The company also uses SNA Server (a part of Back Office) to connect Unix to mainframes and frequently uses NT as the connection between Unix and the mainframe.
"The tool sets are there to put Microsoft applications on the front end and to hook in ties to a back-end system," explains AMS's Simmons. However, one inconvenience of Unix/NT integration is that tools often ship for NT and Windows 95 before they support variations of Unix. Thus, features in some tools often support the NT and Unix environments inconsistently.
Challenge #2: Middleware
Unix resellers need to get disparate systems working together at a high level as some clients request a single GUI to front myriad systems and other customers move to complex applications, such as data mining. At a lower integration level, there's always the familiar problem of making disparate s
ystems work together over a network.
As a result, resellers that specialize in Unix spend much of their time connecting Unix to legacy systems at the high level and to PC desktops at the low level. They use almost every technique imaginable to transform data into the necessary format to get it out of, or into, any platform a customer might happen to have. Screen scraping, SQL calls, and messaging can all be found in a good integrator's bag of tricks.
Thankfully, over the past few years, the market has matured to the point where resellers no longer must write their own middleware for every project. They say they're almost always able to use something off the shelf, occasionally tweak-ing it to map to an odd platform or two. Many resellers also expect Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) -- along with Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) and OLE -- to replace industrial-strength middleware, such as CICS, IBM's MQ Series, and Tuxedo, over the next six months or so.
Another big
change in middleware comes in the Internet awareness that vendors are adding to their products to let integrators tie back-end systems into Web sites and corporate intranets. For example, Federal Express's Web site, which helps customers track packages, actually initiates CICS transactions in response to Internet events, according to
Mark Interrante
, a manager with Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group (Wilton, CT).
There are as many ways to exchange data as there are incompatible systems. For instance, Perot Systems' Shaw uses FTP software running on a mainframe to transfer files back and forth between the mainframe and Unix boxes. He has also used NFS to get images off Unix file servers, since many of the applications he installs cache them there. Perot Systems chooses document-management and work-flow applications with an API or toolkit that makes it easy to talk to a Unix server from a PC environment if the PC network is running a Visual Basic or PowerBuilder application. (Th
e application has to be written to the API or the toolkit.) And Vital Integration has worked frequently at writing SQL interfaces into the mainframe that strip out data and bring it into a smaller RISC box running Unix or NT. "Often we just rewrite part of an application and use SQL to dump data back and forth," Vital Integration's Backstrom says.
Sometimes integrators find they need to write custom code to map data correctly between disparate systems. "If a system or a package has its own data model and has to integrate with a whole bunch of legacy systems, there's no tool that can map everything from Unix to a mainframe environment," explains Prem Mehra, an associate partner with Anderson Consulting (Chicago). Application tools are playing more of a role in this arena. For instance, IBM's Data Propagator takes information from the mainframe side and pushes the changes out to Unix.
CORBA is already finding its way into products, and it is being rapidly adapted by integrators, who believe it will
ease the job of developing complex, distributed applications. Tivoli, for example, already uses a CORBA-based infrastructure to send messages. Also, Netscape has licensed the Internet Interoperable Object Protocol (IIOP), a lighter version of CORBA, and plans to bundle it with the next version of Navigator. That alone means there will be several million CORBA clients by the end of the year, so applications written for intranets will be able to talk directly to CORBA clients without using HTTP. "It provides a cleaner and more efficient way to build distributed object applications," Deloitte & Touche's Interrante says.
DCOM and OLE are not likely to be displaced by CORBA, if only because they're bundled into Microsoft products. Products that bridge the technology between the two, such as Digital Equipment's Object Broker, are likely to become important, according to MCI's Richardson.
Challenge #3: Java
One of the biggest changes that resellers -- and everyone else -- are curre
ntly dealing with is a new development language: Java. Many Unix resellers say they are excited about using Java to write applications that will run anywhere, even without a browser interface. Many resellers are already using Smalltalk to do the same thing but plan to switch to Java or combine the two. (Smalltalk, like Java, runs on a virtual machine and is therefore platform independent.)
But because Java applications require less memory than Smalltalk applications, Java allows resellers, such as Deloitte & Touche, to distribute more processing on the client side and enable more interactivity, Interrante says. Resellers will also save time by not having to port an application to all customer OSes, and they will be able to deploy applications more quickly, more easily, and more frequently by putting up the latest copy on a server. Nobody will have to figure out what's on a user's machine, update drivers, and then install one big new release, Interrante explains.
Version 1.1 of Java, which Sun
is releasing this quarter, has eliminated the bugs in 1.0 and is ready for some of Deloitte & Touche's clients, Interrante says. It's more reliable, has more GUI features, has more flexible security, and offers better database connectivity, he adds.
Challenge #4: Hardware
Prices for Unix hardware continue to drop as many Unix systems now run on Intel boxes rather than costlier RISC machines. This leads a few resellers to worry that hardware will soon become a commodity with little opportunity for value-added business. But others view hardware commoditization as an opportunity for them to devote more time to other matters, such as creating applications to support new business processes.
At the other end of the hardware spectrum, many integrators are excited by nonuniform memory access (NUMA), the architecture that combines symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) with the scalability of massively parallel systems. Perot Systems and MCI have pilot NUMA systems in place, one from Pyrami
d and one a four-way Pentium box running Sequent Unix. Both companies say the NUMA systems offer better performance than SMP systems.
Better Service
In the end, Unix-oriented resellers who embrace change see a refreshing break from the world of minuscule hardware margins and custom middleware development. What's left is the fun stuff: creating better, more ambitious applications for their customers.
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Applications written for intranets will talk directly to CORBA clients without using HTTP. "It provides a cleaner and more efficient way to build distributed object applications."
Cate T. Corcoran is a freelance writer who specializes in Unix and other technologies for large corporations. You can reach her by sending e-mail to
ctcorcoran@aol.com
.
Four Challenges Every Unix Reseller Must Face
