Tom, IBM doesn't advertise or sell HATS to fulfill the missions you describe! There's nothing in the product brochure, announcement letter, or product documentation to suggest otherwise. We sell (in particular) Rational Host On-Demand (HOD) for your mission profile. We also sell *both* together in the form of Rational Host Integration Solution. (I tend to think that most customers need some of both, because they have different users with different expectations. Or the same users with varying requirements depending on their particular needs at particular times.)
HATS is extremely well suited for circumstances in which you need a *pure* HTML and/or XML solution -- and that's many, many situations. However, that is most certainly *not* when you need a broad variety of classic terminal emulation functions delivered directly to end users, all the way down the pipe. Because that's not what Web browsers can do unless stepping outside the bounds of HTML. On the other hand, are your Web shoppers going to be using PF keys to place their orders, or uploading their orders using IND $FILE? Or trying to tab around a "green screen" on their iPads and iPhones? No, certainly not -- and those are precisely the types of user communities where HATS fits best. Why are you using a screwdriver to perform a hammer's job? :-) What HATS and HOD do have in common is that they're both Web browser-based. HATS takes the purist HTML approach, while HOD runs as a Java applet. (HATS also can be used as a pure Web services solution which doesn't necessarily involve a browser at all.) It's extremely common for Host Integration Solution customers to deploy them in tandem and offer internal users their choice through a common "Door A or Door B?" Web page or Web portal. Extranet users, such as particular business partners or commissioned agents, might also get a choice, but the Web shoppers I mentioned wouldn't be strong candidates for HOD. HATS and HOD also share a huge amount of code, but the former runs back on an application server (which can be WebSphere Application Server for z/OS) and the latter consists of much the same code but delivered via HTTP to the browser. (That HTTP server can be on z/OS, too.) They're much the same code but have very different deployment architectures and very different mission profiles. I would run, not walk, and get a hammer...I mean, HOD. :-) - - - - - Timothy Sipples Resident Enterprise Architect STG Value Creation & Complex Deals Team IBM Growth Markets (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
