Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits
News In Review

September 22, 1997

Synon To Add Java To AS/400

Web to be used as interface for apps

By Rich Levin

S ynon Corp. will announce this week a thin-client feature for its Synon/2E AS/400 development tool at Common, the AS/400 user conference in San Antonio.

With the feature, AS/400 developers can use the World Wide Web as a user-interface tier. In addition, the product supports RPG and Cobol screens. Application presentation layers developed with the upcoming 6.0 upgrade of Synon/2E can be deployed as Java. The object-based Web interfaces run on a Windows NT-based Web server.

The technology, licensed from CST Technologies Inc. and integrated into Synon/2E, reads object models stored in the Synon repository and rolls out what officials from both companies claim is 100% Pure Java JDK 1.1 object source code.

"The Synon/2E developer now has a new generation option, which generates 100% Java code as the presentation layer," says Gideon Hollander, chief technology officer at CST, in Atlanta. "The application layer is untouched-it's the original RPG or Cobol code. At run time, the Java user interface downloads from the Web server to the browser, and re-represents what were green screens as feature-rich graphical interfaces."

Treating Java as a pure application user-interface target represents new thinking among vendors. "We're not encouraging our customers to program in Java," says Alan Zwiren, Synon's director of global IBM relations. "We see Java as a platform target." Gartner Group Inc., an IT advisory firm in Stamford, Conn., estimates that Synon, a $77 million privately held company, has 30,000 Synon/2E deployments worldwide.

While the initial release requires a Windows NT Web se rver, native AS/400 support is promised for a future release.

Synon/2E 6.0 will be available on Oct. 1. Tiered pricing starts at $30,000, and tops out at $105,000. Deployment run times cost $200 to $500 per user.


Back to News in Review

Send Us Your Feedback

Top of the Page


CAREER CENTER
Ready to take that job and shove it?



TechCareers

SEARCH
Function:

Keyword(s):

State:
SPONSOR
RECENT JOB POSTINGS
CAREER NEWS
10 Search Engines You Don't Know About
Go beyond Google and get vertical. These specialized search sites will help you find the business information you need -- fast.

Yahoo Profits Fall 23%, Cuts 1,000 Jobs
Ari Balogh was named to the post of chief technology officer as the companys for a "realignment" of employees.

More articles from our career center

Today's Top News





Specialty Resources

Featured Microsite