New Chips Challenge Pentium II AUGUST 1997 9 Powerful Clusters Compared p. 126 Databases: Not Your Father’s DB/2 p. 133 e of Information Technology Today EXTEND YOUR ENTERPRISE : ne digital cellular phones, hand-held PCs, and ■ 9 770360 52802 5 : £2.50 UJL/UL8.000 ITALY/ATS 67/53.50 U.S.A. Bcation of The McGraw-Hill Companies 0360-5280 At Micron, we build computer systems that make everyone's work easier. We pack our hardy Micron™ Vetix™ Mxi full of features like redundant power supplies and the latest high-degree, fault-tolerant components, including hot-swappable hard drives and more. And we make our entry level Lxi models expandable, reliable and tough. Complement our servers with a Micron ClientPro™ desktop. We've designed it to be easy to set up, easy to upgrade and easy to network, so you reduce potential downtime and lower your total cost of ownership. For the employee on the go, try our TransPort™ Xke notebook. A true desktop replacement, we've loaded the Xke with a high-performance graphics accelerator, active matrix screen, upgraded CD-ROM, tons of memory and more. And, our TransPort Vlx offers flexibility and sleek styling for an impressive price. Call now to order. www.micronpc.com Circle 195 on Inquiry Card. MICRON ELECTRONICS THINKING OUT OF THE BOX 4i August 1997. vol. 22, no. 8 COVER STORY flISilUi BUILDING NETWORK APRS By Dick Fountain and John Montgomery 1 Three-tier development is getting a kick in the pants from components and the Web. MANAGING DATA 69 By Udo Flohr Some tips and prod¬ ucts that will help / you avoid anarchy. NewMainboards from Taiwan 32IS6 Early P1I boards might not bring huge speed gains. R/3 Soars on NT 32IS13 The OS is becoming an excellent platform for large-scale applications. BUILDING NETWORK APPS 77 By Barry Nance Transaction processing monitors keep Web servers humming. SPECIAL REPORT EXTENDING THE ENTERPRISE Air War 93 TDMA, CDMA, GSM—from this alphabet soup will come tomorrow’s wireless network. A Kinder, Smaller Windows 103 Porting to hand-held PCs is nothing to dread. MANAGING DATA l 2 0 Beats I/O Bottlenecks 85 By Toni Thompson A new architecture promises a big boost in server performance but not a big boost in cost. 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 ILLUSTRATION: VICTOR GAOC 1997 EDITORIAL LAB REPORT WHAT'S NEW 10 INBOX 13 BITS New x86 Processors 20 Recycling Digital Ink 22 Faster Mac Bus 24 Enterprise Apps Use Web 26 Lanier on VR 32 EVAL VOICE RECOGNITION I Say! An Understanding Application 33 Dragon’s NaturallySpeaking. OBJECT DATABASE What’s in Store for the Web 34 Object Design’s ObjectStore 5. COLOR PRINTER Laser Color, Inexpensive and Quick 37 Xerox’s DocuPrint. SCALABLE UPS Never-Ending Power Supply 38 APC’s Symmetra UPS. HARDWARE Laptops Get Serious 118 By Michelle Campanale Ten hand¬ held PCs that do many of the things you used to need a big¬ ger machine to do. WEB PROJECT Persistent Java 109 By Jon Udell A servlet-based group calendar teaches some lessons about Java persistent storage. JAVATALK Write Cosmic Code 113 By Rick Grehan SGI’s Cosmo Code, for 3-D development, is a good IDE. CHAOS MANOR Some Things Make You Feel Stupid 139 By Jerry Pournelle Win 95 rains plagues upon Jerry. But Softimage’s graphics wizardry cheers him up. SOFTWARE Wolfpack Howls Its Arrival 126 By BYTE Editors Microsoft’s extension for NT Server will enable built-in clustering, bringing a new degree of reliability and fault tolerance. REVIEWS DATABASE IBM Builds a Better DBMS 133 IBM’s enhanced DB 2 5.0. AUTHENTICATION SERVER All the Web’s a Stage 135 Trusted Web, a one-step authen¬ tication server. E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS Speedy File Delivery 137 Tumbleweed’s Posta. E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY IBM’s Digital Shrinkwrapper 138 An early look at Cryptolope. DATABASES Data Warehousing’s Credibility Crisis 43 By Richard Hackathorn “We’ve got a problem. The VP of finance is questioning our reports.” OPERATING SYSTEMS Building a Better Interface with Java 45 By Andy Turk Internet Foundation Classes www.byte.com CORE lets you add useful UI elements to applets. NETWORKS Faster Internet Access 47 By Jonathan E . Brickman By caching name/address trans¬ lations on your own system, you can speed your way to Web sites. CPUs Atomic Power Speeds Data into the Home 51 By Dick Pountain A new family of chips helps handle Digital Subscriber Line connections between the cen¬ tral office and the home. PROGRAMMING Fast and Flexible Access to Databases 53 By Rick Dobson Microsoft’s ODBCDirect gives programmers better ways of processing ODBC data sources. 163 AST’s quiet Pentium machine, Kai’s PhotoSoap image cleanser, digital cameras, pro¬ gramming tools, and more new hardware and software. Advances and Retreats in Computing 168 By Marc Abrahams The programmer’s best friend and Cyber Babe Watch. SERVICE Reader Service Inquiry Reply Cards 160A-B Index to Advertisers Alphabetical Order 160 Editorial Index by Company 162 PROGRAM LISTINGS FTP: ftp.bytc.com From BIX: Join “listings/ frombyte97" and select the appropri ate subarea (i.e., **aug97 H ). THE BYTE WEB SITE and THE VIRTUAL PRESS ROOM http://www.byrc.com BYTE (ISSN 0300 5260)» pubiohed monthly by The McGtawH* Companies. Inc. U S subsenbor rate $20 05 per year. In Canada and Menco. $34 05 per year. European surface mad subsenptoon* $60. armed $85 Non-Europoanaubecnptione.$60auHacemador $86 aamad. Al tor«gn subsenptone are payable « U.S. ♦und* that can be drawn on a US bank Smgtocopme $3 05 m the U S. $4 05 m Canada. Emcutne. EcMonal. Gradation, and Advertomg Oflcoa 24 Hartwel Ave. Leungton. MA 02173 Penodcals postage paid at Peterborough. NH. and addrttonai madmg offices. Postage paid at Wmmpeg. Manitoba. Canada Poet kntomaeonai Publcitors Mad Fhxluct Sales Agreement No. 246402 Regelated tor GST as The McGtaw HS Compamos. Inc.. GST • 123075673 Postmaster: Send addeaa ch sngae and K d lbnentqueeaona to BYTE Subscriptions. P.O Boa 552. Hightslown. Ni 08520. Pnnted in the United States of America. AUGUST 1997 BYTE 3 CONTENTS BY PLATFORM INDEX WINDOWS x86 Competition Heats Up .20 Cyrix’s new 6x86MX CPU will result in lower prices for high- powered PCs this summer. Also: a new Pentium-class chip from Centaur and the next wave of PC processors. I Sayl An Understanding Application .33 Dragon’s software represents a significant advance in continu¬ ous-speech recognition. Air War .93 You want to link your mobile workers using digital cellular technology. We try to help you choose the right approach: TDMA, CDMA, or GSM. A Kinder, Smaller Windows .103 Porting from Win32 to Win¬ dows CE can be fairly simple— if you know what to look for. Hand-Helds Get Serious ...118 We test 10—six of which run Windows CE—and find they’re often as good as a laptop. Wolfpaek Howls Its Arrival .126 Microsoft’s clustering technol¬ ogy for NT Server will bring a new level of reliability. IBM Builds a Better Database. ..133 Now available to NT users: Big Blue’s big database, DB2. Some Things Make You Feel Stupid .139 Windows 95 really bugs Jerry this month. Plus, a visit to Soft- image, developers of the amaz¬ ing 3-D graphics software. MACINTOSH Champagne Performance at Beer Prices .24 What a difference a faster bus makes. PowerComputing sets a new standard in Mac price/per¬ formance with its PowerCenter Pro 210. IBM Builds a Better DBMS .133 Mac clients can now access DB2 data. UNIX IBM Builds a Better DBMS .133 A variety of Unix servers can run the latest version of DB2. NETWORKING Never-Ending Power Supply .38 Hell hath no fury like a net¬ work administrator after a power outage. Atomic Power Speeds Data into the Home .51 Set-top boxes may soon handle digital video over POTS wires, thanks to ATML’s new Digital Subscriber Line technologies and embedded processors. Web Components ...56 Componentware and the Web—making it easier to build three-tier applications. Intelligent Intranets .69 Here are some ways to avoid a network of chaos. Guaranteed Delivery .77 Multiple application servers and database servers without transaction-oriented middle¬ ware? Bad idea. I 2 0 Beats I/O Bottlenecks .85 A new architecture promises to boost server performance but not bust your budget. Air War .93 You want to link your mobile workers using digital cellular technology. We try to help you choose the right approach: TDMA,CDMA, or GSM. Wolfpaek Howls Its Arrival .126 Microsoft’s clustering technol¬ ogy for NT Server will provide your network with a new degree of fault tolerance. INTERNET/WEB Web Sites to Gain Security, Efficiency .24 What’s next on Webmasters’ shopping lists? What’s in Store for the Web .34 Web applications that play to millions need fast direct access to clusters of linked items. ObjectStore 5 can help. Building a Better Interface with Java .45 Internet Foundation Classes offers cross-platform UI wid¬ gets whose behavior you can override to suit your needs. Faster Internet Access .... 47 Here’s how you can bypass congested Domain Name Servers, speeding your access to Web sites. Web Components .56 Componentware and the Web arc changing the development of enterprise software. Intelligent Intranets. ..... 69 Without proper management, anarchy will rule. Guaranteed Delivery .77 Use transaction processing monitors to keep your server humming. Persistent Java .109 After building a servlet-based group calendar, our Web designer explores ways to bind Java programs to persistent storage. All the Web’s a Stage.... 135 Despite its intriguing approach, you might not want to trust Trusted Web yet. Speedy File Delivery on the Web.. .137 Posta can take the hassle out of sending e-mail attachments. IBM's Digital Shrinkwrapper .138 We take an early look at Cryp¬ tolopes—technology for selling content on the Internet. ActiveX .34, 56 Authentication .135 Cellular technology .93 Chips .20, 51 Clustering .126 Color printing .37 Components .56 Cosmos .113 Data Access Objects .53 Data warehousing .43 Databases ... 34,43, 53,133 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) .51 E-commerce .138 E-mail .137 Graphics .113,139 Hand-held computers ... 118 Intelligent I/O (l 2 0) .85 Internet Foundation Classes .45 Internct/Wcb -20,45.47, 56, 69,109,135,137,163 Intranets .69.135 Java. ..45, 56.109.113.163 Laser printers .23,37 Mobile computing .. 93,103, 118,163 Networking .38, 56, 85, 126,137 ODBCDirect . 53 Objects. . 34,45. 53, 56.109, 113 Operating systems .. 47,103, 126,139 Programming .... 10,23, 53, 56,109,113 Security . . 24, 69 Servers . 56.77,85.126 Servlets . 109 Speech technology .33 3-D . 113,139 Transaction processing ... 77 UPS . 38 Virtual reality .32 VRML . 113 Windows CE . 103,118 Wireless . 93 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com Reliability you can depend on Sentinel keys are consistently the industry's most reliable, with performance records far better than any other hardware key. A strong commitment to R&l) Rainbow invests 11% of its revenue in research and development to make the world's leading protection even better. Quick and easy to implement The SentinelWizard ,v GUI is an innovative software tool that guides you easily through the implementation process. Superior security and flexibility Proprietary ASIC technology, multiple encryption algorithms in a single key and more make Sentinel the most flexible and secure protection available. Compatible with your software Rainbow's partnerships with Apple, Microsoft and IBM ensure the security of your software on any platform today and in the future. Manage network licenses NetSentinel is the only software protection to undergo rigorous testing by and receive approval from Novell. The industry's highest quality Rainbow is the first software protection supplier with ISO certified quality standards. Truly transparent protection IX»signed to |>erform invisibly to end users, Sentinel automatically identifies system drivers and is trans|>arent to |>eriphera!s. RAINBOW ii11 it 11 ii i i * D MacOS Why Sentinel protects more software than all other dongles combined ! Over 11 million Sentinel" keys protect software worldwide. In fact, 55% of all protected software has a Sentinel key, from Rainbow Technologies. Sentinel is easy to implement, transparent to your end-users and backed by the world leader. When you need on-time delivery and global support, you need Sentinel. Only Sentinel gives you leading-edge technology, ISO 9002 certified quality and over 99 w % reliability. Protect your software investment. Order a Sentinel Developers Kit now. Each kit comes compjete with technical documentation, software drivers, utilities and a Sentinel key. Call the Rainbow office or distributor nearest you today or visit www.rainbow.com. SEfUfflEL Software Protection The *1 solution to piracy Circle 143 on Inquiry Card. RAINBOW l l c i i i i • i i l i ALGERIA kfAK (713) 3 41 77 36 ARGENTINA uy Ad, 5 A (54) | 80MS 16 AUSTRALIA .\N«6I> 396(90 0455 BilGIUMAUXIMimKC. ,(37)9 271 0383 BRAZIL: MB hi* (SS) II S/4 8686 CHILE: !(>!• -Ii (56?) 7 35 4456 CHINA (t«U) i'.Hl-udM9tellMM> Pjrt llwliorms Con**ny (86W1 6417 8626 CHINA (North) 1,71/ 7772 X7401 CHINA (SmilhoMtl Mwivliro IwLith Co . lid 755 L70VKM, - ,4 l 4S0 ‘ 7 ' 100 # FAJl: (7M) 450 7450 * EMA,L wnlinHWrainbow com • FRANCE: (!3) 1 41 43 29 00 • GERMANY: (49) 89 32 17 98 0 • U.K.: (44) 1932 579200 0199/ R.„»U»w Tethnototpcy 6x Vmlwrl. S*nNnrlS»ipr«Pto h VnKnHVW/jrd Mr irtjnlrtrd cl RmhExiw Tnhnufcx)*, AN oEhn product tumrx Mr property at thnr rnprctM* mmn COLOMBIA ( omliudiU (ST) I 677 6011 CZECH REPUBLIC: '. AON Ml (4X8 731 OK 57 ECUADOR: MBIUNOS A (593) 4 30875) EGYPT: /f DAN ADS (202) 24H 8*W4 GREECE: PyNCompiArr SA (101)924 17 33 GUATEMALA (502) J 304006 HONG KONG: AII.Hw.L lit ImoNx* c ompany (852) 2333 0626 HUNGARY »'.4pMn> Kit (16) 26 481 236 MENA ANC Co (91) 11 4615680 •COMMA fl Ncrrpfctfrrtrtunfc/WI 325 N6 IRAN: GAM IlKtrmi (9R) 21 82 44 001 ITALY. III l IWXSA SPA (3*1) 23 36 231 ITALY: W.iM.tn. (30) 30 24 4 I I JAPAN: (AftVxy Co. lid (81) S2 972 6S44 JORDAN: COG Incpwrrmj (962) 68 6 3 861 KOREA: ^ (82) 2 528 3578 LEBANON (961) 1 494312 MALAYSIA: I ,nt *tn SyMctm Dfucpi (M) Sdn 131 mI (60) 3 24 I 1 188 MEXKO rtpnConp.SA drC V (57)46710 791 NETHERLANDS: InaCom(31) 74 2430 105 NEW 21 ALAND: VXtojrr fcMQn (6419 378 9790 PERU OpenSol I (SI) I 224 2125 PHILIPPINES: Mann«ott fectttoiogy Corporation (63) 2 81 3 4 162 PORTUGAL: < OMIllA(3SI) I 941 65 07 RUSSIA: Muftnolt Ml (7 095)1 76 35 84 SAUDI ARABIA . 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A Dmum «/ 7 hfSkCrmw I fill r /wyumn Copyright c 1997 by The Mc Graw- Hill Companies. Inc. All rights reserved. BYTE and (SU! are registered trade¬ marks of The McGraw-Hill Companies. Inc. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Member Audit Bureau of Circulation Founder: James H. McGraw( 1860-1948) l WoM.Prnd'nldndCt.i'IOp'w'ingOm,,, M.roMW Mrfir.... Nl; S,ororWcrft««*».oo«<<*nr™^^^^^ Chiet Financial Ollictr Robert J B»h«h; Senior V,cr hnilknt. Imnury Optrotkm: fr»"F 0 Prn«l,w. h'SHknl. Monoolion Services Croup. Michael K. Hehir. Croup Wee Prnidnt. Into Technology and Communications Group: Kevin C. Harold. 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com You were expecting a new version. But you weren't expecting this. www.microsoft.com/ie4/preview/ Where do you want to go today? www.microsoft.com/ie/ Microsoft 01997 Microsoft Corpoi.ition AN n0Us reserved. Microsoft and Where do you want to fto today'* are refiystered trademarks and the Microsoft Internet Explorer kofto n a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. J TRUE WORKSTATION PERFORMANCE .. WITHOUT THE RISC. THE MICRON” POWERDIGM'" WORKSTATION PERFORMANCE YOU CAN REALLY SINK YOUR TEETH INTO. POWERDIGM Xu • Dual InleT 200MHz RenfonT Pro processors •64MB EDO ECC RAM • Number Nme Imagine 128 senes I video card. 4MB VRAM • 4GB Ultra WWe SCSI-3 hard drive * 12/2QX variable speed SC9 COHOM drive •19" Hitachi SuperScan CM751 (18" deplay) 26dp color monitor $5499 Bib feise$l73/mo Meet the Micron Powerdigm. Finally, you can experience the best of both worlds. A powerful, Intel processor based workstation, the Powerdigm makes it possible to perform all of your tasks on a single computer - at home, the office, or in the studio. The Powerdigm executes business, design and technical tasks with command, yet has the flexibility to run popular PC programs such as Microsoft" Office. Designed for the most demanding of users, the Powerdigm excels in graphic design, engineering graphics, digital imaging, desktop publishing, Web design, financial analyses, CAD, and more. And, the Diamond Fire GL video cards make 3D imaging an affordable -?ality. All of this and Micron’s unrivaled customer service and support. So go ahead. Meet the Powerdigm. And see why our competition has met its match. AVAILABLE POWERDIGM FEATURES & OPTIONS • Support tor Dual Renbum Pro 200MHz processors •Memory upgradable to 512MB ECC EDO RAM • Supports multiple Ultra \Mde SCSI-3 hard drives •Supports dual monitors • Diamond Fire GL series of Open GL professional 30 accelerators •Iomega Jaz SCSI drive with 1GB removable cartridge MICRON POWER- WARRANTY 5*ycar knitted warranty on mk r opr ofTt io r and main memory 3 year landed parts only system warranty (1-year lor Transport Yu) I 2* or 3-year optional on-site sendee agreement lor Micron de sk top and server systems 30 days ol free Micron suppled software support for Meron desktop systems; 3 optional network operating system modem resolutions included (or Mcron server systems 30 day money back pokey 24-hour technical support The (oregon is subject to and quahfml by Moon's standard hmded warranties and terms and conations ol sale. Terms and conditions o I sale may vary lor specific configurations Copes of the hmded warranties may be obtained on our Web site or by cafengUcron • 32 voce wavotabfe stereo sound with speakers •Fast Ethernet 10/100 PQ network adapter • TooMreemotower • Microsoft lnle«mouse' v • 104*ey keyboard • McrosoftWndowshfr Wbrkstnton • 5^ear/3-year Micron Rawer'*' imited warranty tfcwn Sates Mors Monfn 6am ICpm. Sal /arrvSpm ratMOMi 304* aanrv tec* poke* aol ncfcfe «te» tw/X me MuOimhS lidtoMawEltclnw cMwWlimaMctAMomWt^ iMMpcMtewtfaifeaMlilMM Th» MX HvO* lay «nd IVwWlC«pcnto> IAcmmR. WMnrt WnOoMNT ted r» Wntm top m W 9 *k«te <4 IIoomO Cawton M atm wa tumult W njutma M«uls m On * •** Circle 159 on Inquiry Card. MICRON ELECTRONICS 800 * 486*2059 www.micronpc.com Serve Yourself Writing custom server applications was often daunting—until now. *ve been writing in this space a lot recently about a golden age of server applications that we’re hopefully entering. When I started thinking about that, I had in mind Web-enabled commercial pack¬ aged applications. But as you’ll read in our Cover Story, “Web Components,” there’s every reason to believe we’ll see an even more dramatic change in custom- built server applications. For all its successes, the client/server revolution was a dramatic failure in elim¬ inating the application backlog. During the mainframe era, generating a simple report required someone to write a pro¬ gram. The PC improved on that, but few large-scale business-critical applications migrated to the stand-alone PC. Many companies were still three years behind on applications development when client/server computing hit the scene. If your backlog is less than three years, chances are management just stopped approving anything that takes too long. That’s why RAD-style (rapid applica¬ tion development) fat client applications have been all the rage, though they’re not always the answer. Custom logic on the server has been mostly confined to a con¬ trollable number of database triggers and stored procedures. Anything more complex usually gets done by packaged applications, today’s equivalent of the minicomputer applica¬ tion. There are now millions of users of client/server packaged applications such as Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft HRMS human-resources software, 1 .otus Notes, and SAP’s R/3 business applications run¬ ning on Windows NT, OS/2, or Unix on IAN servers. Yet these don’t fit every busi tiess need. If there’s one lesson from the business reengineering craze, it’s “fit the technology to the business need.” The problem still remains: How do you design, build, test, and maintain good server applications in a timely fashion if you’re not a software company with hun¬ dreds of highly skilled C programmers (or their equivalent)? Two technologies are changing the power equation: the Web and components. The Web settles the issue of client interface. Components and scripting, for the first time, bring high-productivity programming to the 80 percent of server code that doesn’t need highly tuned,compiled ('code. F'ven better, you can build components your¬ self using higher-level languages. We have been learning this lesson at BYTE as we build our own intranet. We’ve built newsgroup-style internal discussion groups that let our geographically dis¬ persed editors work collectively. Dissat¬ isfied with the first generation of Internet calendaring software, we’ve assembled a TCP/IP. An analogous list for early 1990s client/server computing might be C, 4CU.S, database, and Net Wire. The lists are com¬ plementary: Don’t forget everything you know, only what never worked anyway. More than any development philoso¬ phy to date, componentized Web-server We have been learning this lesson at BYTE as we build our own intranet. simple but effective group calendar. As we look at our work flow and data gather¬ ing (in some ways we’re just an assembly line, with an output of a unit per month), we’ve opted for a combination of pack¬ aged software and homegrown Webware. In many cases, we’ve accomplished a lot with a pleasantly small development ef¬ fort (for greater detail, follow Jon Udell’s Web Project each issue). That’s because we’re leveraging what’s already been done in Internet and Web technology, as well as a good deal of client/server technology. This style of development is not about learning one tool and using it for everything. What’s important about our tools is that they use only a few key technologies: HTML, NNTP, SMTP, components, scripting. applications lend themselves to modular design and deployment. They even lend themselves to modular learning. No need to hole up for six weeks studying an arcane methodology. Do something useful, learn from it, improve it, add to it, scale it up. Eventually, faster hardware will re¬ move the performance issues behind componentized server programming. For now, you can still be a hero. Automate a time-consuming task. Automate several, and you’ve got a whole process licked. Mark Schlack, Editor in Chief mschlack&bix.com 10 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com PHOTOGRAPH: KELUE WALSH C 1997 If you really care for your software protect it. SMARTKEY THE INTELLIGENT SOFTWARE PROTECTION. ^ TOP SECURITY makes it impossible to clone the key through the use of an ASIC chip. g TRANSPARENCY also allows printers or other peripherals to lx? connected to the parallel port. g ALGORITHMIC INTERROGATION gives a higher security level compared to fixed-answer type interrogation devices. g IDENTIFICATION CODE, personalized for each user, is factory set on each key. g PROGRAMMABLE SECURITY CODES can be user-programmed using the supplied utilities. g INTERNAL MEMORY holding up to 416 bytes of read-write non-volatile memory. g DAISYCHAIN enables up to 20 SmarteyKey and more to be installed on a same parallel port. g ANTIVIRUS FUNCTIONS are implemented through the automatic encryption supplied. g DATA PROTECTION is allowed through the encryption of data files associated with the protected applications. g COMPLETE SOFTWARE is provided for manual and shell protection from DOS to WIN NT and UNIX. Eutron COMPUTER SECURITY SOLUTION EUTRON mm Bergamo e-mail infofirlan.com Circle 160 on Inquiry Card. The Nonexistent NC After reading everything I could find on network com¬ puters (NCs), I have come to several conclusions: The S500 NC does not exist. If and when it is deployed, it will be of lim¬ ited use, especially in the business community. Machines useful in the business environment will cost about $ 1200 to $ 1500. There will be no significant savings in the hardware investment. There are potential savings in administration and main¬ tenance, but the hidden costs of creating the support sys¬ tems are not yet clearly understood. The savings most quickly realized will be in central¬ ized administration. Version control of the installed soft¬ ware base will become sim¬ pler. (Current products pro¬ vide all or parts of the solution to software distri¬ bution and version control.) The end user must surren¬ der much flexibility. Some types of customization will be difficult, and installation of unauthorized software will become a political issue. Many applications might have to be rewritten. Cus¬ tom client/server applica¬ tions might not be support¬ able on some types of NCs. While the NC concept is fascinating, it is not truly viable for the business user at present. Bruce E. GoligbHy Principal Software Engineer Carnegie Mellon University IfgOl (wandrew.cmu.edu I don 't disagree with all your points, but / think you 've overl(H)ked a few things. Although reduced administra¬ tion is considered to be the larger benefit, $1200 fora decked-out NC is about half the average price now paid by corporations for a similar PC, and NCs probably won *t have to be replaced as often. There's a myth that PCs repre¬ sent flexibility and freedom, and NCs the opposite. Most companies already dictate what kind of PC users get, how it is configured, and what kind of software must (and must not) be installed on it. Many corporations also monitor Internet use. NCs are much more secure than PCs because they don 't persis¬ tently store information. Most of the critical informa¬ tion amassed by companies is stored on centralized comput¬ ers. NCs wi)ti 7 replace all PCs. They are just a lower-cost way to get some jobs done. —Tom R. Halfhill, senior editor Cheaper Computing After reading “Cheaper Computing” (April Cover Story), I can only conclude that any computer is an NC provided it is connected to a network. NCs might cost less than $500, but then again, they might not. NCs should run Java, but then again, they should not. NCs ought to execute programs on the desktop, but then again, they ought not. NCs are not sup¬ posed to have hard drives, but then again... Perhaps I am one of those who still can’t get it. Johan Couder Antwerp, Belgium All NCs have one thing in common: From the user's point of view, they are state¬ less. NCs store or mirror their local state on a server. That means the NC is like an inter¬ changeable part. Stateless NCs also eliminate all the problems that afflict PCs related to persistent storage: software conflicts, installa¬ tion hassles, etc. Even if an NC has a hard drive, it *s used only as a cache. The user's data and software are kept on a server, and servers are more physically secure, are more reliable, and are backed up regularly by professionals. Statelessness is what makes NCs easier and cheaper to maintain, and that's the main thing that distinguishes NCs from PCs.—Tom R. Halfhill Let Robots Find You In “The Internet Robot’s Guide to a Web Site” (May’s Core: Programming col¬ umn), Tonya Engst explains how to deter search engines from picking up your site. What about the opposite? Could you provide some tips about the best ways to get picked up by search engines? Kulvir Singh Bhogal bickyCwmail. utexas.edu Basically, the trick is to sub¬ mit your URL to the various search engines. A good jump- ing-off point is Submit It (http://www.submit-it.com). Different search engines use different criteria to deter¬ mine whether they pull your page up first in response to a search or put it down near the end of the list. Perhaps the best tip is to make the title and first paragraph on ON THE WEB Visit The BYTE Site! Search our archives. Download articles. See industry press releases. Join on-line conferences with other BYTE, readers! See http:// www.byte.com. BY POST Editors, BYTE, 24 Hartwell Ave., Lexington, MA 02173 HOW TO CONTACT US BY E-MAIL Address letters to editors(&bix.com. To reach individual BYTE editors, see The BYTE Site on the Web fora directory, letters may be edited for publication. BY FAX 617- 860-6522 SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE U.S. only: 800-232- 2983; international: 609-426-7676; or see http://www. byte.com/ adminlmpcstsvc.htm. For advertising and other noneditorial contacts, see pages 161 or 6 or click on the Information link on The BYTE Site. www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 3 mm your home page a good description of the page, since that's often what will show up in the search engine's list. —Tonya Engst Turn It Off It was great to see an article discussing the strengths of Developer/2000: “Oracle’s Web-Footed Friend” (June Reviews). However, I'd like to correct one statement made about the frame object, which is used by the Layout wizard to modify the layout. By default, the frame does have a visual border, but this can be turned off by selecting the frame in the Layout Editor, selecting Line Color from the palette, and choosing No Line. The frame's border will disap¬ pear and will be replaced by blue dashed lines represent¬ ing the extent of the frame. These resemble blue drafting lines found on engineering or architecture drawings and do not show up in the form at run time. John Cobb Development Manager Oracle Developer/2000 Form Builder JCOBBQijus.oracle.com That is correct. To clarify my point, if you delete the frame instead of making the line transparent through the Line Color tool, you lose any abil¬ ity to revise the block using the new wizards, which can lead to other problems with maintenance. Never delete the frame, just turn it off. —Robert J. Muller On State Tables While the review of Check Point Fire Wall-1 (“Firewall Software for NT and Unix,” June Software Lab Report) was favorable overall, it was inaccurate regarding Check Point’s Stateful Inspection technology. Stateful Inspec¬ tion implements state tables, which maintain extensive state-related information regarding active and subse¬ quent communications attempts and are used to make intelligent security policy-related decisions to allow or disallow communi¬ cations through the firewall. The article asserted incor¬ rectly that if the state tables become corrupt, the net¬ work could be exposed. The state tables are kept in the OS kernel memory and cannot become corrupted like disk files. If the system fails due to a hardware or software error, new tables are allo¬ cated and no old (corrupted) data is valid. Furthermore, the data in the state tables represents active connec¬ tions, so if a hardware or software error were to occur, the connections would no longer be active and there¬ fore disabled, preserving the security of the network. Readers can obtain more information at http://www .checkpoint.com/products/ firewall/stateful/index.html or by sending e-mail to info@checkpoint.com. Deb Triant, President and CEO Check Point Software Technologies Redtvood City, CA A World CA? In “Who Goes There?” (June Cover Story by Peter Wiyner), the figure “How to Trust” (page 78) depicts a hierarchical certificate world, in which the United Nations is positioned above the national government. Does this symbolize the U.N.’s role in ensuring the standardiza¬ tion of the certificates for global economical reasons? If so, would the U.N. act as the central data center for the certificate authorities? Eric Funk funkjeric@wes. twc.com I don *t know of particular plans for any government to get involved in the certificate business. But many current schemes anticipate such a role, and, in fact, it makes sense for any organization to certify the keys of its mem¬ bers. It allows the members to communicate among themselves with assurance that the channel is secure. —Peter Way tier FPUs: No Contest Do you know if Cyrix’s M2 will have a better (or at least similar) FPU than Intel’s Pen¬ tium? Does the M2 or AMD’s K6 have a pipelined FPU? Why do Cyrix and AMD pay less attention to the FPU than anything else? If Cyrix and AMD chips had similar inte¬ ger performance and a better FPU, I think their CPUs would be superior to Intel’s. Paris FJkurd faris@uakron.edu Intel's x86 chips definitely have better floating-point (FP) performance than AMD's or Cyrix's chips. Intel's FPUs are pipelined, and AMD's and Cyrix's are not. Intel has done other optimizations as well. How¬ ever; AMD and Cyrix design their chips for the main¬ stream PC user, and the majority of PC applications largely consist of integer operations and don *t need much FP performance. Intel wants the mainstream user, but it also wants a piece of the Unix workstation market and uses its x86 processors in supercomputers, which are mainly designed for FP- intensive applications. IfFP performance really does matter to you, then you 're better off with a RISC-based system. To participate in more discussions about this and related matters, try our public “chipcon"conference. You can find a link on the BYTE home page, or go directly to http://dev4 . byte, com!chipcon. — Eds. Global Faux Pas I was surprised to see such a badly done comparison in the table “Six World Views” (“Global from Day One,” March, page 102). The U.S. and U.K. you got roughly right, although the 24-hour clock is probably used a bit less often than a.m./p.m., and leading zeros are rarely, if ever, used in the short date. In Germany, the thou¬ sands separator is a stop (.), not a space, and the decimal separator is a comma: 1,234.56 is written 1.234,56. The German currency sym¬ bol is placed at the end of the number (0,23 DM), not at the front. For France, you got the thousands separator right, but not the decimal. The currency sign also goes after the number. This is dis¬ appointing because you’re usually so good on technical accuracy. Paul Durrant pdurrant@durrant.demon.co.uk Your letter illustrates the dif¬ ficulties software developers face in addressing a global 14 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com Otv-S«^ T)\s#i *$0 ~ *• See Us At: NETWORKS EXPO September 9-11, Dallas, TX Booth #1579 Breakthrough the du«erof multiple keyboards, monitors, and mice with this latest INNOVATION from Rose. 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Shan In the experience: ‘We conducted a test session to compare the performance of similar products, and Distinct’s product was better." - Dr. Sbyrn Sunder, Carnegie Mellon University Distinct provided a Tdnti (XIXAUX that s;ned up to 6 months of development time and reduced the overall development cost." Paul Calhoun, Tandem Computers “The Distinct package includes custom controls that are easy to use, reliable, ami perform well." ■Darwin Hatbeway, 3M Company Distinct provides the most comprehensive, robust and market tested Internet and Intranet components available in the world. Just plug them into your applications and deliver solid products fast and on schedule. Even time. "By using Distinct, CRM saved a lot of lime and money and provided great solutions for challenging tasks." - William Cutekunst, CRM Technologies "It is not often, in today s market, that you can find companies that want to find the solution to a customer’s problem, no questions asked. Thank you." -Scott G. Phillips, ffTN Communications, Inc. distinct htl|>://ww vv.distincl.com salcs@distinct.com Phone: 1-408-366-8933 Fax: 1-408-366-0153 JtiiiToS market. To summarize—and correct our table: For France, Germany, and Greece, the decimal separator is a com¬ ma (i.e„ 123,45, not 123.45). Either a period or a space is sometimes used as the thou¬ sands separator (i.e., 1.234,56 or 1 234,56). Lead¬ ing zeros in date and time formats (shown for hours and months in the table) are, in fact, rarely used. The minus symbol for negative amounts precedes the num¬ ber, not the currency syrnlx)!. In Greece, a minus symbol rather than parentheses is used to indicate a negative amount, whereas in France, parentheses are often used. To further complicate mat¬ ters, some rules are less strin¬ gently followed than others. Germans, for example, usu¬ ally put the currency symbol before, hut sometimes after, the amount. Developers are wise to allow for user choice in format details. —Udo Flohr, contributing editor COMING UP IN SEPTEMBER COVER STORY ActiveX Controls Depending on who’s talking, Microsoft's ActiveX technol¬ ogy is either the next great thing or a time bomb. BYTE dis¬ sects this component model, weighing its strengths and weaknesses for developers, users, and Webmasters. NETWORK INTEGRATION Publish and Subscribe The only true push technology on the Web, publish and subscribe, has often been overlooked as too complex or too fragile. We go inside the technology of several major publish and subscribe products to see how they may change information distribution. REVIEWS Netscape Netcaster As Microsoft moves to merge Windows and Internet Explorer interfaces in Memphis and Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape counters with its own take on the Web as desktop. The New Pentium II and K6 Systems NSTL tests the first crop of desktop systems based on com- peting high-end CPUs from Intel and AMD. IP Conferencing In the Software Lab Report, we check out software that enables videoconferencing over the Internet without the need for dial-up phone connections. Oracle 8 An Oracle expert takes an in-depth look at the long- awaited upgrade of this leading relational database manager. CORE A Web Server for Device Control We take a peek inside emWare's Embedded Micro Interface Technology, a device controller in the guise of a Web server that uses only 30 bytes of RAM and 750 bytes of ROM. 1 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Circle 162 on Inquiry Card. www.byte.com Now that APC Smart-UPS includes FRQ web-enabled PowerChute* p/irs, protecting network uptime has never been easier m MAGAZINE % % % % % a Now"** IB. 1996 AIT SflMMl UPS 1000 “...Inherent flexibility and excellent software... Don't be caught without one." Protect ME! ?Y Power prob¬ lems attack networks rclent- 1 T /ViPC I lessly. To protect hardware and data from sys¬ tem crashes, experts, network managers and computer users worldwide prefer one solution above all others combined: APC Smart-UPS. Now, all 120V Smart- UPS include FREE PowerChute plus power management software. The most reliable protection you can buy Smart-UPS provide complete protection against power spikes, surges, brownouts, and blackouts. You’ll also gain maximum server up¬ time and decrease manage¬ ment costs. Award-winning features include: • (VIIGuard” intelligent bat¬ tery management monitors I lottery performance and ex lends battery life. • SmartSlot” internal acces¬ sory slot lets you customize ind enhance the perfor¬ mance of your Smart-UPS. • UuickSwap™ user-replace¬ able batteries can be quickly and safely swapped out without powering down the connected equipment. APC PowerChute plus provides unattended system shutdown and UPS tnanagemenl for Windows NT, Netware and other servers. Manage Smart-UPS via SNMP. l)Ml and Web browsers (shown above), f eatures vary by operating system. Web server and SNMP ready APC’s NEW Web Agent” allows you to monitor and manage your Smart- UPS using your Web browser. New WebAlert” notifies users of Web server shutdown via their browser. PowerChute plus also includes the PowerNet” SNMP Agent plug-in, which allows you to integrate your Smart-UPS with your existing SNMP man¬ agement strategy. Smart-UPS and PowerChute plus provide the complete solution in one convenient box. Server protection and peace of mind have never been easier. Plan for and control crisis situations PowerChute plus FlexEvents” lets you control UPS reactions to power events. You can configure PowerChute plus to provide graceful, unattended server shut¬ down during an extended power outage or alert you to out-of-bounds environmental conditions before they result in costly downtime. frade-UPS! how you cm easily trade In yoar old UPS for discounts towards a now 8mart UPS. I YES! I’m interested m trading up a competitors' m ben* tonfnm luaaJulto- kau It^an tonkmarh of lUnnv+mi to Utmvifidmi ttoSm-i an rtjvJrmltoklrmarh amtfniemrlF.qtorrramtto torrmrt f.iftonr iofo an trminmarh of HxnwHoaf\aaUn SOkofr amt to U ,iUr an- tiudrmirh .Vrtafr Cum mum atom Oafmmtom TK Ktonrlamtto lUaHatl htomi A*o an tonirmarb * to inra runs at 50 MHz.) The PowerCenter Pro is the only 604e system we’ve seen with a system bus running at that speed. The system comes standard with 1 MB of Level 2 cache and 2-MB ATI Mach64/3-DGT video. Available in both low-profile and mini¬ tower formats, the $2395 base system includes 64 MB of RAM (expandable to 512 MB with four DIMM slots) and a 2-GB IBM DCAS-32160 5400-rpni fast (20- Faster Bus Yields Better Performance Arbitrary Rotate Unsharp Mask (default) Unsharp Mask (custom) Gaussian Blur RGB to CMYK H PowerCenter Pro 210 □ PowerTower Pro 250 □ PowerTower Pro 225 0 Pentium II (266-MHz) BYTE ran three series of tests on four systems. Al systems have 64 MB of RAM. The Photoshop tests do not address disk-access or wdeo performance. Mac systems have a 1 MB L2 cache, the 512 KB Pentium It. For more information on the Photoshop tests, see pate 26 of the February BYTt The PowerCenter Pro 210 delivers high- end performance at mid-range prices. MBps), but not wide, SCSI hard drive. It also has aTeac 16X CD-ROM drive, AAUI and RJ-45 10Base-T ports, a second 5- MBps external SCSI port for an addi¬ tional seven devices, sound support, and bundled software. Three PCI slots are available for AV, SCSI, or networking up¬ grades. The CPU is on a daughtercard for upgrading, but the Catalyst system board does not support a second processor. The 4-MB video upgrade in our test system adds another $49 to the price. Power Computing also sells a 180-MHz version. Although they don’t have support for interleaved memory or as many PCI slots or expansion hays as the PowerTower Pro, these PowerCenter models bring ex¬ cellent performance to the market, with¬ out the higher price of the fastest Mac OS clones. -G. Armour Van Horn Datapro Report Enterprise Applications Use Web to Reduce Costs, Improve Service N ow that they’ve reduced costs and improved efficiency through employ¬ ee layoffs and reengineering, businesses are downsizing their enterprise applica¬ tions, too. To take advantage of cost sav¬ ings over the lifetime of these applications compared to traditional PC/LAN envi¬ ronments, enterprise-level applications providers are adding Web-access and network-computing (NC) support to their accounting, banking, manufacturing, en¬ terprise-resource-planning, and other applications. The Web’s global reach alone is a com¬ pelling factor. A big benefit of the Internet is its ability to let businesses get closer to their customers. Any enterprise-wide application that has potential for improv¬ ing communications with customers or employees is a good candidate for Web integration. In recent months, IBM, Micro¬ soft, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP have introduced Java- and/or Web-enabled ap¬ plications. What follows is a snapshot of the major vendors' strategies and prog¬ ress to date. IBM HR Access, IBM’s Internet-ready human- resources package, is tightly integrated with Lotus Notes and the Domino Web applications server in order to supply work- flow capabilities. IBM is aggressively push¬ ing the NC model, focusing its hardware strategy in support of thin clients and fat servers and providing secure electronic- transaction technology. Microsoft The company’s cross-industry object strategy is based on its ActiveX Store Ar¬ chitecture and Value-Chain Initiative. This initiative specifies the interfaces required to develop ERP applications, while the Store Architecture specifies ways to con¬ nect a business’s back office and front of¬ fice. Both of these approaches are inher¬ ently Web enabled. Microsoft hopes to build a generic, busi- ness-to-business, electronic-commerce- type infrastructure and sit clusters of in¬ dustries on top of it. Hardware and soft¬ ware suppliers will use common ActiveX components and interfaces to build appli¬ cations that use the Web to link the con¬ stituencies of a vertical market together. Oracle The database vendor is focused on sup¬ plying transaction-based applications over the Web that support corporate work-flow and business processes. Ora¬ cle Financials, HR, Manufacturing, Web Customers, and Web Employees were among the first Web and work-flow appli¬ cations on the market. PeopleSoft Developers can use Spider Technologies' NetDynamics and OneWave's Open- Scape to build custom Web interfaces to PeopleSoft applications and extend those applications to the Web. PeopleSoft plans to roll out its own Web-client capability this year. PeopleSoft’s latest release, ver¬ sion 6, also has many Web-enabled mod¬ ules for bills and routings, production management, cost management, and work flow. PeopleSoft is currently migrating from a two-tier to a three-tier architecture, which will allow more flexibility in the par¬ titioning of applications across the enter¬ prise, including the Web. SAP R/3 System 3.1 features easy-to-use-and- tailor Internet capabilities for all R/3 busi¬ ness processes. The package is Java en¬ abled and offers improved administration and support for new platforms, including NCs and thin clients. In addition, new out- of-the-box Internet functionality is avail¬ able through 25 ready-to-use application components, 10 employee self-service applications, and more than 150 Java-en¬ abled business application programming interfaces (BAPIs). Because R/3 System 3.1 is Java enabled, system administration is simplified by eliminating the need to maintain presentation code on the client. Datapro expects to see the widespread deployment over the next year of Web- based applications and modules for en¬ terprise software vendors that automate simple customer interactions. From mid- 1998 on, we expect to see fairly complex transactions and work flow occurring ac¬ ross the Internet and on intranets using NC platforms that extend the supply chain from corporations to customers on one side and suppliers on the other. Bob Anderson, managing analyst, enterprise sys¬ tems software at Datapro. For more information about Datapro reports, call 609 764 0100; fax 609-764-2814; or send e-mail to http://www .datapro.com. 2 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 COM P U T I N G WITHOUT LIMITS" A Pictured Controllers And Drives Not Included With Data Silo Or Data Express When It Comes To data Storage, it’s Not Just About Being Tough. It’s Also About Being Flexible. • Flexibility. It might be one of the last things you think about when buying storage enclosures, but the first thing you need when your storage requirements grow or change. I lowever, if you are already using the Kingston® rugged line of Data Silo" expansion chassis or removable Data lx press* drive enclosures, you’ve got plenty of choices. Kingston's storage products are s|iec ifically designed to meet long-term storage needs, offering 9 hays, and our Data Express enclosures are ideal — for your internal and external r | removable storage needs. Best of all, yixi can Data Silo* Expansion Chassis |t lllllllllllll integrate a variety of Data Express models into a stand-alone Data Silo and create your own custom removable solution. Plus, all Kingston storage enclosures are backed with Kingston's superior service and support, including a generous 7-year warranty. Kingston Storage enclosures— |\ V Data Express* Removable Storage an unparalleled variety of mix-and-match solutions. Our h liable Data Silo expansion chassis are available with up to proof that you can he both tough and flexible at the same time, storage products division LT E C H O L O G Y I more information , call us at (8 0 0 ) 435-0670 Visit our We h site : http://www. kings ton .com/b .him .4 ® C€ Solaris. SP^RC /RAB KmgMon is a inemher of RAR (Raid Advivwy Roard) SiliconGraphics Computer Sritrms Kinguon Technology Company, 17600 Nrwhupc Sireci, hmnt.un Valley, (California 92708. USA (714) 4)5-1850 Pax 4)5-1847, e-mail: ttoragctfcinoion.com. C> 1997 KmgMon Technology ( All right* reserved. ( ^imputing Without Limits i* a tr.tak-rn.irk of Kindlon Technology Company. All miter trademark* atwl rrgiMrrcd trademark* are property of their mpective holderv Circle 135 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 136). After you've done your spreadsheet, take, it for v| a spin. , 166 MHz TD-22 • Intel' 166 MHz Pentium' Processor • 16 MB Synchronous ORAM • 512K Pipelined Burst Cache • Intergraph Intense 30™ 100 Graphics w/ 4 MB EDO RAM • 1.7 GB 10ms EIDE Hard Drive • 12X EIDE CO-ROM • Microsoft' IntelliMouse’ • 2 USB Ports, 2 Seriol Ports, 1 Parallel Port • 15sd67 Monitor (14.0"viewoble) 4* V MM #475 $1,649 200 MHz TD-25 • Intel' 200 MHz Pentium' Processor with MMX™Technology • 32 MB Synchronous DRAM • 512K Pipelined Burst Cache • Intergraph Intense 3D™ 100 Graphics w/ 4 MB EDO RAM • 5.2 GB 10ms EIDE Hard Drive • 12X EIDE CD-ROM • Ensoniq™ 3D Wavetable Cord plus Amp, Speakers & Mic • Microsoft* IntelliMouse’ • 2 USB Ports, 2 Serial Ports, 1 Parallel Port • 17sd69 Monitor (16.0"viewoble) $2,649 model #473 233 MHz TD-25 • Intel 233 MHz Pentium’ Processor with MMX™Technol< • 32 MB Synchronous DRAM • 512K Pipelined Burst Cache • Intergraph Intense 3D™ 100 Graphics w/ 4 MB EDO RA •5.2 GB 10ms EIDE Hard Drive • 12X EIDE CD-ROM • Ensoniq™ 3D Wavetable Card plus Amp, Speakers & Mk • Microsoft' IntelliMouse' • 2 USB Ports, 2 Serial Ports, 1 Parallel Port • 17sd69 Monitor (16.0"viewable) • 33.6 Baud Fox/Modem $2 999 “ Systems include: 30-day money-back guaranteed year limited warranty,*one year on site, Windows 95 w/30 Days Free Phone Support, Windows 95 ready 104-key keyboard, tool-free mini tower cose 66 MHz TD-225 J 266 MHz Pentium" II Processor B EDO ORAM Pipelined Burst Coche roph Intense 3D™ 100 Graphics 4 MB EDO RAM B 10ms EIOE Hord Drive IDE CD-ROM Order Direct Now! 1 - 800 - 254-5325 [fAiq' M 3D Wavetable Card plus Multimedia Keyboard MiAsoft IntelliMouse’ 2 USB Ports, 2 Serial Parts, 1 Parallel Part 17$69 Monitor (16.0"viewable) or order on-line www.mtergraph.com/express Next-day shipment available. tm •'•**!»»M. Ud W(tOC K«rw4.. M ^TM 0001 ‘-feMoofa !**m 38e«Mfe +*'**«'* idr>de.^ibc^•*«**< N, n d» M >*Ur^t^oWtwWH tmW, ***** *r fe.tr* Uf«W»»iy»^fedlM^e fe1>ri hferwfe W fery^(«^o iO>»JUj«irrfe > l > yi hwfe*rw. tfeowl. wjMW wr wy d fedfey^oo WM«r. r, i hefrwwt d tfcw.dr (■*•** mm* Intergraph Computer Spterm 1-205-730-5441 fCD-ROM REVIEW) inra Book Reviews Apocalyptic Programming T hree recently published books guide you in recognizing, assessing, and addressing the now-well-known year- 2000 (Y2K) problem. Each approaches the subject with different levels of intensi¬ ty, tailored to different audiences. Solving the Year 2000 Problem Jim Keogh’s book is the most approachable and enjoyable of the trio. Keogh treats the Y2K problem seriously but cheerfully. Infor¬ mation managers need to understand the Y2K problem before they can fix it. This book provides basic information unbur¬ dened with minutiae. Keogh uses examples in each chapter to gradually rein¬ force the idea that Y2K is a real problem with consequences at every level of business. Then he guides you to¬ ward a solution via a series of simple steps. Keogh also addresses the trade-offs be¬ tween contracted and in-house solutions, including warning signs for detecting unscrupulous or ill-informed consultants. The book ends with pointers to more infor¬ mation, including Web resources, newslet¬ ters, journals, and vendors specializing in Y2K solutions. The Year 2000 Problem Solver This concise guidebook, by Bryce Ragland, is best suited for experienced information professionals. To get the most out of this book, you should understand the Y2K prob¬ lem and the programming consequences. Of the book’s 270 pages, 165 are devoted to a bibliography of article references, an¬ alysis and conversion tools, vendors offer¬ ing conversion services, help resources, and caso studies. Instead of focusing solely on fixing appli¬ cations, Ragland correctly places higher value on the data itself. He discusses how - -If Hill *° k «ep existing »'Year 2IH r 9 y c“ I'llIIIIII M SHI VI II duri n g conver¬ sion of existing applications or by updates from new¬ er Y2K-aware ap¬ plications. Ragland’s rec¬ ommendations, such as creating task teams and motivating upper manage¬ ment, are appropriate to larger, enterprise settings. The Year 2000 Software Crisis This tome, by William M. Ulrich and Ian S. Hayes, is dry and ponderous. But given its encyclopedic coverage of the Y2K prob¬ lem, it could hardly be otherwise. From his¬ tory to management issues, asset man¬ agement to mobilization, and implementa¬ tion to validation, this book leaves no sub¬ ject pertinent to Y2K unexplored. The authors, professional IT consultants, are heavily involved in Y2K consulting, sem¬ inars, expos, and solution market¬ ing. Their goal is to expose the reader to the full range of possi¬ ble issue and the multitude of so¬ lutions for those issues, and they succeed. The ex¬ pertise and experience the authors provide makes the journey worthwhile. Those just coming up to speed on the Y2K problem would be well advised to start with one of the other two books reviewed here. But once you master the basic con¬ cepts of the Y2K problem and need a sol¬ id conversion plan, this book will provide chapter and verse for an effective strategy. Rob Hummel (Sullivan, NH) is a frequent con- tributor to BYTE. You can reach him by sending e-mail to rhummel@cheshire.net. Solving the Year 2000 Problem by Jim Koogh; AP Professional; ISBN 0-12- 575560-0; $27.95 The Year 2000 Problem Solver by Bryce Ragland; McGraw Hill, ISBN 0 07- 052517-X; $29 95 The Yoar2000 Software Crisis by William M. Ulrich and Ian S. Hayes; Prentice- Hall; ISBN 0-13-665664-7; $39.95 More than lust Facts New and improved Bookshelf reference Whether you’re a student, publisher, lawyer, or business manager, Micro¬ soft’s Bookshelf 98 will help you clarify and improve your writing. The product description claims it’s “one-stop shop¬ ping for reference information.” This may be true, depending on how exten¬ sive your reference needs are. Howev¬ er, for most simple tasks, the new and improved Bookshelf 98 is ideal. This version’s new features include QuickFootnote, which allows you to footnote documents automatically, and QuickShelf, which lets you click on any other program while still staying in the current one. Other key new features in¬ clude an Internet Dictionary; an Encar- ta 98 Desk Encyclopedia, which con¬ tains nearly 16,000 entries; and a Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, which has more than 18,000 remarks Bookshelf 98 Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA. http://book8holf.m8n.com; $54.95 and quotations on over 1500 subjects. Updated versions of The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language , and the National Five-Digit ZIP Code and Post Office Directory are also included. A new parental-control feature enables par¬ ents and educators to block words and phrases that they consider unsuitable for children. With these new features, Bookshelf 98 is easier, quicker, and more enjoyable to use. -Jesse Friedman 3 0 BYTE AUGUST 1997 w.byte.com BUILD * THE INTERNET INTO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING! % HERE'S PROOF tHlS *&**£>. • poSl * vcr . Sef . e^e - o/lP'W' 1 " * tC n et“ va,er . inte roC P PV The Internet Appliance Toolkit (IAT) includes: everything on the demo, plus visual application bulldor bullt-ln Internationalisation Watcom C/C4 4 compilers drivars for hundreds of PC peripherals embedded filesystems demo apps with source files scalable fonts embedded OEM pricing ... and much morel Build the Internet into smart phones, set-top boxes, photocopiers, kiosks, printers, PLCs ... anything! Better yet, build it on time. The IAT, used to build this demo, comes with everything you need, from rapid application development tools to Internet apps to source code. Create a custom browser in days, not monthsl And talk about performance. With the IAT and QNX, you'll deliver incredible speed and reliability on low-cost x86 platforms. Believe it! Download your free 1.44M demo today! www.qnx.com/iat or call: 800 676-0566 (ext. 1045) The Leading Realtime OS for PCs qw IM., J h taw* MMIkm CrMM. KMiU. (Mm, C«»Ml KM IM «M» u. ilJMI : n Q*»» Nrt. CfcOrtOfOoS. H C QNX Mi mm Svttwm Utf IW. QNX n • nyilim litNMrt of QNX Sofia, i.soiun vmm (44KS)miii Circle 140 on Inquiry Card. sm - (intervie w) - Blasts from the Past Years ago in BYTE We discussed parallel-processing issues, such as shared memory and cache-co¬ herency architectures. A summary of Digital Equipment’s Alpha CPU was written by its co-developer. A review of OS/2 2.0 found gold in that there OS, but it re¬ quired more digging than most users were willing to do. Also covered: Paradox 4, CorelDraw 3, Adobe Illustrator 4, DSPs, and the MacLCII. Years ago in BYTE Editorials and features pondered the mean¬ ing of, and the difficulty of cloning, IBM’s Micro Channel. An ad featured a 2400-bps modem selling for $445. We reviewed the 68000-based Mac SE ($3698) in addi¬ tion to two 286-based ATs and two 386 accelerator cards for AT clones. Years ago in BYTE We devoted numerous articles to the Logo programming language. In our Letters col¬ umn, readers debated the merits of Unix and CP/M. One reader even suggested that Unix, C, and Pascal are excellent teach¬ ing tools but perhaps not good for com¬ mercial projects. Years ago in BYTE Controlling small DC motors wilt) analog signals and the APL programming lan¬ guage were two of the topics in this issue. Beyond Goggles and Gloves Jarott Lanier, pioneer and proponent of virtual reality, discusses VR's potential and hurdles . BYTE: Virtual reality is an intriguing exercise for the mind, but what are some practical applications for VRgloves and goggles? Lanier: One practical application is in medicine. VR gives surgeons the ability to bring in consultants in real time when they’re in the middle of operating [on a patient]. When we apply the pow¬ er of networking to the VR world, the potential for stretching the limits of human abilities becomes very powerful. For instance, in a shared virtual world, a surgeon can point to some¬ thing that he or she cannot identify—a peculiar lump, perhaps—and say to an expert 1000 miles away, “What’s THIS thing?” It would be difficult to describe the lump to the consultant over the phone. But when they can both see it simultaneously and explore it together, they can immediately intuit its sig¬ nificance. This gets into the most fundamental capabilities of human perception. When humans were evolving out on the Savannah, they had no language. When they needed to communicate about a relevant object or event, they could simply point to it and refer to it physically. In that way, they developed a more sophisticated way of communi¬ cating about their shared environment. BYTE: You 'vc said that VR can reveal new directions for human potential that we didn 7 know before . Can you elaborate? Lanier: The brain’s model of what the body is like is not as fixed as we might have thought. If you change the sensory motor loop to reflect a different body, the brain adapts to its new body parts really quickly. People can learn to use these custom bodies or body parts. If we use VR as an interface to con¬ trol different surgical instruments at the end of a fiber-optic channel in keyhole surgery, we can create a new body for the doctor, where his or her fingers become the scissors in a virtual model. This lets the doctor use these micro¬ scopic tools more effectively, more reli¬ ably, and with less chance for error. BYTE: Will people really use VR—that is, put on the gloves and goggles—as part of nortnal business practice? Lanier: They will when absolute peak human performance is required. If you want to see people thinking their best, you’ll see them interacting physically with things. We interpret information much more efficiently when we have a physical model for it. BYTE: What hurdles do we need to overcome in VR? Lanier: One difficult area is software development. Software for VR applica¬ tions is very complex and hard to write. In a typical Windows-type application, for instance, at any one time there may be a hundred or so possibilities. You can copy something, save a file, delete, and so on, and the software needs to be able to predict those potential actions and carry them out. But if you’re in a virtual room and you pick up a virtual ball, you can throw it in millions of possible direc¬ tions. The VR software needs to be able to foresee all these millions of possibili¬ ties and react accordingly. There are very few people at this time who can actually write software for VR. www.byte.com 3 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 INTERNATIONAL Translate English Web Pages to Chinese A Chinese-to-English version of the software is in the works. Page 32IS 3 ADSL or Cable? European carriers are slow to embrace ADSL Internet access. Page 32IS 4 Mainboard Road Map New CPUs and chip sets usher in the next generation of mainboards. Page 32IS 6 Benchmarking R/3 on Windows NT NT is becoming an excellent platform for mission-critical applications. Page 32IS 13 « The Comp LEO Safari 200 Packing the functionality and performance of a conventional PC in an ultra-slim case, the LEO Safari 200 has powerful networking and multimedia features that make it ideal for a full array of LAN, POS, edutainment and Internet applications. LEO Safari Plus 200 Combining the power and flexibility of a Pentium® processor-based PC with the simplicity of a traditional terminal, the LEO Safari Plus 200 is the ultimate slim-line solution for today’s increasingly networked corporate, school and home computing environments. LEO Oasis 300 Plug into the exciting new world of home multimedia computing with the LEO Oasis 300. From surfing the Web and sending e-mail to playing the latest multimedia games and managing the family finances - the LEO Oasis 300 provides the supreme home infotainment center. Circle 445 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 446). First International Computer, Inc. 6F FORMOSA PLASTICS REAR BUILDING 201-24. TUNG HWA NORTH ROAD. TAIPEI. TAIWAN Tel: 886-2-7174500 Fox: 886-2-7182782 FIC WWW slte:http://www.fic.com.tw E*mail:mkt@$sl .fic.com,tv/ Pentium INTERNATIONAL News & Views Browser Add-On Translates English Web Pages into Chinese A Chinese-to-English translator will be released soon. I f you’re fluent in Mandarin Chinese and recognize the phrase dian yi xia zhe li , then I read no further. But if you don’t know it means click here y you may be interested in a series of translation applications from Otek International (Taipei, Taiwan). Otek, founded in 1989 by former Wang Computer employees, has developed several translation packages over the past four years. The latest of these, Web Page Translator, is designed to make the Eng¬ lish-dominated World Wide Web more accessible to the world’s more than a bil¬ lion Chinese speakers. The $58 program floats a small button bar above Netscape’s Navigator browser or Microsoft’s Inter¬ net Explorer and, at the click of a button, automatically translates English Web pages into Chinese. Translations aren’t instantaneous, generally requiring around one minute per page of text on a fast Pentium machine; the program does run in the background, however, so you can continue surfing the Internet while it works. Of more interest to English-speaking BYTE readers, who may have stumbled upon Web pages of Chinese characters coded in double-byte format, are Otek’s plans to develop a Chinese-to-English ver¬ sion of the program. Like the English-to- Chinese version, the upcoming program, due for release by the end of the year, will require either a Chinese version of Win¬ dows or a Chinese environment manag¬ er—from a company such as Twin- bridge—to actually display Chinese characters. Development should be fair¬ ly simple, says Otek vice president Anno Huang, because the company already has a full-fledged Chinese-to-English translation product that’s designed to work with word processing software rather than with Web browsers. At the heart of all of Otek’s translation applications is the same knowledge- based translation engine. Functional dif¬ ferences between Chinese-to-English and English-to-Chinesc versions are minimal. Web Page Translator incorporates a 70,000-word basic dictionary. (Supple¬ mental dictionaries are available, cover¬ ing fields such as computing, medicine, law, and finance.) As well as holding the English equivalent of each word, the dic¬ tionary contains additional information that is used to improve translation accu¬ racy. Nouns, for example, can be tagged as referring to a person or place, or to a number of other broad categories; verbs are marked as transitive, intransitive, and Type Chinese with Only Eight Keys A ny person able to EasyWord97, new soft* Microsoft Word 97. The MS Word 97 documents write Chinese can ware that works with the program lets you enter with an average of just now type Chinese with English version of Chinese characters into under three strokes per character. Asian Communica¬ tions, developer of the software, discovered that all the strokes used to write Chinese characters could be grouped into eight stroke-type cate¬ gories. These stroke-type categories could be rep¬ resented by eight keys on any device having input keys, such as a comput¬ er keyboard or even a telephone. The stroke keys are then pressed in The Dot Right Sloping Q] * & £ £ G A £ $ J*. Left to Right Left to Right then Down Angle ED Downwards f=l O £ A ft 7 ] ^ Jl, Zj ft) ± T % Down then Right Angle r —i Loft Sloping 0 -b tb * [7] a# r Loft Sloping Anglo You can write Chinese with only eight keys. the order taught for writ¬ ing the actual strokes of Chinese characters, and the computer uses a retrieval strategy to bring the desired characters to the screen. Obviously it takes a little time to leam to use the system. Prices for EasyWord start at $39. -Rich Friedman Asian Communications Pty, Ltd. Queensland. Australia http://casyword.bluesky .nct.au yte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 32IS 3 International Bits so on. The difference between Otek’s translation engine and a simple dictionary- based word-replacement system is the pro¬ gram’s database of 10,000 grammatical rules. Expressed in a conditional syntax devised by the company, each rule defines how the translation of a particular word can be changed by words preceding or fol¬ lowing it. The English word take , for example, is represented in the program’s dictionary by a Chinese word meaning pick up or car¬ ry. This might be described as the word’s basic definition, and in the majority of cas¬ es, it is substituted directly for take. How¬ ever, when take is followed by the noun bath or shower , one of the grammatical rules is activated, overriding the dictionary definition and substituting a Chinese verb meaning wash. The ability to handle reg¬ ular tense and plural suffixes is hard¬ wired into the program. So variations, such as took a bath and taking baths , can be handled by the same rule. What about a phrase such as he takes a bath in the house ? A further grammatical rule checks for the presence of preposi¬ tions such as in and ensures that the cor¬ rect translation of take is used. Successful translation beyond basic word-for-word replacement depends upon the integrity of the grammatical rule database. Although Otek’ssoftware devel¬ opment team includes one linguistics spe¬ cialist who majored in English, none of the programmers are native English speakers. It’s possible that some of the program’s translation errors—which, as is typical of this kind of application, are not infre¬ quent—actually reflect its developers’ imperfect grasp of English. All computer translation products WHERE TO FIND Otck International Taipei. Taiwan +886 2 760 9468 +886 2 765 5777 http://www.transpcrfcct.com.tw should be marked with a warning: “Not for mission-critical applications.” Otek’s Web Page Translator is no exception. It handles straightforward sentences quite well, sometimes perfectly, in fact, but its performance with complex idioms and slang can vary from borderline accept¬ ability to unintentional hilarity. However, the forthcoming Chinese-to-English ver¬ sion of Web Page Translator is well worth consideration by anyone who has ever wondered what those mysterious hiero¬ glyphics on that site in Shanghai or Xian might mean. -Simon Burns Broadband Services in Europe: ADSL or Cable? urope's businesses will have to wait six months to a year until carriers can offer high-speed Inter¬ net access over Asymmetric Digi¬ tal Subscriber Lino (ADSL). That’s the indication of a poll conducted by BYTE and backed by market researchers at Analysis (Cam¬ bridge, U.K.). Although ADSL is seen as an excellent access tech¬ nology to broadband services, European carriers are not offering the new services yet. The carriers closest to a commercial launch are Telia (Sweden), BT (U.K.), Tele Denmark, and Telecom Finland. The telcos’ slow response to the broadband market means that an opportunity is opening up for cable service providers. The development is similar to what happened with Internet service providers (ISPs) when the Inter¬ net began to experience explosive growth. Says Paul Knott, author of a study (published by Analysis) on broadband technologies and their implications, “Telecommunica¬ tions operators' local access monopoly will no longer exist in a market where cable, satellite, and terrestrial TV broadcasters mechanisms." Cable operators across Europe, especially in Northern Europe, Switzerland, Nether¬ lands, Belgium, France, and Aus¬ tria, are already offering commer¬ cial services such as fast access to the Internet. However, they are currently concentrating on the res¬ idential subscriber market. There are several reasons for the slow uptake of ADSL in Europe. BT has completed its ADSL trials but has no immediate plans to offer such services. The carrier is expe¬ riencing very high growth in its ISDN Basic Rate services, a of the highest ISDN installed bases in the world, they don’t feel an immediate need to rush into offer¬ ing a high-speed service. On the other hand, confusion about xDSL standards, marketing strategies, and positioning is slowing things down. Telia, for example, was about to launch ADSL-based interactive services on a commercial basis earlier this year but now says it has decided to put this off until it has complet¬ ed further trials. The reason for the slowdown is that Telia’s research group is dobating the use of Very High-Speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) technology instead of ADSL. Much of the hardware required for a coherent ADSL service strat¬ egy is still not commercially avail¬ able. However, some new devel¬ opments from ATML (Cambridge, U.K.) and Orckit Communications (Tel Aviv, Israel) could change this situation in the near future. ATML launched a family of new communication chips earlier this year. Called Hydrogen (available now) and Helium (to be released by the end of 1997), these RISC- based processors handle asyn¬ chronous transfer mode (ATM) over xDSL very efficiently and are expected to significantly reduce cost and time to market for ADSL equipment suppliers developing modems, multiplexers, and net¬ work adapters. Orckit’s new ADSL-over-ISDN modem could be an opportunity for the large installed base of ISDN business users in Europe to increase bandwidth. Orckit's pas¬ sive ISDN splitter enables paral¬ lel and transparent transmission of both ADSL and ISDN over twisted- pair telephone lines. Says Dan Arazi, Orckit’s executive VP of marketing and sales, “ADSL over ISDN offers telcos a new option to enhance their subscriber services without undermining ISDN services already in place." -Valerie Thompson rovide alternative distribution spokesperson notes. Doutsche Telekom officials say that with one In the near term, broadband services in Europe will be dominated by cable operators. 32 IS 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Embedded PowerPC microprocessors. There's nothing tame about these chips. EMBEDDED PowerPC ieware of Motorola's embedded PowerPC’" microprocessor range. These keenly priced CPUs are tawing the ground, ready with ferocious new levels of performance, reliability, flexibility and hardware ind software support. Are you ready for clock speeds from 100 MHz to over 300 MHz, high integer lerformance, reduced power consumption, extended operating temperatures and both code and pin ompatibility throughout the PowerPC range? Then upgrade to embedded PowerPC microprocessors, but be sure you can take them on. on tact any Motorola sales office or the Motorola Response Service, No.10 Station Road, Manea, March, Cambridgeshire, PEI5 OJL, UK. Telephone: +44 (0)1354 688040. Fax: +44 (0)1354 688248. e-mail: motlit@response-services.co.uk '.werPC www.mot.com/SPS/PowerPC < 8 > ' **49 89 89 42 21 37 Fax: **49 89 89 42 21 41 Email: infoiafast-ag.de Argentina HT-MACH Sistemas Electromcas T (54) 1 795-8011 Australia Software Protection Systems T (61) 3 9544-4455 Benelux Aladdin Software Security Benelux T 01) 24 648-8444 Brasil HT-MACH Sistemas Electronicas T (55) 21 257-0314 Chile Datasoft T (56) 2 246-7443 Croatia G & G Electronic T (385) I 335398 Czech Republic EvroCAD T (42) 2 6610-7505 Finland FAST Finland T (358) 9 5495-0500 France Aladdin France T (33) 1 413 770 30 Greece FAST Hellas T (30) 1 600-4662 Hong-Kong Xitec Technology T(852)2301-2340 Hungary Szki Recognita T (36) 1 201-8925 Spain A Portugal FAST Iberica T (34) 1 754-1212 Israel Aladdin Knowledge Sy.tcm-. T (972) 3 636 2222 Italy TECHNE Security T 09) 59 415608 Taiwan New Solar Systems Group T(886)2 633-5586 United Kingdom Aladdin Knowledge Systems UK T (44) 1753 622-266 Korea AC & P T (82) 2 736-4406 Mexico Sisoft T (52) 91 800 55283 Philippines Integrity Software T(63)2 831-3112 U.S.A. Aladdin Knowledge Systems T (1)847 808-0300 IIIIFHST Software Security-Group BUfiHH Circle 439 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 440). International New Mainboards elimination may cause some temporary compatibility problems with some stan¬ dards, such as Sound Blaster, it’s some¬ thing that’s overdue. After all,the 16-year- old ISA standard does not stand up to the bandwidth demands of today, even for slower cards and peripherals. Device Bay, developed by Compaq, In¬ tel, and Microsoft, is also expected to he supported in 1998 mainboards. In addi¬ tion, the IEEE 1394 “Firewire” interface becomes a requirement in PC98; it was just a recommendation for PC 97. Graphics, I/O, and Multimedia Integration Mainboards with some degree of inte¬ grated I/O will continue to he popular on both Intel and Alpha platforms during the latter part of this year. What are the key devices that customers want to see on a mainboard? Power desktop and small- server users usually want to see UltraWide or Ultra2Wide SCSI, as well as Fast Ether¬ net built in. This not only saves slots but also a couple hundred dollars off the cost of a system. An affordable integrated audio proces¬ sor sitting directly on the mainboard’s PCI bus and handling Dolby AC-3 five-chan¬ nel sound with wave table and 3-D sur¬ round sound is now a reality, although Sound Blaster compatibility might be a problem without the ISA bus that the orig¬ inal Sound Blaster sits on. Good examples of advanced audio processors for possi¬ ble mainboard implementation include the CS4610 PCI audio accelerator from Crystal Semiconductor, the Creative EMU-8008, and the SonicVibes from S3. Graphics will continue to be integrat¬ ed into mainboards for low-priced sys¬ tems only, as midrange and high-end users like the flexibility of choosing their graph¬ ics cards. But Intel might produce some Pentium II mainboards that have the 440LX chip set and AGP bus and inte¬ grate the 740 Auburn AGP 3-D processor (which Intel co-developed with Lockheed Martin’s Real3D division) toward year’s end at the earliest. New Chip Sets Although Intel’s chip sets populate most x86 mainboards, other vendors, such as VIA, now have offerings that often surpass Intel’s equivalents. In the Pentium mar¬ ket, the old Triton II i430HX chip set was not fully replaced by the new i430TX. While the i430TX offers SDRAM and Ul- traDMA/33 IDE support, as well as better PC97 compliance with ACPI support, it still lacks the ability to, say, cache the full 512 MB of addressable RAM or support ECC memory. This is the arena where Cypress, Opti, VIA, VLSI, and other chip-set vendors can compete with Intel. For instance, the VIA Apollo VP2/97, besides offering full sup¬ port for all AMD, Cyrix, and Intel socket 7 CPUs (including the 6x86MX and K6), handles up to 2 MB of cache at a bus speed of either 66 or 75 MHz; supports SDRAM, Ultra DMA/33, and ECC on all DRAM types, as well as USB; and even integrates a keyboard controller in its two-chip count. It can also cache the whole 512MB of DRAM-addressable space. AMD has licensed this chip set to use with the K6 in its 640 chip set. The 640 is also supposed to support the OpenPIC multiprocessing protocol for eventual Dual K5 systems. Later this year, a new version of this chip set is expected, which PC Mainboard Road Map for i997“i??8 I t's never easy to predict the long-term evolution of any computer prod¬ uct; in the case of mainboards, it’s particularly tough. But here are some educated guesses about how these products will evolve. The ATX and NLX form factors will hold on for quite some time-at least until the end of the century for main¬ stream systems. However, the “sealed-case" NetPC intitiative may bring up yet another format optimized for such systems. With the entry of a new player-1 DT spin-off Cen¬ taur Technologies, with its C6 200-MHz MMX-en- abled processors for the mainstream PC market-it’s clear that there's still a lot of life left in socket 7, even if Intel finally abandons it next year. Expect to see slot cards take off further than using just slot 1 and slot 2, as well as 21264 CPU cards in multiprocessor Alpha mainboards in six months. The ability to keep tight control of electrical parameters on small modules will become especially important as cache and mem¬ ory buses cross the 200-M Hz margin and 128-bit widths and dual-data transfers become the norm. Expect a new format to appear that will specif ically cover dual- or quad-processor desktop and server systems with slot cards sometime during 1998, a possible suc¬ cessor to the venerable full- size AT form factor. After its initial glitches, Plug and Play is becoming real, and it will become even more stable after the ISA is (hopefully) gone in 1998. Integrating on-board I/O to some degree will become the norm, even on high-end boards; the Tyan Tahoe 2 and Digital Alpha mainboards are examples. Expect hot-plug PCI to appear on main- boards, as well as integrated CardBus support to share the cards with your note¬ book, next year. Finally, there will be even more layers and even finer line pitch, increasing board complexity even as chip sets become more integrated. However, this scenario is understandable, especially with the top-end boards. 3 2 IS 10 BYTE AUGUST 1997 SIEMENS NIXDORF Pentium* Windows NT madeforPRIMERGY The trend is clear: Windows NT”is conquering the IT market as a leading server operating system, alongside UNIX*. With Microsoft's NT, standard PC components can be used as server systems to pro¬ vide users with outstanding price and performance levels. Microsoft also develops many of its software products on Primergy platforms, working in close cooperation with Siemens Nixdorf. Our Primergy servers are thus a perfect match for NT. PRIMERGYmadefor WindowsNT. The Primergy line means more power for the Windows NT world. As one of the first servers to use the Pentium Pro 200 MHz processor, they are scalable from the monoprocessor system for smaller net¬ works up to multiprocessor configurations. Solutions based on server clustering enable Primergy servers to attain extraordinary levels of performance and availability. Patented memory, drive and power supply technology from Siemens Nixdorf, as well as integrated server management, guarantee high availability. The powerof two madeforyou. The positive market response to Primergy in Europe proves that we are on the right track with this concept and system quality. Siemens Nixdorf has quickly estab¬ lished itself as one of the leading suppliers of PC servers. International companies not only benefit from the high availability of our Primergy servers - they also profit from our know-how and expertise when it comes to seamlessly integrating Primergy servers into existing IT environments. Marketing-Fax:(+49)5251/811418, http://www.sni.de UNIX* is a register ml trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed ox dusivety through X/OPEN Company Ltd. Microsoft* is a registered trademark ol Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Windows NT ,M is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. iemens Nixdorf: User Centered Computing Circle 450 on Inquiry Card. International New Mainboards will support a 100-MHz system bus for the upcoming 300-MHz K6 processor, as well as the AGP graphics bus and the Firewire interface. On the Pentium Pro/Pentium II level, VIA will offer the Apollo Pro chip set late this year. It will support AGP, dual paral¬ lel PCI, and Firewire, as well as the usual PC97 and KCC SDRAM features already present in the existing Apollo P6 chip set. But Intel isstill expected to keep the lead¬ ership in this arena due to its tight control over the processor and chip-set design of the Pentium II series. In September, Intel is expected to offer the i440LX chip set, which will feature ECCSDRAM, AGP, On¬ Now, and the Ultra DMA/33. It will sup¬ port 266-, 300-, and 333-MHz single- or dual-Pentium-II systems. The Deschutes variant of the Pentium II, with a 100-MHz system bus, is slated to appear during the second quarter of 1998. These 350- and 400-MHz processors should use the i440BX chip set and offer enough support for the 100-MHz SDRAM bus and 800-MBps main memory band¬ width, as well as Firewire and Device- Bay features. This chip set should be fol¬ lowed by the i450NX server chip set, which will implement a version of the Pentium II that uses the 100-MHz slot 2 Future Developments Mainboards will continue to be almost as important to the differentiation of sys¬ tems as the CPUs that fit in their sockets. Unless Digital wins its current patent- infringement lawsuit and disturbs the production of the Pentium family (and, perhaps even more disruptive, Intel s P7 Merced plans), Intel will continue to dominate this market. But it’s likely that more U.S. and Taiwanese mainboard mak¬ ers will support the increasingly success¬ ful new-generation AMD and Cyrix de¬ vices and related chip sets. The dual-21264 Alpha mainboard de¬ sign, described in the text box RISC- Based Mainboard Advancements” on page 32IS 7, shows what will most likely also appear in top-end PC mainboards two years from now: ultrafast crossbar- switch-based main memory paths, very high external bus frequencies, and mul¬ tiple high-speed I/O buses operating in parallel, all fitting in the standard form factor. The earliest Intel designs support¬ ing such features could appear in early 1999 with the P68 Willamette next-gen¬ eration Pentium Pro or, more likely, Mer¬ ced in late 1999. From that point onward, one can only speculate. □ Nebojsa Novakovic is a freelance writer l>ased in Singapore . You can reach him fry sending e-mail to nova@po.pacific.net.sg. with full-speed cache, aimed at servers. The AntrtViruT _ [S2M Netware, NT, Banyan'Pathworks, Lan Manager..: r U!*L, UJ- y ft s.o g£r~i£ tj: ^ Client / Servers Platforms Suported Mitew Wb NT 009 **>96 **«N1VVS OM Panda /////// ! Anti-Virus ■k Distributor inquiries 1«tncllnni|u«y» welcome k Bundles for OEM & Integrators tzi L*J LU ;j:our WebSite 0 'Tsji: Iriyour- Evaluation Copy t %) www.pandasoftware.com x Software International Avckj. cJe la Domocrocia 7 - PI. 3 n° 7 28031 MADRID SPAIN Tel: 34 1 301 30 15 Fax 34 1 332 00 54 E maH infoJnmpandasoftware.es Germany 49 4203 81?//- Franca 33 l 39743493 • UK 44 1 ' • Danmark 45 42 481984 ■ Portugal 351 I 3864376* Rumania 4 • 68 dutl^Cypru* J57 2 313860?Graaca V) 1 6712153 • Lithuania 370 7743961 • Argontlna 54 21 842475 • Bra*it 55 11 8223462 ■ Sto Domingo 1809 59/686/ • Morocco 212 7 275547 • 840526*U.A.E. 971 2 77938/ • Colombia 57 1 6108308*Nj*** i •y>0 099/ • Swodon 46 8 611 66 44 • Italy 39 2 242021 W. 3 2 IS 12 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Circle 448 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 449). COI INTERNATIONAL R/3 Soars on Windows NT New benchmarking results reveal that Windows NT is becoming an excellent platform for large-scale mission-critical applications. By Katrin Lang and Stefan Lauritzen ow can you guarantee that your company’s servers and software modules work together reliably and predictably? For RAT, SAP says the only way of assur¬ ing the appropriate level of reliability for its suite of business applications is to certify the server hardware. “We cannot expect our customers to stress-test hardware. That’s why we installed a certification program for Windows NT servers,” says Gunther Tolkmit, vice president of corporate mar¬ keting at SAP. Since its release in 1994, the number of installations of the NT version of R/3 has increased substantially. To¬ day, 28 percent of all instal¬ lations and 42 percent of new installations are on Micro¬ soft’s enterprise OS. Testing NT Servers SAP has defined a complex certification procedure that includes functional, stress, and performance tests to guarantee that a server pro¬ vides the necessary reliabil¬ ity and scalability. IXOS’s (Munich, Ger¬ many) Competence Center for Windows NT on R/3 (R/3NTC) performs all cer¬ tification tests on behalf of SAP. There are now 18 certi- tied server platforms. They are from these companies: Amdahl, Bull/Zenith, Com¬ paq, Data General, Dell, Digital Equipment, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Intergraph, Mitsubishi, NCR, NEC, Sequent, Siemens Nixdorf, Tandem, and Unisys. Certification is not a one-time occurrence. Instead, it’s a pro¬ cess that includes regular tests to ensure that the system still oper¬ ates perfectly when there are new NT releases and hardware upgrades. In an initial test phase, engineers monitor critical com- p< rnents (e.g., processor, mainboard, and I/O controller), periph¬ erals (e.g., hard drive, memory, and network adapter), and noncritical components (e.g., monitor and graphics adapter). The functional tests evaluate the installation and upgrade of R/3, the underlying database, and the OS. They also include verification of the R/3 base modules and a detailed backup/recov¬ ery test. Stress tests and performance tests run in a distributed, real-world environment that includes a database server and sev¬ eral applications servers. A typical stress test simulates 900 users running the Sales and Distribution (SI)) benchmark on nine applications servers and one database server. The minimum stress-test duration is 8 hours with an average CPU load of 60 percent, gen¬ erated by a standardized benchmark program that invokes R/3 base functions and the most popular trans¬ actions of various modules. A database backup running simultaneously increases the system load. Scalable Systems The R/3 benchmarks measure performance on different platforms. They also help SAP’s hardware partners to adapt their servers to work in the most optimal way with R/3 and provide consultants and network managers with guidelines for fine-tuning various installations. Because SAP’s benchmarks are avail¬ able on all OSes, they can be useful in comparing config¬ urations and hardware archi¬ tectures, hut also OS and data¬ base performance. The most widely quoted benchmark deploys the R/3 SI) module. Because SI) is the most CPU-intensive module, the certification performance tests also use the SI) benchmark. It works with predefined data that resembles the data sets of a large company. It simulates a typical user’s actions and executes the most popular transactions of the SI) module. The results of the SAP standard benchmarks include average dialogue response times (e.g., 100 SI) benchmark users obtain an average response time of 1.2 seconds) and throughput in SAP Application Benchmark Performance Standard (SAPS) units. For example, 100 SAPS correspond with 2000 processed order-line AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 32IS 1 3 International R/3 Soars on Windows NT The maximum number of users, measured by the SD benchmark, increases over time. One benchmark equals three users. (Source. IXOS) items per hour in the SD benchmark. The benchmark simulates the entire work flow of an order-line item, including de¬ livery notes, list orders, and creation of in¬ voices, which translates into 6000 screen changes and 2000 postings per hour. A typical R/3 benchmark curve shows average response time over the number of users. Typically, it remains constant over a broad range and then rises abruptly to the high-load range. The constant area reveals the basic response time that cor¬ responds directly to the hardware char¬ acteristics. Even if you use sophisticated tuning techniques, you won’t reduce basic response times. The high-load range, which is where the benchmark curve leaves its horizon¬ tal course and rises exponentially, defines the maximum number of users. However, you shouldn’t think that the maximum number of users in a certain configuration isn’t variable. With the right R/3 buffer sizes and optimal load balancing as well as optimization of database buffers, in¬ dexes, and storage parameters, it is, in almost all cases, possible to increase the number of concurrent users up to a point. It’s not difficult to interpret the bench¬ mark results. They clearly reveal that in a three-tier NT configuration with separate Pentium Pro-based database and appli¬ cations servers, the maximum number of real users is around 2500. In a central configuration with database and applica¬ tions servers in one system, up to 200 real users will gain reasonable average response times. Considering that an R/3 installation typically has a few hundred COMPUTERS FAIREj3EXA^ CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION 11-13 September 97 Good Hope Centre Cape Town South Africa • Computer Faire & Bexa Cape has welded itself into the most effective vehicle to promote the IT industry in the Western Cape. • Join the show that is supported by all IT industry leaders. • Endorsed by the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Information Technology Association. Please fax (2711 789 6562) back this reply coupon should you require any further details on: visiting □ exhibiting □ Name: --- Company:- Tel:--- Fax:-.- Phone (2711) 886-3734 E:mail http://www.cfaire.co.za Subscription Problems? If you have a problem with your BYTE subscription, let us know! For best service, provide a brief description of the problem and a copy of a recent magazine mailing label (if available). If your label is unavailable, just give us your subscription account number along with your name, address, and zip code where your BYTE subscription is currently being sent. If you have a change of address, be sure to provide both your old and new addresses. If the problem involves a payment, be sure to include copies of your cancelled check (both sides) or your credit card statement. Please include a "business hours" phone number if possible. Send to: BYTE Magazine Subscriber Service P0 Box 555. Hightstown, NJ 08520 Fax: 609-426-7087 Phone: (9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Mon. - Fri.) 800-232-2983 (U.S.). or 609-426-7676 ^ £ A Division of The McGraw Hill Companies 3 2 IS 14 BYTE AUGUST 1997 r Ar C++ FOR WINDOWS COMM DRV/l IB 16 1 Cl35 Fax C+ + SOK kx Win 16/95 C905 Greenloa/ CommLib 5.2 C235 OnNol SDK 4 0 C370 Compression Crusher! Win 16-b* w/Source £225 Groonleal Arc/xvot ib 2 1 C210 I’KWare Data Comp Lib W«32 £225 Database CodeBase 6.2 C295 CXBase Pro C500 CKSAM96 lor Win95 C715 Lisl & Labels lor Windows C410 ProloGcn + Ctient/Server Win C1370 ProtoGoru Pro £345 Raima DBM Engine+EADS 4 0 C740 Rorxxl Writer Visual Coder C75 Volocts f EADS (Oiler) C250 Visual SOL C958 Graphics • Charting Charting Tools lor Win 20 C180 Essential Chart lor Win C275 GraphiC/Wm 7 0 C360 Graphics Server 5 0 C235 Real-Time Graphics Tools C350 Graphics • Images Ad Oculos 32 and 16 bit 3 0 C475 Imago SOK Pins lor Nl £595 ImageMan DLL 32 & 16-txi 5 0 £600 LEAOTOOLS Win32 Pro 7 0 £690 Graphics & GUI 3d Graphics Tools 5 (32 tut C) £230 WinGKS £575 Zinc Engine & Win32 Key 4 2 £658 Maths & Stats IMSL C Numerical Libraries IMSL Math Module lor C + + Math hi ♦ (with support) LinpacK.hr + (with support) Sundry Components Creative Controls I roe Control I leapAgent 16 A 32 bit Combo IG CAOProl 6 0 WinWidgots+ + WmX Component Library Tools KPWinr ♦ Newi Solo Inlro I hales Visual Parser r 1)1:1.1*111 l earn to Program with Delphi Dol|)tx 3 Standard Dotjiln 3 Professional Delphi 3 Cliont/Sorvor ABC lor Delphi I 0b A|xjNoo (Delphi 32 A 16) Artemis (Delphi 32 A 16) Asynch Pro 2.02 lor DelpfM Borland RAD Pack lor Delphi Charting Tools lor Win Delpts Component Create Developer s Suito NetWare 5 0 DialogPROS Eschalon Power Controls 20 Helping Hand 3 0 I lyporTERP/Std lnuigol.it) Wm32AWml6 InloPower 2 0 InnoView Multilanguage Std 2 KmgCalond.ir Pro List A Labels lor Dofphi 4 0 Mobius Draw Kit Mobius FaslSpnles OCX Expert Orphous 2 I (32 A 16 bit) Pumpkin l*rojecl Manager 20 Beat-Time Graphics fools SysTools £41 £81 £382 £1337 £99 £245 £225 £135 £125 £180 £162 £375 £210 £135 £104 £120 £155 £179 £144 £84 £295 £105 £195 £135 £86 £360 £115 Transform Component Expert £125 1 VB2D Standard £119 VisualPROS 1 1 £125 WmG Sprite Kit £99 ^PROGRAMMING Ada Assemblers Basic C/C++ 1 Comms Cross Dev 1 Custom Controls Database 1 Debuggers Delphi Editors Fortran 1 Graphics GUI Linkers Locators Lisp Modula-2 Multi-tasking 1 Pascal Prolog 1 Smalltalk SQL I Version Control Visual Programming 1 l Windows Xbast I We stock many Items for which there Is 1 no space in these advertisements. 8 FIFFFI. Graphical Eillol Student (Win95) £85 Graptucal E diet Pro (Win 16) £465 lowerl idol lor Win32 Individual £495 I:ille!Case lor Win32 £310 £495 £495 £803 £803 £245 £635 £1199 £220 £135 £625 £295 £2760 £278 ■I GREY MATTER Prijj M 'nutoH, AUtbtirlou, /Vxvi TQli 7/It Prtcts do not include VAT or other local taxes but do Include delivery In melnland UK. Please check prices at time of order as ads art prepared some weeks before publication. This page lists some of our products - call us for a complete price list. OROER BY PHONE WITH YOUR CREOIT CARO (01364)654100 FAX:(01364) 654200 GENERIC OCX's R Oi l 's Comms • Asynch CommToote/Dt l Groonleal CommLib 5 2 (DLL) Sax Comm Objects Pro Comms - Network Distinct Visual Internet Toolkit Intomet dsSockot OCX 1 6 Sax Webster OCX (32 bit) Socko! Toots Database Cascade/DH Crystal Rejxxts Pro 50 Report FX 32-bit Graphics • Charting Chart TX 30(16A32bd) First Impression OCX 2 1 Graphics Server 5.0 Graphics • Sundries AccuSoft Redlining OCX32 d-BarOxto OLE DK (lid rAene) FXPic 4 0 GeoPtxnt ImagcGi>.ir Sid ActiveX 6 0 ImageM.in ActiveX Suite 5 0 Inter Act LEAOTOOLS ActiveX 16/32 Pro VeclorFX Victor Image Proc lor Win32 Grid Controls Data Widgets 20 Data Tabic Pro 3 I (16 A 32-bi!) Formula One OCX 4 0 Spread 2 5 True DBGnd Multi-Function £215 Designer Wntgels 2 0 £99 £235 OLE Toots 5 0 £149 £345 VBIite £125 VictooSoft VSView/OCX £140 £265 Multi-Media ErgoPACK £235 £79 FXTools Professional 4 0 £290 £110 Sundry Controls £195 Calendar Widgets £99 Input Pro £110 £400 £175 Schedule/OCX £195 Sentry Spoil Checker Fngino £235 1 £295 r:w> £240 Storage Tools 1 0 £100 Tab Pro 2 £99 TList Pro OCX £195 VersionStamper 5 0 £100 VisuafSpeiler OCX 20 £115 £295 VKtooSofl VS OCX £95 £209 VideoSoft VSFIox/OCX £140 £235 Text Editor Controls ALL Text HT/PYoOCX £335 £999 HighEdN 4 0 £285 £145 IX Text Control CoBoclion OCX £179 £215 £209 VisualWnter Pro OCX 3.0 £209 £495 £389 VISVAI. ItASIC 4/S ADD ONS £275 £375 £252 £390 £99 £265 £209 £220 £155 LOW PRICES MICROSOFT & BORLAND - “RODUCTS Visual Bask Prof 5.0 C378 Visual Basic Enterprise 5.0 C935 Visual C++ 5.0 Enterprise C935 Visual C++ 5.0 Professional C383 Visual C++ 5.0 Learning Edition C72 Visual Studio 97 Professional C779 Visual Studio 97 Enterprise £1145 C++Builder Standard £69 C++Builder Professional £397 Delphi 3 Standard £81 Delphi 3 Professional £382 WITH FULL TECHNICAL SUPPORT EDITORS Codewnghl f muon £120 Codewnghl f’rof 5.0 £189 Kodit (or Windows £129 Multi 1 (fit lor Windows 7 1 £145 Visual SkckEdd (Win) 2 0 £206 BASIC LANGUAGE Power BASIC DLL Compiler £106 XBasic Pro (Win32) £525 VisualAqe lor Basic £80 ADA COMPILERS IntegrAda Windows Dev Pack £827 i lotegrAda £148 ) Janus/Ada Cornfxler £115 We a/so self a wide range ol add-ons lor Visual Baste 3. 3d Graphics Tools 5 VB4 (32txt) £149 RutlonMaker £75 ClassAction (VB4) £ 105 ClassAsstsI £175 Crosconl Inlerncl TooB’ak 3 01 £140 Designer Widgcls 2.0 £99 I RwvVDcsklop lor VIM £399 f tolping Hand 30 £ 104 InloCodo (VB4) £55 PDOComm 3 21 £140 Developer's Suile NetWare 5 0 £375 List A Labels lor VB3/4 4 0 £295 PbwerPak I nterpnse lor VIM £506 PowcrPak Professional lex VIM £489 OiackPak VB/J+ ♦ QinckPak I’rofcssxxvil lor VIM £160 £165 Spyworks F*ro Subscription 5 0 £219 Slarnma £150 VB Ajjfil r.xnework £132 VB Assisi 5 £130 VB Compress Pro 4 0 £98 VB Langiutgo Marvager (Vo 3 0 £ 132 Visual Expert Dcvck)f)or £250 Don't forgo! that Visual Studio 97 includes Hi e equivalent edition ol Visual Basic 5 as won as Visual Ce, Visual J**. Visual FoxPro & Visual InlerDcv • better value lor many dovetopers. especially the Enterprise Visual Basic Enterprise 5 0 £935 Visual Basic Professional 50 £378 Vistuil Basic Learning 5 0 £72 Visual Sludto 97 Enlerprise £ 1145 Visual Studio 97 Professional £779 Borland C + + 50 £245 Jamba £189 Java WorkSliop £72 Paris lor Java £70 SuporCcdc £ 102 Visual CalO £145 Visual Cato f»ro £395 Visual J* 4 Professional 1 1 £77 www.greymatter.co.uk Our Web Site is Live! Check out our web site lor quick access to product information POWER++ 2.0 New Version ol Optima** Powersoft's latest version ol Optima* ♦. now renamed Power ♦ ♦. looks set to become even more widely usod with a host ol now features ■ Create Native Components that can appear on Iho palette and Reference Card ■ Create ActiveX Servers lor use with Microsoft Transaction Server and Powersoft Jaguar CTS ■ Build Web Server modules moro easdy with new wizards and high level ■ MFC Support use MFC code in Power 4 ♦ apps. add Power4 4 forms to your MFC a|*>s I ■ Updated C 44 Compiler based on Watcom C/C 44 11.0 with RTTI. namespaces, new casts. _m!64 and MMX support ■ Visual Classes are like a form al design time, but not visible al run lime - make it easier lo add non-visible components to classes ■ Enhanced IDE with improved menu editor and now toolbar editor ■ Netlmpact Dynamo makes it oasy lo build dynamic, data-driven wob apps (Enterprise only) With ttro improved llcxtoilily and support lor writing middle tier sorvers, Power 4 4 edges ahead ol C 1 1 Builder as the most powerful RAD C 44 tool No pricing as this wont to press, check our web silo. STAMINA The Library Formerly Known as Musdo is Back! Stamina has been written by Hie original programmers ol the award-winning Muscle library It inckxtos all of fhe fast 32-bit assembly routines Irom Muscle, and even more. Stamina offers functions lor sorting arrays A entire disk liles. searching strings, arrays, liles A drives. CRC A checksum calculations, date formal conversions, and over 200 oltiers Stamina's functions are written in tight, 32-bit assembly language. ;md can be called directly from VB4. VB5, or any other OLE-awaro 32 bit language Many routines are exposed through a typo library lor Unicode awareness and for the fastest possible access lo VB s Unicode strings Even with all this power, tho w- mernofy footprint of tho Stamina (XL is less than 50K DOCUMENTATION STUDIO Single Source Publishing Documentation StucKo is an integrated suito ol authoring tools and utilities that allow simultaneous creation oI printed documents, Windows online i telp. standard FU Ml pagos and Microsoft HTML Help, all from a single source file C++ (OMPILIRS Borland C+4 5.0 £245 1 Bor kind C + + Dev 50 £337 I Borland C+ 4 Dev 4 Design 50 £585 C+ * Bulkier Standard £69 C+ + Builder Professional £397 C 4 +Bo»kter Ckenl/Server £1292 Learn lo ftogram w/C« 4 Hinkler £40 Power 4 4 2.0 CALL Sallord C/C+ 4 Dev Bundle £295 Symantoc C++ 7.5 £75 Visual C+ 4 50 Enterprise £935 Visual C+ 4 5.0 Professional £383 Visual C++ 5.0 l earwig Edition £72 Visual Studio 97 IVofessionai £779 Visual Studio 97 Enterprise £1145 VisualAye lor C+ 4 3.5 £309 Watcorn C/C++ 11.0 £226 IC97/CS Circle 441 on Inquiry Card. C lusters provide better database- and applications-server functionality. Clus¬ tering has been around for years on platforms such as VMS and Unix, but it’s relatively new to NT. NT cluster nodes share access to data and communicate on a private network via a cluster protocol that is mostly based on com¬ mon protocols such as TCP/1P and NetBEUI. All clients communicate with the virtual clus¬ ter without addressing a specific server. Be¬ cause existing clustering solutions for NT have been proprietary, Microsoft’s Wolfpack aims at standardizing clustering under NT. It uses a series of APIs to separate applications from hardware components. Wolfpack phase 1, released early this year, is restricted to two cluster nodes and is based on NT Server 4.x. Phase 2, slated for release in 1998, will include an extension to 16 nodes and expanded functionality on the basis of NT Server 5.x. R/3 includes an internal load-distribution and redundancy concept. However, the R/3 server services that manage file sharing and interprocess communications (IPC)-as well as the DBMS and the SAP Central Instance (Cl) containing lock-manager and message services—can exist only once on a network. That’s why these single points of failure need to be secured via clustering. The DBMS and the Cl are usually the major components of a cluster. This means that despite clustering, the R/3 database, which usually comprises several hundred gigabytes, exists only once. However, in the future, DBMS replication mechanisms may reside inside the cluster. The implementation of the DBMS and the Cl inside the cluster allows for several sce¬ narios in case of failure, the only restrictions being a uniform OS in the cluster, which is rel¬ evant for mixed Unix/NT environments, and the maximum number of two NT cluster nodes. In a typical NT failover scenario (see the fig¬ ure “R/3 in the Cluster’’), the DBMS and the Cl may be located on cluster node 1. The sec- R/3 in the Cluster if* Private network Server SAP Central DBMS O Cluster node 2 worts as a regular applications server. Ho standby hardware required. Client (front end) Cluster nodel ' Shared dbk Client (front end) 0 Clients communicate with the duster without addressing a specific server. Client (front end) O Client switches either to external applications server (ASf) or connects to the Central Instance. Server fr Client (front end) €> Switch-over. In case of failure, DBMS and R/3 services for the Central Instance switch to duster node 2. ASf = Applications server, external (not in the duster) AS, = Applications server, internal (in the duster) DBMS = database management system ond cluster node may operate as an applica¬ tions server. In case of the failure of cluster node 1, all server services (DBMS and R/3 services Switch-Over Scenarios Situation Before Switch-Over Cluster nodes External node Cluster node 1 Cl DBMS CI/DBMS Cl DBMS External node Cluster node 1 Failed Failed Failed Failed Failed Cl = Central Instance AS = Applications server The type of failover scenario depends on user requirements and performance of cluster nodes. for the Cl) must be shifted to cluster node 2 (switch over). However, because coexistence of the appli- cations-sorver functionality and the Cl is not possible on one cluster node, the applications server must be stopped beforehand. Users working on this applications server have to log on to an external applications server (AS E ) or automatically be requested to reconnect to the Cl. The latter assumes that the corresponding user interaction processes have been config¬ ured on the Cl. This means that R/3 enables reconnections of the front end to the applica¬ tions server as well as of the AS E to the Cl and the Cl to the DBMS. (The latter two de¬ pend on the corresponding functions of the DBMS Networking Transport Mechanism such as Oracle SQL Net.) Situation After Switch-Over Cluster nodes Exter nal node External node Cluster node 2 CI+DBMS CI+DBMS CI/DBMS Cl DBMS 3 2 I S 16 BYTE AUGUST 1997 International R/3 Soars on Windows NT The Case for R/3 on Windows NT A bout 40 percent of all R/3 installations in 1996 were on Windows NT. Here are some reasons why organizations chose to go with NT. Price/performance ratio: There is a sig¬ nificant cost advantage of NT hardware and system tools over Unix systems. Human resources: It’s often easier to find people to administrate an NT network, as opposed to a Unix one. Homogeneous environment: If the OS for R/3, network, database, and front end is the same one, implementation and adminis¬ tration are simpler. users, it’s obvious that the performance of NT Server is not a limiting factor in mis¬ sion-critical R/3 applications. The bench¬ mark results revealed by IXOS during the last three years show that software opti¬ mization and the dramatic increase in computing power of Pentium and Alpha servers have made NT a viable OS alter¬ native for R/3. The figure “R/3 Benchmark Results” on page 32IS 14 shows that the maximum number of users, as a result of the SD benchmark, rose from 220 in June 1995 to 1116 in March. (One SD bench¬ mark user corresponds to three real users.) However, if you plan to run an R/3 in¬ stallation with more than 2500 users, you may want to go for a homogeneous Unix configuration. If you still want to use NT, you can use a Unix database server cou¬ pled with NT applications servers. Both configurations can easily serve more than 2500 users. Scalability is not the only crucial issue in mission-critical applications. High- availability concepts and sophisticated clustering solutions (see the text box “Higher Availability for R/3 Under Win¬ dows NT” on page 32IS 16) are equally important. There are a few possible fail¬ over scenarios (see the table “Switch- Over Scenarios” on page 32IS 16). The selection of a scenario depends on indi¬ vidual user requirements such as the over¬ all performance of cluster nodes and the combination of server OSes (e.g., the DBMS on the Unix server outside the clus¬ ter and Central Instance [Cl] on the NT server inside the cluster). Typically, the R/3 Cl and the DBMS reside inside the clus¬ ter. If one of these cluster nodes fails, the other one immediately takes over all the services of the failed node. The first clustering NT solutions for R/3 were on display at CeBIT this spring. Expect to see commercially available R/3- specific Wolfpack components later this year (see “Wolfpack Howls Its Arrival” on page 126). However, clustering solu¬ tions for R/3 that include load balancing inside the cluster may not be on the mar¬ ket before 1998. □ Katrin Lang and Stefan Lauritzen are engineers at the IXOS RJ3NTC in Munich, Germany. You can reach them at katharina.lang@ixos .de and stefan.lauritzen@ixos.de. IT'S MORE THAN JUST A PLACE TO PARK YOUR DRIVES. Now there is a way for you to get everything you need—data protection, increased performance, and a great price. DPT introduces the RAIDstation3 kits, cost-effective Ultra and Ultra Wide RAID kits to secure data and increase performance for entry- level servers, or workstations running important, storage-hungry and performance-demanding applications like video editing, CAD or electronic pre-press. You get all the features normally found in expensive, high-end RAID subsystems, all for as low as 51,249*! Just add your own SCSI disk drives and you're ready for RAID. You don't need to be a RAID expert to set up your system. With DPTs free RAID installation software. Storage Manager™, simply answer a few questions, click on the drives you want included in the disk array, and you're in business. Nothing could be easier! Call us today and ask about our one-time-try-it-youTl-like-it "Ultimate Deal" on the new RAIDstation3 kit, or ask for the DPT reseller nearest you. DPT Includes PCI RAID controller w/4MB memory _ mm JS ^dEI»iSA imcrlbuted Processing Technology * *8 Iw* — ■** SB. 3* — Full-featured RAID Kits JfTNCTuDF) • PCI Ultra or Ultra Wide SCSI RAID adapter for superior performance • Hardware RAID 0,1 and 5 • 4MB of cache included, with room for up to 64MB of hardware cache • Hot swap support for failed disk drives - - Automatic detection of failed drive - Remove failed drive without system interruption - Automatic spin-up of new drive - Automatic rebuild of the disk anay • Heavy duty metal cabinet construction • Three lockable, hot-swap carriers for 3.5" half-height SCSI drives • Power and disk activity LEDs • Cabinet temperature monitoring • Three year warranty • Unlimited free technical support 140 Candace Drive, Maitland, FL 32751 USA • Tel: 407-830-5522 Fax: 407-260-6690 • sales@dpt.com • http://www.dpt.com Circle 435 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 436). AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 32IS 1 7 INTERNATION A L _ _ IVI SETH H^Z ZZ Lightning’s new integrated communications solution, and a 56-drive CD-ROM server. PREVIEW MultiCom LAN Access Center Starts at SFr 6200 Enter 999 on Inquiry Card. Lightning Instrumentation SA Lausanne, Switzerland +41 21 654 2000 fax:+41 21 654 2001 http://www.lightning.ch More Security for Remote Network Access L ightning’s MultiCom LAN Access Center marries networking and telecommunications features in a secure communications solution for central offices. This multiprotocol router and bridge for remote access, which can link corporate networks over the Inter¬ net, ISDN, and leased lines, offers link-level and IP-router-level en¬ cryption with 128-bit keys that provide the security needed for banks, insurance and government agencies, or medical applica¬ tions. It can sit between a private telephone switch and the ISDN network to secure phone and fax transmissions. You can use MultiCom LAN Access Center to build a secure vir¬ tual private network (VPN) over the Internet. The device not only checks the IP addresses of all incoming data packages but also controls the addresses of the servers that routed the packages on their way over the Internet. Similarly, if you use the device to secure dial-up ISDN lines, it not only checks that the number given by the central exchange switch is correct but also that the caller didn t manipulate the number, which is possible with some national Euro- ISDN sen/ices. Swiss banks don’t accept DES encryption because of the short 52-bit key lengths. That’s why the MultiCom router uses IDEA en¬ cryption with 128-bit keys. Furthermore, every ISDN or leased line can have its own key. K you use IP-router-level encryption, the device can even assign a key to each IP address. Overall, the MultiCom LAN Access Center is a good solution for securely linking several remote sites to a central site. The man¬ ufacturer says you can connect up to 60 branch offices. -Rainer Mauth Communications 56-Kbps Modems Include Fax and Voice Support The Interiex 1X36 modem iine now supports K56flex/K56Plus tech- nology and provides a data trans¬ mission rate up to 56 Kbps. Sup¬ porting the Rockwell standard, the product family includes fax, voice, and telephony integration. Units are available in PC Card and ISA board versions. Price: Call cotttpatty. Contact: Intertex Data Systems , Ltd ., Sundbyberg, Sweden,+46 86282828; http:lI www.intertex.se. Enter 1000 on Inquiry Card. ISDN Terminal Adapter Supports USB Stoumann’s ISDN TA+USB terminal adapters now support the univer¬ sal serial bus (USB). The devices eas¬ ily integrate with USB telephony boards and run under Windows as well as under industry-standard real-time OSes. Price: Call company. Contact: Stollmann E+V GmbH , Hamburg , Germany , +49 40 #90 880; htt p: I I www. stoll mann.de. Enter 1001 on Inquiry Card. Peripherals Monitor in a Desk Pad The result of intense ergonomic research, the Modula-Evolutive is a flat desk pad that includes a touch¬ screen, two speakers, and a mi¬ crophone. When you exert a slight pressure on the desk pad, the inte¬ grated screen comes up, making a keyboard available. The system sup¬ ports VGA and SVGA under Win¬ dows 3.1 and 95. Price: Call company. Contact: Source Dtvel- oppement, Lognes , France , +33 164 62 63 63; bttp://www. modula.com. Enter 1002 on Inquiry Card. Storage CD-ROM Server Has up to 56 Drives The DataProvioer DP300 CD-ROM server rack lets you install CD-ROM drives vertically or horizontally. A single 19-inch DP300 drawer can carry up to four drives, providing up to 56 drives in one rack. The serv¬ er, which works with Windows, Net¬ Ware, Unix, and OS/2 networks, also supports the HTTP protocol. You can use a standard Web browser to con¬ figure the server. Price: Starts at DM 7000. Contact: dts Computer GmbH , Siegen , Germany, +49 271 3842 ISO; fax:+49 271 3842 161. Circle 1003 on Inquiry Card. The caption referring to immer¬ sive VR on page 32IS 12 of the July feature on virtual reality should have read as follows: Projection systems allow for communication between users in cylmrspace. 3 2 I S 18 BYTE AUGUST 1997 SOFTWARE Communications Easy Migration to MS Exchange If you’re planning to migrate from MS Mail to MS Exchange Server, MaX Migrator may help you man¬ age the upgrading process more efficiently. This auto-forwarding tool allows administrators to decide when to forward a user’s mail and allows reply messages to be sent to the mail’s originator. When the ad¬ ministrator decides that it’s time to switch off auto-forwarding and force users to use the new Exchange mail address, incoming mail can be returned to the sender, stating the new address. Price: £225. Contact: C2C Systems, Ltd.. Reading , U.K., +44 11X951 1211; http: IIwww. c2c. co. uk. Enter 1006 on Inquiry Card. Internet JavaVision Makes 2-D Graphics Dynamic JavaVision, a 2-D graphics publishing tool for Intranets and the Internet, lets you generate graphical primi¬ tives, such as lines, circles, rect¬ angles, and polygons, and assign dynamic attributes to them. For example, you can make a graphical entity rotate or change its color with a mouse-click. The tool uses a sophisticated Java class library that's compatible with the vendor’s existing graphics databases. Price: DM 590. Contact: in-integrierte infor - mationssysteme Gmbt /, Konstanz , Germany , +497531X1450; http: I I www. in-gmbh. de. Enter 1007 on Inquiry Card. Access Your Database via a Web Browser With the DB4Wlb database gateway you can access relational databases, such as Access, Adabas, CA/Ingrcs, and Oracle, from any Web brows¬ er. The system interoperates with standard Web severs and deploys a comprehensive Java class library. The DB4Web gateway is aimed at electronic commerce applications on the Internet. Price: Call company. Contact: Siemens Anlagentechnik , Erlangen , Germany , +49 9131 743X92; http:llwww.anl.siemens.de. Enter 1008 on Inquiry Card. Networking Manage NT Networks Off-Line Caeneus Superior, a network man- agement program for Windows NT, enables you to configure a remote site LAN and check new configu¬ rations off-line. To trace network problems, the software lets you cre¬ ate a snapshot of all network pa¬ rameters so you can more easily check the impact of configuration changes. In addition, the software lets you create NT domains and monitor user privileges. Price: Starts at DM 2970. Contact: Gerich, Bretzfeld. Germany , +49 7946 91190; http://www.gerich. de. Enter 1009 on Inquiry Card. PCMCIA Data Acquisition Solutions The newest family of PCMCIA products from National Instruments includes: UAQCard*"-AI-16E-4 16-channel, 250 kS/s multichannel, 12-bit resolution; 8 digital I/O; two 20 MHz up/down counter/timers DAQCard-AI-16X1-50 16-channel, 200 kS/s single-channel, 20 kS/s multichannel, 16-bit resolution; 8 digital I/O; two 20 MHz up/down counter/timers DAQCard 516 LOWEST COST 16 BIT CARD ON THE MARKET! 8-channel, 50 kS/s, 16-bit resolution; 8 digital I/O; two 10 MHz counter/timers Additional DAQCards Available with: • Up to 100 ksamples/s • 8 and 16 analog inputs • 12-bit resolution • Up to two analog outputs • 8, 16, or 24 digital I/O lines • 8 electromechanical relays Software NI-DAQ* This comprehensive driver software for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 protects your software development. NI-DAQ works with LabVIEW*, LabWindows’/CVI, ComponentWorks “, Measure*, Vi rtual Bench M , Visual Basic, Delphi, and C/C++. Call now for FREE DAQ data sheets cc 9 £7 NATIONAL- INSTRUMENTS The Software is the Instrument * European Branch Offices: Austria 0662 45 79 90 0 • Belgium 02 757 00 20 Denmark 45 76 26 00 • Finland 09 527 2321 • France 01 48 14 24 24 Germany 089 741 31 30 • Italy 02 413091 • Netherlands 0348 433466 Norway 32 84 84 00 • Spain 91 640 0065 • Sweden 08 730 49 70 Switzerland 056 200 51 51 • U.K. 01635 523545 U.S. Corporate Headquarters • Tel: (512) 794-0100 • Fax: (512) 794-8411 mfottnahns! com • www natinst com ■ A* nW< hnAntarf ww.byte.com Circle 442 on Inquiry Card. AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 32IS 19 Circle 451 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 452). For Any Standard Smart Card. One Drive Sets The Standard. Call us for details of your local distributor! HAVE COMPUTERS KNOCKED YOU FIAT cd .1 3 2 1 S 20 BYTf AUGUST 1997 Speech Recognition Even if your spouse doesn ’t understand you, at least now your computer will. By Steve Gillmor I Say! An Understanding Application In a short “training" period, NaturallySpeaking learns your accent and pronunciation and also lets you add specialized vocabulary. ntil recently, affordable speech-recognition products required you to commit a highly unnatural act. You/ had/to/insert/a/short/but/distinct/pause/ between/each/word/as/you/spoke. This is called discrete-speech input. Dragon Systems’ NaturallySpeaking allows users to talk normally, dictating spell-corrected text at over 100 words per minute. The product ships with a 30,000- word active vocabulary, a 230,000+ to¬ tal vocabulary, and a high-quality, noise- canceling microphone headset. During installation, a setup wizard adjusts your sound card’s audio-input level and then leads you into a training session, where you read for about 20 minutes from one of several supplied book passages. On-screen, NaturallySpeaking looks a lot like WordPad. Unique utilities in¬ clude Train Words, Find New Words, and TECH FOCUS Sound and Sense NaturallySpeaking converts voice input to a neutral pitch, eliminating the need for separate male/female files. A batch pro¬ cess compares spoken phonemes against its speaker-independent model, subtly ad¬ justing duration, weight, and pitch to opti¬ mize the acoustic match for your individual accent and pronunciation. Given one word, the language model predicts the next, reducing the searching required for a particular match. For exam¬ ple, “Mister" is likely to be followed by a name. Beyond two-word pairs, entire phrases or sentences are examined to de¬ termine the correct word in context. You can actually sec the program “change its mind" as more information becomes avail¬ able. NaturallySpeaking excels with com¬ plete sentences, producing as much as 95 percent accuracy after a day of steady use. Vocabulary Editor. You can feed in a mix of your e-mail, memos, and other docu¬ ments. The program scans your data, adds new words, and adjusts its vocabu¬ lary and word-usage information. Dragon’s earlier, discrete-input Drag¬ on Dictate program required the user to correct errors at once. With Naturally¬ Speaking, you can either use the “Cor¬ rect That” command now or edit later. To change a word or phrase, you say “Se¬ lect,” followed by the text you’re look¬ ing for. Then you can replace the selec¬ tion with new words or format the text. Currently, “Move to End of Line” returns you to the end of your dictated text, hut Dragon plans to add a “Go Back to Where I Was” command. You don’t need a special “Alpha-Bra¬ vo” alphabet to spell out words, and you can issue commands without changing modes. With the Personal Edition, you can’t dictate inside other applications (e.g., Microsoft Word and Lotus Notes), hut you can move your work around with “Copy All to Clipboard,” “Switch RATINGS TECHNOLOGY ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ IMPLEMENTATION * ★ A A ★ ^PERFORMANCE * ★ ★ ★ * to Previous Screen,” and “Paste That.” This program wants a lot of memory. I could run it along with Notes, Word, and Internet Explorer in N'T Workstation 4.0 on a 64-MB Pentium-I66MMX, al¬ though NaturallySpeaking still took a long 30 seconds to load from disk. NaturallySpeaking is science fact, not fiction. It’s a revolutionary breakthrough that delivers more than I expected. 0 Steve Gillmor is a consultant for Southern Dig¬ ital, Inc. (Charleston , SC). You can reach him at sgillmor@aol.com. ***** Out standing * * * * Very Good *** Good ** Fair * Poor AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 3 3 Eval/lhp.eps Object Database Object Design's venerable object database adds interfaces to Java and ActiveX. By Jon Udell What’s in Store for the Web I bject databases map transient I program data to and from permanent storage. Ifsa neat _ I trick that Object Design has been perfecting for years. Version 5.0 of ObjectStore adds failover and replication features and responds to new opportu¬ nities and challenges. Opportunities? Web applications that play to millions need fast direct access to clusters of linked items. SQL can’t do this. Challenges? Web- tool vendors have to cover a lot of bases nowadays. Object Design does. An ObjectStore application binds user- written code to a client library that talks to the database server and maps persis¬ tent data into transient virtual memory. Version 5.0 supports three ways to pack¬ age these kinds of applications: as an ActiveX control, a Java servlet, or an ObjectForms service. The ActiveX ap¬ proach yields a scriptable component that you can plug into the Active Server Pages environment. I used the Java inter¬ face to enhance my group-calendar servlet (see the Web Project on page 109). If you use ObjectForms, Object Design’s answer to Web/database integration tools such as Allaire’s Cold Fusion, you can leverage an HTML template processor and Web gateway to ObjectStore services TECH FOCUS ObjectStore Relationships ObjectStore supports direct two-way links between object types: Declare such rela¬ tionships in C++ with special macros, and referential integrity among related objects is maintained. The benefit is speed. With no linking table or join operation, as with SQL. ObjectStore encodes relationships directly to quickly retrieve dusters of linked items no matter how large the database grows. Relationships are available to C++ applica¬ tions, hut not yet for the Java interface. 3 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 ectSloie Inspector • bytecal.odb [iew Schema fluery Instance noou ciavigauon felHl ®||i«* ~3 &\ v| II tfN °t\ m tecalodb teCal dict (0x300O9ABC) (Ok300CA100) . os_dmq_singleton Q. COM_odLut^_H«hPef»stent int theHashCode B 111 Acme_Serve..Ca©ale $ String date B Acme.Serve.CaEntiy 0 String entry - ft Acme_S erve_CaFI ecord O Acme_S erve_CoE ntry «0 Acme Seive CaOate : 14 Items A 1 user S l 2 Jon Udell 3 Jon Udell 4 Jon Udell 5 Jon Udell 6 Jon Udell Tue Md Wed M Mon Ju Tue Jur Wed Ju ObjectStore 5.0 Windows NT, $3880; Unix, $4880 Object Design, Inc. Burlington, MA 800-962-9620 617-674-5300 http://www.odi.com Enter 998 on Inquiry Card. The new Collection Window, available in Inspector 2.1 and Publisher 2.0, displays object data in tabular form. written in C+ + or Java. Version 2.0 of ObjectForms includes Publisher, an inter¬ active builder of ObjectForms services. What are the trade-offs? Not all Object- Store applications are created equal. Under the hood isa C+ + engine that Java interface users can’t yet run on all cylin¬ ders: The database viewer in Object- Forms Publisher 2.0 has limited access to objects created by Java programs. You can query your data if you derive your objects from the ObjectStore Collections class, but you can’t order the results of those queries. Nor can Java programs create and use relationships—a powerful fea¬ ture of the engine that automates the cross-linking of related objects. Java users also face the ugly issue of postprocessing. Object Design supplies “persistence-aware” versions of basic Java classes (String, Hashtable, Vector), but you have to run a postprocessor (lit¬ erally rewriting your .class files) to make your own classes persistent. I should have postprocessed my servlet’s classes and those belonging to the Java Web server running it, but uncertain which classes comprise that server, l didn’t. Everything RATINGS TECHNOLOGY * ★ * * IMPLEMENTATION ★ ★ ★ worked, but 1 felt uncomfortable. Caveats aside, I got a good result. My Java-based calendar can now scale up impressively. You’ll get the most mileage out of version 5.0, though, if you re a C++ programmer deploying to the Web. New features of ObjectForms Publisher (for generic platforms) and the new ActiveX interface (for Active Server Pages environments) make it easier than ever to build applications that leverage ObjectStore’s power. □ Jon Udell (Jon. u@dev5.byte.com) is BYTE’s executive editor for new media. ***** Oulsland,ng ******* Good *** Good ** ** * *** YOUR brain USES ONLY A OF ITS CAPACITY. fraction WE THINK YOUR hard disk SHOULD BE A BIT MORE cient than that. UP TO W % OF YOUR HARD DISK may be wasted space, reclaim IT WITH PartitionMagic’ 3.0! PC' manufacturers typically ship hard disks formatted with one large partition. You know it as the C: drive. Without repartitioning, that drive uses large, inefficient storage units or clusters to store your data. The result is that up to 40% of your hard disk’s capacity can he totally wasted. PartitionMagic lets you solve that problem by dividing your hard disk into smaller, more efficient and better organized partitions. Up to hundreds of megabytes of wasted disk space can be reclaimed quickly and easily. It’s a no-brainer. For more information, visit our web site at: www.powerquesLcom. “How much extra space did i get on my hard drive? Would you believe 108 megabytes? Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe “PartitionMagic ... not only gives you more space for data, but lets you manage your data better." Jim Sundeen, PC Today y 85 fm ^rran multiple OSs. protect your data. Buy PartitionMagic 3.0 and get $15 back from PowerQuest? Visit your local software reseller or call 1-800-720-0399 for details. Babbagges • Best Buy • CompUSA • Computer City • Egghead Electronics Boutique • Frys • J&R • Micro Center • Office Depot • Software Etc. O in: IWrrt jut.' rntpwMwn All lighti mentd. tnd r.mtionM.p. *n «*■'«.r,l tiMirnwrl. .4 FV»wi(>«rv < .upeutim IWw piling PQ Circle 163 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 164). The UltraDaytona RAIDarray Storage that gives you peace of mind The new UltraDaytona RAIDarray" is welcome news if storage problems have been weighing on your mind. That’s because the UltraDaytona takes just thirty minutes to install and is so reliable, once you’re up and running, you can forget it’s there. With the UltraDaytona, you can swap dnves. power supplies, or fans without taking the subsystem off-line, so you can perform maintenance during "normal” hours without interrupting data availability. Plus, the new UltraDaytona RAIDarray is twice as fast as previous versions, and supports up to 128 MB of SIMM based data cache for even higher performance. It’s available in several configurations, and features an optional expansion chassis for up to seven additional disks. Each UltraDaytona includes CMD StorageView"* Lite, an easy-to-use GUI for setting up and monitoring the subsystem, as well as alarms that tell you when something needs attention. That way. you can address problems before data goes off-line, which makes the UltraDaytona a surprisingly stress-free storage solution. With that it mind, it should come as no surprise that CMD technical support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Just one more way owning an UltraDaytona will put your mind at ease. For more information, and a free white paper on RAID solutions, visit our web site at www.cmd.com or call us at 800-426-3832 or 714-454-0800. A iVinuon oI CMD Twtwwlofy. Inc I V»wlp*W OMomu 92618 M (S00) 426-or (714) 4V4CDOO I** (7M)«*VI6!* . .. . omlHM.. - ■ -- - -- --"• """.. ‘ ■ - Circle 170 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 171). I Smaller, moderately priced, and networkable. Xerox's CSS laser will bring color printing to many offices. By Russell Kay Laser Color, Inexpensive and Quick I n 1984, Hewlett-Packard rev¬ olutionized office paperwork with a $3500 laser printer that 1 fit on a desktop and produced 4 high-quality pages per minute at 300 dots per inch. We may be on the verge of a new revolution, but this time it’s being led by Brand X. The new DocuPrint C55 from Xerox is a $3500 networkable desk¬ top laser that gives great color at 3 ppm and 600 dpi. First, some specs.The C55 is a compact cube occupying only 306 square inches of desktop—less than two-thirds the foot¬ print of color lasers from HP, Lexmark, and Tektronix. It’s a dense cube, though, at a surprisingly hefty 90 pounds. It prints at 3 ppm in full color, 12 ppm in black and white, and 6 ppm in a special two- color “Fast Blue” mode. Consumables cost a mere dime per color page, and a draft mode prints pastel pages at 5 cents each. The C55 can use legal-size paper. It au¬ tomatically detects and adjusts color for transparencies. The standard 30 MB of RAM is upgradable to 70 MB. An includ¬ ed printer cable hooks up to the printer’s new mini-Centronix connector. Printers don’t usually include a floppy How Fast? Hrmrun... With an 80-KB JPEG file, the C55MP, running PostScript, delivered the first print of a photo in 45 to 50 seconds, with addi¬ tional copies every 20 seconds (right on the 3-ppm claim), except for an occasional hesitation. But with the PCL driver, it took nearly 90 seconds for the first page. Another photo, with heavy color, took nearly 6 minutes to print. A typographically c omplex WordPerfect page with two col¬ or J PEGs and clip art printed in 110 sec¬ onds (with PostScript or PCL). A simpler page with one JPEG printed in 64 sec¬ onds with PostScript, and 110 seconds with PCL. DocuPrint C55MP $4999 with PostScript and 8-MB network card ($4500 street price); C55 standard model, $3999($3500 street price) ; 30 MB of RAM standard on both Xerox Corp. Rochester, NY 716-425-5230 http://www.xerox.com/ Enter 996 on Inquiry Card. No 90-pound weakling, this wonder of a desktop color laser is inexpensive to buy and to run, and it's made for networking. drive, but there’s one (called a “media server”) here. Print from your application to a PRN file using the C55 driver and put that file on a floppy, and you can take the disk to the printer. The front-panel LCD lets you select filenames for printing. The MP model I tested adds PostScript (with Mac, OS/2, and Unix drivers), an Ethernet card, and network software. PostScript also adds continuous-tone printing and a “Fax Friendly” mode that converts colors to black hatching. Nothing but Net The C55MP was designed for network¬ ing, and the setup CD includes everything needed. However, the NetWare instruc¬ tions fail to note that you need to run the 32-bit NetWare client, even for Net¬ Ware 3. lx LANs. Nice for LAN users is a “Hold Job” feature that lets you walk down the hall and change paper before beginning printing. All CSSs have an em¬ bedded HTTP server that allows remote monitoring—even temperature, humid¬ ity, voltages, and toner levels. No color printer does it all. Xerox’s DocuPrint C55 offers an intriguing mid- RATINGS TECHNOLOGY * ★ * * IMPLEMENTATION ★ ★ ★ PERFORMANCE ★ ★ ★ ★ dle-ground option between the big, cost¬ ly, high-end color lasers and the small, slow, value-priced ink-jets. Time will tell if this new Xerox design is really the spir¬ itual successor to the original LaserJet. But it’s one dandy printer. B Russell Kay is a BYTE technical editor who*s been printing things all his life. You can reach hint at russellk@bix.com. ***** Otrinluodmg * * * * Viwy Good * * * Good ** Fair * Poor AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 3 7 Eval/lhp.eps Uninterruptible Power Supply Offering a scalable, modular design and numerous configuration options , APC’s redundant UPS hits the market. By Michelle Campanale Never-Ending Power Supply Symmetra i Power Array | $ 10,500 to $ 16,600 I American Power I Conversion * West Kingston, Rl 800-800-4272 401-789-5735 http://www.apcc.com Enter 993 on Inquiry Card You can easily install or remove the Symmctra's individual power, intelligence, and battery modules to manage redundancy. ell hath no fury like a network administrator after a power outage. Fortunately, a UPS that offers both scalability and N+1 redundancy has arrived. The Sym¬ metra Power Array, which represents American Power Conversion’s first UPS over 5 kVA, operates much like a server or storage device with RAID. Using double¬ conversion on-line technology, all the modules in the Power Array run in paral¬ lel and share the load evenly. With a full output of 16 kVA, when all power and battery bays are fully loaded, the Symmetra can effectively power M NT servers. The unit’s copious expansion options, or “smart slots,” enable aug¬ mentation or reconfiguration simply by adding or removing modules. Addition¬ ally, A PC offers a number of choices for managing the system. The Symmetra contains hot-swap¬ pable parts: power modules, battery modules, a main intelligence module, and a redundant intelligence module. Many users will appreciate the Symmetra’s four back panels—smart slots that offer a selection of added management con¬ nections. The system supports an Ether¬ net ($199)or a Token Ring ($.199) SNMP module, allowing any networked PC, with permission, to connect to the UPS through the file server. A $179 out-of- RATINGS TECHNOLOGY A A A A A IMPLEMENTATION A * * A band or in-band modem module is also supported. The out-of-band UPS call-up card is capable of paging the administra¬ tor when the unit experiences prob¬ lems, and it provides terminal emulation for dial-in management of the unit. The tiny hard-wired LCD console module on the front of the unit can be used to manage the system. It displays menus for diagnostics, system status, and configuration. The Symmetra ships with APC’s PowerChute Plus 5.0, a Web-en¬ abled utility designed to shut down the OS and close all files prior to a UPS power failure. Additionally, the unit comes with HP Open View. APC plans to soon release an add-on card that lets you assign an IP address directly to the Symmetra, bypass¬ ing the server. The Symmetra product line includes five models that scale from K kVA to 16 kVA, with redundancy starting at 4 kVA. Prices range from $10,500 to $16,600. Similarly priced products like 1 iebert’s UPStationS ($4000 to $ 15,000) can have a certain level of redundancy, analogous to disk mirroring, where a UPS is backed up by an equivalent UPS. Of course, the price doubles and there is no load balancing. By using small modules that are hot-swappable, APC’s Symmetra eliminates a single point of failure and promotes quick, do-it-your¬ self servicing. These features, combined with the Symmetra’s multiple configu¬ ration and management options, con¬ stitute a compelling UPS solution at a competitive price. □ Michelle Campanale is a HYI'li technical edi¬ tor based in lift San Mateo, California , bureau. You can reach her at michelle@dev5.byte.com. 3 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 ***** OuIsI.wkIiimj * * * * Very Good * * * Good ** Fa* * Poor COMPUTER DISCOUNT WAREHOUSE The right price. The right advice. We offer yoi l Get more than just a great price. Call today and get a little empathy, some free advice and a free CDW catalog. UMAX Computer Corporation Astra 600S mm my ■ Single- pass ■ Resolution: :t()0 x 000 dpi optical. 4HIK) dpi interpolaUnl ■ Maximum scan an*n: 8.f>" x 14" I ■ Scanning modes: 30-bit color. 10-bit grayscale ■ Software: Adobe PhotoDeluxe, Presto!. PageManagor with OCR. | UMAX (’opy Utility. VistaScan Astra 600S.. $218.51 COW 85639 Astra 600P. _ 5198.97 CDW 8934 8 ■ Software: Presto!. PageManager with OCR and Adolie PhotoDeluxe tg,m>ro.ot. ModemSUR FR ■ Motorola’s K56 Plus” livhnolafl allows you to download files at *p up to 56K bps (uncompressed) ■ rates up to 56K bps and thmiigM rates up to 230.4K bps (external! with data compression ■ Krrorl control and 'HO error luiioctiofl ■ Caller ID and distinctive ring! support (contact your phone coni for service) $ 146.01 Windows NT Server V4.0 Upg ♦ 5-diont hconso CD . Upy ♦ 10-dionl hconso CO ••••-••. 21 Comp opo ♦ 5-dsnt liconse CD.. 349.34 Comp upg ♦ 10-dtent ••cense CD. 469 31 Sorvor ♦5-cliont liconse CO^. 895.98 Server ♦ 10-dwnt hconso CD 12 Stogto-chonl license upg.. 4® SuMpo chent liconse . 29 96 . '%% IntranetWare 10-usor CD ^12 26 assr CD—- tflf’g Cell lor Novell In Irene I Ware upgrade a. IntranetWare lor Small Business 1 usor addttionul license.-. 4AM 5 user nddMional license. 216.83 Sorvor with 5 licenses 594.80 Call lor additional Novell IntranetWare multl-umor configuration*. £$ 859.55 3Comlmpuct IQ ISDN modom external 309-56 3C900 fcthorl. IjCSOO rfhortmK XI PCI 10BT JC900 Elbomol XL PCI combo 3C905 Fast EthorLmfc XL PCI lOMOOBT OflicoConnoct 8 port hub....^.. SuporStack It Hub 12 port 10BT. SuporSlock II Hub 24-port 10BT 119.99 95.90 119.78 m 89 859.44 HASANTK I nondyNet 5-port Ethornot hub.. I nondyNet 8-port Ethornot hub 56.28 59.91 £$ 349.04 CDW 82294 799.40 MicroWot) 100 server .. r i«mmi ;»-1 twjft 10OT 2 pod I(XXII . :1A1 .. 2895.44 Catalyst I9CX) 24 jiort 10BT 1 port tOOtll 1-port 100FX . J28S.79 COMPAQ. NeteNigont UXW PCI conlrdtor . 9185 NotoMignnl ICV1000TX PCI contrdlor 99.78 * Ihtyria CommumCatd 33.6 data/lax modom 189.27 CommuntCard PLUS 100T/33 0 I IbornotAnodem. 144.76 NETGEAR x MB7000 tr 0 28mm 539.92 FE104 4-port 1006T Fast Ethornot hub 168 58 FE108 8-port 1006T Fast Elhornot hub 359.88 . xUS NEC XV17* tr 0 28mm NEC P750 IT 0 25mm NEC P1150 21*0 28mm V 34 33 6 oxtomal wflax SMC EthorEZ 5T 10BT hub. M .15 l lherl / BTC 10BT In* 129-82 ElhorEZ 16TC 106T hub . 278.49 EthorEZ 10BT ISA . 9 18 Ether Power ItyiOOBTX PCI 71.72 M l P „ __ 1509.92 Pnncutari E050 15* 0 28mm 289.76 PrvKOlon E070 1 T 0 28mm 489 49 Sony Multiscan lOOsx 15* PnP 0 25mm 349.38 Sony Multiscan lOOst 15* PnP 0 25mm 397.07 Sony Multiscan 200st 17* PnP 0 25mm 775.83 Sony MuSSean :«X)d 20* PnP 0 30mm 1585 46 Sony MuSracnn GOM-W900 24* 0 25mm 4239 99 ViewSonic E641 14* 0 28mm 209 35 ViewSonic E655 15* 0 28mm 294 93 VwwSomc PT775 17* 025mm ViewSonic P815 21* 0 25mm 1539.04 Votco V 34 33.6 haemal wdax Mf Voce V 34 33 6 oxtomal w/lax 175 24 5GK x2 internal . 1?7.99 56K x2 Voice intomal 217.99 56K x2 Voico oxtomal . 237 99 ISON I28K terminal adaptor 199 65 ISDN 128K terminal odaptor Courier Series V34 33 6 Internal wrtax V 34 33 6 oxlornnl w/lax 56K S6K oxtomal HP LaserJet 6MP printer PPOCEttOR UPGR I modom ISON V 34 faxmodem external 288.05 DataDuist ISDN U xilorlaco oxlornal 205.41 DataBurst ISON S7T mtortaco external 239.21 intel /< H IM 33 6 vdeo/SVD CDW 74908 Pentium OverDrive Processors 63MHz . 93MHz...... 120/133MH/ upg for 5^60. MiG 169.28 125MHz in*J ** V75 259.37 139.96 .199.29 qzxes Pentium OverDrive Processors Iomega Zf> drive 100MB paralkH ........~~ )4 99 f Zip drive 100MB oxtomal SCSI 49.95 /!p dnvo 100MB intomal SCSI.... 149 95 Dfoo Easy 800MB Trayan intomal 99 95 Jaz dove 10B internal SCSI-2... 299 9 » Jaz drive 108 oxtomal SCSI-2 . 399.95 Ditto drive 2GB Intomal .. 149-J* Ditto dnvo 2GB oxtomal. 1»9.?5 150MHz upg lor 90MHZ 319.08 166MHz upg lor 100MHz . 339.18 U1IIU IRtm 4.VMZ vimvimw*. - - - - Ditto Dash Card.... ^-96 5 PHILIPS 3Com LAN PC Card combo 174.85 3Com 33 6 10BT LANrmodom .. 306 72 3Com 33 6 10BT l AN*modom combo 339.06 Hayes ACCURA 336.• EosyWRITER CD recorder mlernal EnsyWRITER CO rocordor oxtomal Hayes OPTIMA 336 vrtEZfack Hayes OPTIMA 56K Motorola Montana 33 6 Motorola Manner 33.6 H 111-1 2H 207.04 179.06 349.54 33 6 votoa/SVD Internal.... .....—~ - -1184 V 341 Plus 33 6 taxmodam mtomal .. 78 4 V 34X Plus 336 loxmodem oxtomal. J99 3 5GK intomal . -. .. w-f Internal $117.27’ CDW 4511 External $139.39 CDW 4511 EZFIyor 230MB oxtomal .~. 199.00 SyJot 1 5GB SCSI internal . 399.00 SyJot 1 5GB SCSI oxlornal. 499.00 HBOm NF8 Maestro V5 1 I W1N/9VNT/DOS 229.18 Exceed V5 t 3 WINWNI 319.94 intol UKM.Hini 81.46 EtherExprona PRCV10* PCI combo. 119.07 NotPoilf xfxevs f*1t() I thernot Intomal 268.54 NetPorlExpraaS PRO I Otemat external J67.15 NETGEAR KV100 Foul Ethernet PCI adapter 61.94 ENI04 4-pod 10B! sllmfcne I theriMil Into 65.09 EN108 8 pot1 106T shmhno Ethomat hnt> 87.02 Adesso NU-Form koytx>a«V»ou<*pod_ 58 09 Alps GhdoPovS Wove keyboordftouchpiid 66 69 Alps GhdoPo*nt Windows 95 keyboard 93.94 Calcomp Drawing Slato II Casio QV i0O rhgilal camera . 665 65 Cormochx Color OutckCam V2 0 209 ^7 Epson PhotoPC dtortal camorn .. 334.92 Epson PhotoPC 500 dtottol camorn 499 00 E pson ActtonScanning System II 269 42 Epson Expression 638 Exoc scannor 799.00 nowtott Packard ScanJet 5a. 222 51 Hewleit Packard ScanJet So.. 378 66 Howtoft Packard ScanJet 4C*0 799.00 Intol Smart Vxtoo Rocorder III. 169.17 Konswigton Mouse m a Box n " 76 Konslngton Ewart Mouse V5X> PS/2 ,9177 Kodak DC50 Dmital Scwnco Camorn 699 00 Logitech TrackMon Marble . Logitoch PagoScan Color Pro 268 ^2 M^rotek Color P^’Wlz oomptict scanrxv 49.39 Mtorotok ScanMaCor E3 odor flatb ed 174.56 Microtek ScanMakor E6 Sid color Nettwd J35 65 Nikon AX 110 Scnntoucli scannor 286 26 Nikon Coolpa 100 ddld camera 396.02 Play Snappy vnloo stl capture . -195.87 Potarord 206o/4O agoOltico Color scannor 216 22 UMAX Astra 600S scannor 235.65 UMAX Astra 1200S scannor wfPhotoOohixa. 445-46 Visionoor PaporPort mx scannor . 179 37 Vtalonoor PaporPort ix scannor . 179.37 Now Media PC Card foyste* nd apter 58.23 Simplo 33 6 cotkilar.- - - Smite 33 6 Communicator *^tmdoJack 158.21 LLSRobokcs Etoomot adapter vWXJACK 109.00 U S Robotics 336 cotetar . .- 222 22 U S Robotics 33 6 cdulnr w/XJACK. 229 95 U S Robotics 33 6 wOUACK T12 « Xircom 33.6 ..—---- 1® 9 Xircom 33 6 Ettiomot 10BT . 212 Xircom 33 6 Ethornot combo . 316.91 £ $ 13.26 CDW 34757 (B Hayes ACCURA 336 V 34 mtornal w/Uu ACCURA 336 V34 oxlornal wrtax OPTIMA 336 Busmoss Modom mtornal OPTIMA 336 Business Modom oxtomal ACCURA S6K mtomal ACCURA 56K oxtomal ACCURA 56K spoakorpbono mtornal ACCURA 56K spoakorpbono oxtornnl OPTIMA 56K mtornal . OPTIMA 56K external —. ACCURA ISON. 119.54 137.60 27«> 29 236 -Ul 156.78 „iat.*7 158.78 184.51 289.41 279.73 249.45 LQ2070.-. -JJJ LX300..— Stylus Color 400.- Iff- Stylus Color GOO . Stykis Color 800---Z. 449.fl| ... :M0 portablo ir- innn IIP DeskJet 672C color prmlor .. 199.0 HP DoskJot 694C color primer ... --299-1 HP DoskJot 820Cso color prmlor . -2N| HP Laser Jot 5se printer... 1 9!M HP LasorJot 6Lso prmlor ... HP Laser Jot 6MP printer... 878.4| HP LasorJot 6Pso prtnlpr .. ?M HP OthcoJot 570 mutti lunctwn ..-. 599.0 Color Jotprmler 1020 I>:xmakk 149.1 ModomSURFR 56K mtemd .. 146.01 MixtornSURf R 56K external *4.59 VotcoSURFR 56K mtomol 165.12 VdceSURFR 5t>K oxtorrml . 179.78 B4SURFR Pro EZ ISON 239.42 CdbrJ^teter^..-.-. JB4< Color Jotprlrttar 2060. ....- Ifij Color JotfMMitor 2070 Color Jotimnlor 7000 VARUt JViia w Optra E* inao" 1 Optra 8 1280. 10 « 9 " MAG tnnovttlon 410V2 14* 0 28mm 209.16 MAG Innovision 510V2 15* 0 28mm 289.78 MAG Innovusion 710V2 17*028mm 495.76 Mngnovox MB4010 14* 0 28mm 229.71 Magnavox MV5011 15* 0.28mm . 277.56 Sportster Series Winmotkim V wiivnotMim V 33 6 vitemal w/lax. V 34 33 6 internal relax..— -119.18 Sim 81680.--- •«>» Optra 3 2490..... Optra SC 1276. J789.f •Oiler valid through 8/31/97 or while supphes 0 800 - 959-4239 f CDIV features FedEx shipping at low UPS abates! www.cdw.com a rare sales tool. ales tool. | • . • • it’s called ODjeCtlVlty. 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Inni mf VorI7 / Wn mWiivlfMi “ Ik iriufr^n $275.00* _ Q CDW 78405 I Office' l#tr Internet Office UPS Systems ■ Protect your entire computer setup with 6 outlets (3 UPS and 3 surge) ■ Safeguard your modem/fax line with built-in id 11 jacks ■ Monitor ; UI*S operating (Conditions with up-front, diagnostic LKDs ■ Cel fingertip control over your entire system with the Internet Office 420 LP*a front panel switches ■ $25,000 Insurance ('-overage Internet Office 32S. $126.49 CDW 81011 Internet Office 450_ $138.19 COW 81012 Internet Office 420 LP (under monitor) $165.82 COW 71339 , *@ r CDW carries over 20»000 products! If you don’t see it. Call! TOSHIBA S.itHHte & Satellite Pro Notebooks OS 5/133 16MB 1 34GO If ' r 5/166 MMX 16MB ton 13 3* active 10XCO.. J /4ch i)I 5/166 MMX 16MB ton 13 3* activo 10XCO_ X Mini.i Mini-towers M6I . 166 MMX 32MB 2 38GB 12X CO '.in 200 MMX 32MB 3GB 12X CO Iqirtuin Desktops M«X * V166 MMX 32MB 2 1GB 12X CD 3424.88 2997.53 4237.92 VOX i V200 MMX 32MB 2 5GB 12X CD •2000 6/200 32MB 3GB 12X CO. ijtum Mini-lowers &0M 64200 32MB 4 3GB I2X CO fquhn •700M 1649.47 1847.45 2234.52 AST Asccnila Notebooks AilO li.is 5/150 16MB 1 44GB 17 r k Uvo 10XCO. A/0 I .5/150 MMX 16MB 144GB » 1.1 Net UK CO JV. V133 16MB 1GB 11 3* active . i /i » m O MMX 32MB 2 1GB 12 1* ackvo •HU'. 1G4> MMX 32MB 3GB 12.T aclrvo ffrevo Desktops 1C 51 U 5/133 16MB 12GB. |C 5133 5/133 16MB 2G8.____ tC M(6 5/166 16MB 1 2C.B II Mm, VI66 16MB 2GB I 5/133 16MB 1.2GB M‘. M 13 5/133 16MB 2 1GB Wt«v< . Mini towers M i 133 5/133 16MB 12GB M\ I 133 5/133 16MB 2 1GB 3075.78 2239.97 909.13 1078.79 1125.05 897.28 .909.13 874.99 925.14 COMPAQ. II M> ‘ 170 16MB 1 08GB 10 4*6 • < Mil •. 120 16MB 1 06GB 10 4* «'-1 • t»M 5 120 16MB 1GB II rdusl I0XCO.. !».. "I'M 133 16M0 1GB II I duel 10XCD..... r " i vi 33 16MB I i active 10X CD 41" HMD 810MB It 3* (As 4i .it 16MB 1 06GB II 3* d 41201 M20 16MB 1 06GB II 8* 41 I 133 16MB 1 06GB 11 8* 4131T VI33 16MB 1 4GB 12 1* a MnMT VI50 MMX 16MB 18GB 12 1* active. ” MT VI66 MMX 32MB •• " .m 1/ f activo MI VI66 MMX 32MB * lOB 12 I* active_ krai 999.00 activo 1199.00 2049.00 3199.00 ...1199.00 1299.00 -o 2499 00 e 2549 00 i 2849 00 4399.00 COMPAQ LTE 5000 Notebooks 5300 S/133 16MB I 35GB 12 1* aclrvo 3399.00 5380 5/133 16MB 2 16GB 12 I* aclrvo 3699.00 5400 5/150 32MB 2 16GB 12 1* actwo 3899.00 IBM Aptiva Desktops C8E 5/166 MMX 32MB 3 1GB 16X CO 1878.57 S8C V166 MMX 32MB 3 1GB 16X 1999.00 S9C 5/200 MMX 32MB 4 2GB 16X 2499 00 5^^ 2 V?33^MB > T;*GB 1089 00 SiSmSibTEb ft bMt 1559. 5l33/2iS! 5/135 16MB 2 SS PC360 5/166 MMX 16MB 2 5Glf 5 boy* 1868. 5133/1200 5/133 16MB I 2GB 1089.00 5133/2500 5/133 16MB 7 5GB 1169.00 5166/1200 V166 16MB 1 2GB 1209.00 5166/2500 5/166 16MB 2 5GB . 1289.00 5200/2500 5/200 32MB 2 5GB . 1709.00 610Q/12OQ/CO 6/180 IlMII 1 7GB 8X CD 1739.00 618Q/2S0QGD 6/160 32MB 7 SGB 8X CO 1929.00 6200/2500CD 6/200 16MB 2 5GB 8X CD 2209.00 Oeekcro 2000 Mini lowers 513305000) 5/133 I6MII2 5GB8X CO 1309 00 51G6/250Q/CD VI66 32MB 2 SGB 8X CO 1549.00 620025000) 4Mil 4 7GB PDCO 3169.00 Preeerto Desktops 2100 133 24MB 2GB 8X CD 899.36 4160 VI50 24MB 2 IGB 8X CD 1099.00 Presarto Mini towers 4764 5/166 MMX 24MB 2 5GB 16X CO 1499.00 4770 5/200 MMX 32MU 38GB 16X CO 1799.00 4784 5/200 MMX 32MB 4 3GB 16X CO 1999.00 8772 5/200 MMX 48MB 6 5GB 16X CO 2299.00 63 PC3S0 5/200 MMX 32MB 2 5GB 5 boys 2157.74 PC300GL Series Desktops 5/133 16MB 1 2GB ____ 1119.22 V166 16MB 1 2GB. 1257.08 V166 16MO 2 5GB.. 1339.78 5/166 16MB 2 5GB 16X CO. 1578.84 5/166 MMX 32MB 2 5GB. 1699.48 PC300XL Series Desktops 233MH/ PorWum It 32MB 2 5GB 16X CO 2639.89 233MH/ Ponhum II 32MB 2 5GB 2366.39 266MM/ Ponkum II 32MB 4 2GB 16X CO 3049.52 266MH/ Ponkum M 32MB 4 3GB 16X CO 3379.75 NEC Versa Notebooks 2530 VI33 16MB I 08GB 12. I* dual 2630CD 5/133 16MB I 44GB 12.1* dUM 10XCO... 2650CD VI50 MMX 16MB 1 44GB 12 1* dual 10XCO ..... 2650CDT V150 MMX 16MB 1 44GB 12 1* aclrvo 10X CO.. 6O50MH V150 MMX 16MB 1 4GB 12.1* active 10X CD.. 6050MX VI50 MMX 16M0 2 1GB 12 1* aclrvo 10X CO 6050NT VI50 MMX 16MB 2 IGB 12 1* aclrvo 10X CO.. 6200MX VIM) MMX 32MB 2 1GB 13 3* aclrvo 10X CO... 6700NT V166 MMX 37MB 2 IGB 13 3* activo 10X CO. PowerMale Value Series Oesktops V133o VI33 16MB I 2GB V2133 V133 1GMB 1 6GB V2133V133 16MB 2GB 8X CO. PMMi WM MM I9W8V9 V2133 VI33 16MB 1 6GB IBM V2133 V133 16MB 2GB 8X CD. PMMMl NrtMMM D88lMp> P2166M V166MMX 16MB 2GB P2166MV166 MMX 32MB 3GB 12XCO P7700M VAX) MMX 32MB 3GB 12X CD PowerMale Performance Mini towers P2166M V166 MMX 16MB 2GB P2200M 5/200 MMX 16MU 2GB. 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MxISOT VI50 16MB 2 1GB 12 1* dual 8X CO.. .2799.00 .4399.00 Mx I66T VI66 16MB 2 1GB 12 1* active 8X CO. . 4399.00 1528 00 1940.00 2293.00 S/120 16MB 1 44GB I2.r"actom 2699.00 1528.00 1940 00 5/150 16MB 2 1GB 121* active 6X CD 3799.00 CDW TELEPHONE HOURS Sain MondayFnday 7 am-9 pmCT* Saturday 9 am-5 pmCT Tech Support lor Cuttomeri Mondayfnday 9am-9 pm CT • SaArtay 9 am-5 pm CT BUY WITH CONFIDENCE CDW IS A NASOAq TRADED COMPANY next a svuoot cowc oiinMMi VISA ^IE- J mart mrn tae el ikpaoi fm tom profctkCA m ikp 10 mm osW urti mWrt Ukng attcu ImiNaukrtUirt stecjrrws jdsrt kogNdwpe pte nuuaa Wd iwJugng nrukrui lie ml of mnu s 935% |00035| ct le onto tatrt nutoufe «d not exert U 00 to u* padaw Aenie or $6 00 to rra*0K& aat ih(iwS Bder nksiwq ay proWd. yos asel obUa at NMAnwtaf Non Odrctor irtwm m urtjed to i rrAriung to Sdhurr dips jnd atm (tofconc uxnpcntnh at nof nkarutfr Mw 10 tMaeu dip to ifiee>N «•» nwn kr pnuarf dea " e*ct b duaft for M pacn. prodsdi ad dtov •e ndd to nuto jAwtoerts dw to during me (drdti COMPUTER DISCOUNT WAREHOUSE COMPEX 100Mbps Fast Ethernet ; > \ Connect four hubs without unk>j external cables. 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Anaheim, CA 92807 U S A Tel: (714) 630*7302 • Fax (714) 630-6521 GERMANY ReadyLINK Networktechnology GmbH Albert-Einstein-StraBe 42. 63322 Rodermark Tel (49) 6074 98017 • Fax: (49) 6074 90668 SINGAPORE COMPEX Systems Pie Ltd 135 Joo Seng Road. #08-01. PM Industrial Building, Singapore 368363 Tel: (65) 286 2086 • Fax (65) 280 9947 C 1997 Compex, he. Compex end Ike temper bp «ff npderti I rede me rks of temper, he. AH I "dr mirks end coppnpkts art Ike proper!, of their revert,re holders Circle 431 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 432). Databases A data warehouse does more than collect data. It reflects a valid and consistent image of the business. By Richard Hackathorn Data Warehousing’s Credibility Crisis the business that it documents. Maintaining this image presents a con¬ stant struggle of integrating an ever- changing variety of models that attempt to describe the business. Because of this, you must confront validity issues right queries. Slight variations in SQL syntax can produce widely differing results from the same set of data. Most of SQL’s syn¬ tax is poorly understood, requiring an expert to use it properly. Fourth, there’s the challenge of expanding access to the Validity Checks for Data-Warehouse Flows Information entering the data warehouse must be monitored for eonsistency and completeness. on gaze with pride at your lat¬ est handiwork , the company's new (Lita warehouse. At 11:3S , the phone rings. You scoop it up. The voice on the other end says, “This is Marietta Price, VP of finance. I fust got the first reports front your new warehouse system. They look nice, hut the numbers that you generated don 7 jibe with our standard reports. Would you meet with me after lunch to explain?” Your blood runs cold. Calmly; you re¬ ply, “Sure. Where exactly are you seeing problems?” She explains that some of the regional refxtrts have questionable results. You ask her a few more questions and then hang up. Next you dial Eric, the data adminis¬ trator. “We'vegot a problem, ” you be¬ gin. “The VP of finance is questioning our reports. ** The popularity of data warehousing (l)W) has, unfortunately, obscured its basic objectives. Many people construct l)W systems for simplistic reasons and with unrealistic expectations. Neglecting to establish and maintain credibility in the reported data until it’s too late has caused many I)W efforts to fail in their early stages. To deal with this credibil¬ ity crisis, you must grapple with one big question: Does the data warehouse con¬ vey a consistent and valid image of your business operations? A Constant Struggle The term data warehousing emphasizes an overall process and architecture, while the terms data warehouse and data mart refer to a collection of data managed with¬ in a database. A data mart is a data ware¬ house that deals with a specific organi¬ zational function. In this context, l)W is the discovery, management, and dissem¬ ination of informational data. This data, which is derived from various sources, provides a consistent and valid image of from the start when constructing a data warehouse. First, there’s the challenge of under¬ standing the warehouse’s data properly from a business perspective. The ability to audit any data element is an essential for instilling confidence in the data. Sec¬ ond, there’s the challenge of consisten¬ cy in data usage. Two users might think they’re debating over similar data ele¬ ments when in fact the elements indi¬ cate different aspects of the business, ei¬ ther because of naming inconsistencies or nonsynchronized data. Third, there’s the problem of properly building SQL data warehouse to people who might be unfamiliar about the precise business in¬ terpretation of a specific data element. Subsequent analyses based on such a data element can easily lead to erroneous busi¬ ness decisions. Finally, there’s the ever¬ present demand of rapidly inventing new queries and reports as business require¬ ments change. Eric taps furiously at a workstation'$ keyboard. “Here's the drill-down pro¬ gram I whipped up when it took us for¬ ever to track down that problem with the currency conversions in the overseas reports, ” he says. “ You enter SQL queries www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 4 3 I Core here, and the results are colored-coded ac¬ cording to tolerances that you set here, ” he adds, pointing at a pane on the screen. You nod, sit at another workstation, start the program, and type in a SQL query. Rows of data begin to scamper up the screen. You roll your chair to another work¬ station, and soon it, too, has data stream¬ ing up-screen, the result of a slightly dif¬ ferent SQL query. On one of the workstations, several rows of data glow angry red, and the dis¬ play halts. Eric clicks on a field in the of¬ fending row, and a pop-up window dis¬ plays an exhaustive trace of the data s origins. You jab at the window: "Got it. ” You type in more commands, and paper starts coming out of a printer. Checks for Validity To ensure that your data warehouse provides a consistent and valid image of business reality, several types of validity checks must be designed into the system from the beginning. You must be able to audit the contents and structure of data flows. Such checkpoints must be locat¬ ed at various points in the flows from data sources to data consumption, as shown in the figure “Validity Checks for Data- Warehouse Flows” on page 43. There should be a uniformity check that ensures data values are within pre¬ scribed limits. This should be a basic com¬ ponent when acquiring new data for the warehouse. Based on predefined or sta¬ tistically set parameters, filters should detect whether data values are within expected limits and also report any ex¬ ceptions. The uniformity check occurs during in-flow, where data creation or capture flows into the warehouse. (For a more-detailed description of in-flow, see the glossary below.) The in-flow con¬ sists of a sequence of steps from data cap¬ ture to validation. As the figure on page 43 shows, these steps might require repair and transformation operations before the data is loaded into the database. A version check is similar to the uni¬ formity check. It also occurs during the in-flow and detects changes in the meta¬ data specifications. For example, an un¬ expected change in the encoding of data values, such as a shift from a I or 2 encod¬ ing to M or F, should be caught during comparisons with the metadata specifi¬ cation. Other examples include new or missing columns in relational tables and an increased width in a fixed field size. Databases A DW Glossary In-flow: Describes the data flow from creation or capture into the data warehouse. Data sources can be systems that provide internal information on business operations (e.g., sales) plus various external sources (e.g., e-mail and the Internet). Up-flow : Involves summarizing data into a form relevant to users. Through the use of projections, aggregation functions, and groups, detailed data is refined and packaged into views that focus on specific business problems. Metadata: Deals with the modeling and control of data in the warehouse. It handles system modeling, which is the technical analysis of those systems that act as data sources. Metadata is also the analysis of usage patterns, which guides the design of information objects, which in turn models business processes. Situations that are difficult to catch include changes in the timing of data cap¬ ture, such as one region reporting on a calendar year while another uses the fiscal year. Many exceptions to the ver¬ sion check imply the need for new trans¬ formation routines during data loading and possibly the restructuring of the ware¬ house itself. A completeness check determines if ag¬ gregations of data are complete and cor¬ rect. It occurs during data analysis and reporting in the up-flow, where value is added through summarization (the ag¬ gregations) and packaging (e.g., spread¬ sheets). Aggregations are useful but may hide (i.e., destroy) important data. For example, an average sales figure may be misleading if values are missing (i.e., null) from critical sales regions because of data-collection problems. A complete¬ ness check is more difficult if the aggre¬ gation is a complex procedure rather than a simple average or total. A conformity check does proper cor¬ relation of data with standard sources. It occurs during data analysis and report¬ ing and validates that the data conforms with other data sources and reports. An important use for the conformity check is the correlation between key financials reported to the IRS and the SEC and var¬ ious internal indicators. Another use for some companies is a historical correla¬ tion in sales for various regions. A sud¬ den change in this correlation could indi¬ cate a fundamental shift in the business or simply bad data collection or faulty analysis. Finally, when all else fails, a genealogy check provides a complete audit trail to the data source. It occurs during data re¬ porting when the consumer of the infor¬ mation questions the validity of the data. This check should generate a trace of the information through its transforma¬ tions and hack to its sources. With on-line analytical processing (OLAP) tools, a ge¬ nealogy check on data values is referred to as a “drill-down” upon a specific ag¬ gregation so that data values at a finer granularity can be viewed. Likewise, you should be able to perform a drill-down into the metadata all the way back to the source. Instilling Confidence Ms. Price looks closely at the printouts, then at you. You explain, "Over the years, we've added new products and removed obsolete ones. Eurthennore, some of the accounting procedures have been revised. This is especially evident in the overseas results, which require different recording and reporting of sales. Each division de¬ veloped its own ad hoc solution for these changes, hut we had to set up some new calculations to correct for these situa¬ tions. ” Because of your quick and thor¬ ough explanation of the discrepancy, the VP of finance becomes an ally of yours. Many well-executed DW efforts fail simply because the implementers neglect to establish and maintain confidence in the generated data. The basic issue with any DW system is: Does the warehouse’s information represent a consistent and valid image of business reality? Every manager of a DW effort should be equipped to answer this question eas¬ ily and quickly. The alternative is a con¬ tinuing series of credibility crises that will tarnish your DW efforts. □ Richard Hackathorn is president of Bolder Technology, Inc. (Boulder, CO), a company specializing in enterprise connectivity and data warehousing. You can reach him fry sending e- mail to rlchardh@boldor.com or to his com¬ pany's site at http://www.boldor.com/. 44 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Internet Foundation Classes lets you build Java applets with useful features such as drag and drop. By Andy Turk Building a Better Interface with Java □ f you’ve ever tried to build a significant application using Java, you have probably run into some of the limitations of Sun’s Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) that’s provided with the Java Develop¬ ment Kit (JDK) 1.0.2. The AWT was actu¬ ally designed for building small applets, but with the increasing popularity and acceptance of the language, many devel¬ opers are going beyond simple applets to write full-blown applications in Java. If this sounds like you, then you should take a look at the Internet Foundation Class¬ es (IFC), from Netscape, before starting your next project. The IFC is a library of user interface (Ul) widgets, along with a set of tools for building your own widgets. All the IFC code is written in Java that runs on top of AWI', so Java’s promise of platform inde¬ pendence is preserved, as shown in the figure “IFC in a Java Application.” Just recently, Sun and Netscape announced that they are combining AWT and IFC technologies into a set of Java Founda¬ tion Classes (JFC) that implements an extendible look and feel to Java applica¬ tions. JFC will he part of the next release of the Java Development Kit, thus mak¬ ing these interface classes a dependable standard that developers can rely on. For those who want to experiment now, you can download the IFC from http://developer.netscape.com/library/ifc, and you can get the AW I* from Sun at http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/. This article will focus on the capabilities of IFC and compare it to the once-sepa- rate AWI*. Building a Better Ul I distinctive UIs stand out from the crowd by paying attention to detail and avoid¬ ing overuse of the same old “cookie cut¬ ter” buttons, fields, and list boxes found in most other applications. AWI* makes such enhancements difficult because it provides few opportunities for going beyond the bare minimum. To be fair, AWI ’s emphasis is on event handling, whereas IFC concentrates on extendibil- ity and attempts to impart a consistent appearance across platforms. For example, most AWI* buttons look the same except for their titles. Without writing your own button class from scratch, it is difficult to change much more than the title of a stock AWI’ but¬ ton. IFC’s Button class, on the other hand, has a surprisingly wide variety of attributes that can be combined to make buttons more versatile and pleasing to the eye. Along with changing the but¬ ton’s title, you can also change the font and color in which the title is displayed. You can associate an image with the button and specify where the image should be displayed relative to the title. You can even use an animation instead of a static image through the use of a Draw i ngSequence class. If all these options still aren’t enough, you can always over¬ ride the draw method of the Button class to do exactly what you want. Another example of the power of IFC is its TextV i ew class. This class is essentially a mini word processor that lets you display and edit text using dif¬ ferent fonts, colors, and sizes. With the Tex tV i ew class, you can add in-line attachments that represent figures, file attachments, or other graphic elements that need to flow with the text. TextVi ew even provides a conversion method that parses and displays HTML. Attempting any of this with standard AWI* widgets is next to impossible. IFC also provides other Ul elements that aren’t found in AWI*. A good example of this is the Col orChooser object that IFC in a Java Application Java application code Java Foundation Classes (JFC) Internet Foundation Classes (IFC) Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) Java VM Internet Foundation Classes (IFC) implements a consistent interface and behavior for a Java application. AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 4 5 Core Operating Systems allows a user to display and manipulate colors. Powerful Views You may be wondering how IFC is able to do all these things. The answer is that IFC is built around a powerful UI element called a V i ew object. A V i ew is simply a rectangular area on the screen that knows how to draw itself, and it also knows what to do with mouse and keyboard events. V i ews are subclassed to provide wid¬ get-like behavior. For instance. Buttons, Tex tV i ews, and all the other widgets that come with IFC are subclasses of V i ew. Thus you construct complete Uls by simply connecting several V i ew objects together in a hierarchy. IFC Views are written entirely in Java and are used to implement all of IFC’s standard UI com¬ ponents, as well as any components you write for your own application. What this means is that you, as an application pro¬ grammer, have access to the same tools as the programmers who wrote the IFC widgets, and you can implement your own custom drawing and event-handling behavior if you need to. This is a big improvement over AWT’s peer model, in which the widget methods are imple¬ mented in C, without any option to be overridden in Java. Another benefit of IFC’s V i ew model is that it provides the tools to implement drag-and-drop capability. This is a type of III where a user clicks on something and drags it with the mouse to another part of the screen, where an operation is performed. The ColorChooser object makes good use of this technique: The user drags a color “chip” from it, then drops this on any V i ew that knows what to do with colors. Behind the scenes, the color “chip” is simply a tiny V i ew object that knows how to track the mouse and draw a col¬ or. For example, suppose that you’re writing a drawing application that needs to let the user apply a color to a shape. As a programmer, all you need to do is implement a few methods in your Shape object to accept a color that was dragged out of the ColorChooser. The code sample in “Dragging and Dropping a Color” shows how easy this is to do. Implementing drag-and-drop capability is nearly impossible with AWT alone because the standard widgets won’t allow a color “chip” to be dragged over their part of the screen. Designing a UI One of the best things about IFC is its application builder, called Constructor, which streamlines the process of build¬ ing a UI. With Constructor, you can design how the UI will look without writ¬ ing any code. In this respect. Construc¬ tor is similar to many other application builders, such as Apple’s OpenStep Inter¬ face Builder. However, Constructor gains extra leverage because it is tightly inte¬ grated with IFC. In fact. Constructor is a Java application and runs under any OS with a Java virtual machine. Constructor won’t help you write code —it has no built-in text editor. Con¬ structor’s primary purpose is to help you design how the application’s interface is going to look. To do this, you simply drag IFC widgets from a tray and drop them onto the panel that you’re building. From there you can reposition and resize the widgets, and you can set various display attributes. Once you’ve positioned your widgets, the next step is to use the “Wire” mode to hook those widgets together. For instance, the Button object sends a message when it receives a mouse click, and you use Constructor to determine not only the message sent but also the object that receives it. You can even test out the user interface by running it from inside Constructor itself. Once your design is complete. Constructor saves the information in a file that’s loaded at run time over the network. The Catch There’s always a catch, and the catch with IFC is that it’s big. The library of. c 1 ass files that comprise IFC is nearly a megabyte in size. If you are writinga Java application that must be downloaded over a narrow data pipe, like a modem, you should think twice before using IFC. On the other hand, if you’re planning to develop a full-blown application that’s deployed on an Ethernet-based intranet, the size of the IFC class library won’t be an issue. Another factor to consider is that IFC comes with its own unique look and feel. IFC buttons look a little different than buttons on other platforms, and the same is true for scroll bars. Some aspects of the IFC UI are slightly quirky, like the corners of resizable windows. However, the graphic design is consistent throughout all the IFC widgets, and they work well once you get used to them. It’s this con¬ sistent appearance, combined with the Java virtual machine, that will help estab¬ lish Java applets as an industry-wide stan¬ dard. Users will know what behavior to expect, regardless of their platform of choice. □ Andy Turk is the founder ami president ofSar- rus Software, Inc. (Burlingame , CA). You can reach hint at andy@sarrus.com. 4 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Networks Speed Internet surfing by caching DNS information on your desktop computer. By Jonathan E. Brickman Faster Internet Access osr workstations with a con¬ nection to the Internet are by default configured to use a Domain Name System (DNS) server. Such a server belongs to an Inter¬ net Service Provider (ISP) or is on a IAN that has Net access. Before a workstation can establish a connection with any serv¬ er on the Net, it must first obtain the serv¬ er’s address from the DNS, as shown in the figure at right. Because this initial communication to a DNS server often passes through a congested link to an ISP, it can result in delays and an unresponsive Net connection. Formnately, there’s a good alternative: Instead of relying on an ISP’s DNS serv¬ er, a workstation can run its own DNS software in the background. If all DNS requests are made through the worksta¬ tion’s local DNS, that DNS can cache the results. Such a cache doesn’t simply store recent host-name/IP equivalents: It also stores routes by which it obtains more data about domains. Thus, the local serv¬ er accumulates a hierarchical list of what it learns about the Net’s structure. Since the local DNS builds its knowl¬ edge from fresh data each time it starts up, and since it doesn’t touch the ISP’s overloaded DNS at all, using a local DNS alone almost always enhances the per¬ formance of a Net connection. This arti¬ cle focuses on installing such a server on Windows 95 and Linux. But DNS server software exists for almost every platform currently in widespread use. DNS Considerations When running a local DNS on a work¬ station, you should keep a few things in mind. First, the software uses up system resources. See the text box on page 48 for basic information. Under Win 95, it re¬ quires enough resources that you should seriously reconsider the recommended amount of minimum memory. Under www.byte.com Linux, resource use of a DNS is almost im¬ perceptible. Another key point is bandwidth. This approach has been tested only with 28.8- Kbps and faster connections to the Net. The server works well for any TCP/IP con¬ nection: PPP and SLIP, static and dynam¬ ic IP, modem, ISDN, or Tl. The server is also robust enough that it does not have to be restarted when a dynamic IP con¬ nection is broken and reestablished. Another significant factor exists only under Win 95. The best DNS software available for Win 95 was written for Win¬ dows NT, and the documentation recom¬ mends against running it on Win 95. This is because of memory leaks in Win 95’s integral TCP/IP stack. Despite this, I have been running the software continuously on a Win 95 machine for several weeks without problems. However, I’ve in¬ stalled all of Microsoft’s Win 95 updates, including the ISDN Accelerator Pack, which updates Dial-up Networking. Us¬ ing this software on any Win 95 computer not running with all updates reliably is not recommended. Doing Windows The best DNS server software now avail¬ able for Win32 is almost certainly Bind- 95/NT. A 1.6-MB download, it’s available from http://www.windows95.com/apps/ servers-misc.html. It is assumed that your computer accesses the Net using Micro¬ soft’s TCP/IP stack and Dial-up Network¬ ing software if you use a PPP or SLIP con¬ nection. This software might not work Resolving a Domain Name © Q Workstation sends text string of full host name to Domain Name System (DNS). The DNS is usually an external server, identified by its IP address. © DNS searches its cache to find an IP address corresponding to the host name. If the DNS doesn't have the IP, it sends queries upward in the Internet domain hierarchy until the required information is obtained. © The DNS returns the IP address to the workstation. G The workstation uses the IP address to establish a session with the host. Name servers obtain IP addresses for given host-name strings; the results ean be cached locally for speed. AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 4 7 Networks Minimum Platform Recommendation Windows Windows 95,486/66 or faster, 16 MB or more of RAM, 5 MB or more of free hard disk space, and a working PPP, SLIP, or LAN Internet connection using Windows 95’s built-in TCP/IP stack. Linux Any current standard Linux distribution, 386DX/33 or faster, 8 M B or more of RAM, and a working PPP, SLIP, or LAN Internet connection. SLiRP, TIA, and term should work, although none of these has been tested. Core with third-party TCP/IP stacks. The file that you download is a ZIP file. There are two directories within the ar¬ chive: DISKI and DISK2. Unpack this file to a temporary directory, preserving this directory structure. Run SETUP.EXE in the DISKI subdirectory. If you wish to look at the README, do so. You’ll note hardware minimums, as well as some strong warnings about using Win 95 with this software. There’s also mention of a registry edit to increase the amount of Windows sockets available; so far this hasn’t been necessary. Next you’ll see a prompt that reads, in part, “Enter this machine’s Host name... "Type local into the dialog box and then type 1 oca 1 host into the next dialog box. Then you’re asked to enter the subnet for your network. If you’re using a modem or ISDN ISP connection, 255.255.255.0 works l ine. ()n a I AN con¬ nection, ask your system administrator for the correct value. Now choose a directory for the pro¬ gram files. The default, C: \var\named, is fine. The installer then creates direc¬ tories and copies files. After this, you get a prompt that reads, “For creation of con¬ figuration files, please select the setup you want for BIND.” You have three options at this point: primary DNS, secondary DNS, and caching-only DNS. Since you’re configuring for a single workstation and not setting up primary or secondary DNS for an entire domain or subnet, you want caching-only DNS. The installer creates the appropriate files for the selected server type. When it’s done, you’re told that the server is running. In the list of current processes, there’s one called named95; this is it. Now you need to open or create a file called C:\WINDOWS\HOSTS in a text edi¬ tor. If the file doesn’t exist, create it with the following lines as its content: 127.0.0.1 1ocalhost 127.0.0.1 local.local host If the file already exists, add the lines if they’re absent. They set up a local do¬ main (. I oca 1 host) and also set up the workstation as a host on the domain (1 o - ca 1.1 oca 1 hos t). Thus, the workstation will be interacting with the Net as if it had its own domain—which, in fact, it does, albeit one known only to the workstation. If you use a dial-up connection, open the Dial-up Networking folder and right- click on a preconfigured connection icon. Choose Properties in this window and then click on Server Type. Click on TCP/ IP Settings and choose Server Assigned Name Server Addresses. Click OK sever¬ al times to back out to the Choose Prop¬ erties window. Repeat these steps for each dial-up connection you use. Next, bring up the Network Control Panel. Click on the TCP/IP-> Dial-up adapter and click on Properties. Click on the DNS Configuration tab. If DNS is not enabled, click on Enable DNS and type local in the host box and local host in the domain box. In the DNS Server Search Order address dialog box, type 127.0 . 0.1, click on Add, and click on OK. When you exit the Network Control Panel, don’t restart the system if asked to do so. On some systems, the installer doesn’t place a shortcut in the Startup menu to automatically start the server. Check your Startup settings to see if one is present, and add one if it isn’t. Then restart. You’ll notice that a DOS shell window, titled “named95,” comes up minimized. This is your local DNS process. If you shut it down for any reason, you’ll need to restart this process to access the Net. Un¬ fortunately, limitations in Win 95 mean that a shortcut can’t start this process without a DOS window. It’s a minor irri¬ tation, but the advantages have so far vastly outweighed the irritation. Linux Any useful current distribution of Linux will have Bind version 4.9.3 or higher available. Even if you’re already running Linux, you might not have it installed. If not, the executable named will not be found on a full-file-system search. 'These instructions assume that bind is installed, along with the rest of the standard utili¬ ties that ship with it in the Slackware, Red- Hat, and Dehian distributions. Download the DNS configuration files. which are archived in linux caching dns .tar.gz on The BYTE Site (http://www. byte.com/art/download/download.htm). Log in as a non-superuser. Unpack the ar¬ chive into your user directory, preserv¬ ing the directory structure. The unpacked files include the fol¬ lowing: etc/resol v. conf,etc/named .boot, etc/hosts, etc/rc.d/rc .inet2, var/named/db.127.0.0, and var/named/db.cache. If your Linux box is on a LAN, you’ll have to add the contents of etc / resol v. con f and etc / hos t s to the existing files. Now edit etc/ rc.d/rc. inet2. You’ll notice that sev¬ eral lines are uncommented: If Start the NAMFD/BIND name server, if [ f ${N( I |/named ]; then echo -n “ named” ${NET I/named fi Uncomment similar script lines in your machine’s equivalent of /etc/rc.d/rc . i net2. This starts the named daemon at system boot-up. If your Linux instal¬ lation is recent or standard enough, these lines are already present in /etc/rc .d/ rc. 1 net2. If not, you must locate them or add them to /etc/rc. local. Copy the files in var/named to /var/named; you may need to create the directory. Copy etc/named. boot to /etc. If all is well, you should have a caching- only DNS server running on your Linux box when you reboot. Old or nonstan¬ dard installations of Linux may require more alterations in the procedure; make sure that the daemon is not being started twice. If you’re running an old or incom¬ patible beta kernel, you may have to com¬ pile a newer or more compatible one. El Jonathan E, llrickman is president of River City Computing, Inc., a computer consulting and training company in Topeka, Kansas. You can reach him at brickman@cjnetworks.com. 4 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com Windows NT Workstation 4.0 puts the power of a server on your PC. 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A2*R (888) 289-APCC X8173 Fax: (401) 788 2797 http://www.apcc.com E-mad apontoOapcccom • 132 Faagroinds Road West Ka^slon. Rl Q?892 USA Circle 125 on Inquiry Card. PC World 20 Best Upgrades hiifuihjviii'j: Leader in Office Suites The Reviews are in! Corel" WordPerfect Suite 8 is a winner ... "Corel WordPerfect is back and better than ever... It's ease of use is phenomenal." CNET. May 13.1997 "Just when you think a product can't get any better, it does." Into World, May 26.1997 "One element of WordPerfect hasn't changed: the file format, which supports backward compatibility." Computer Retail Week, May 26.1997 "... Corel's suite showed better integration between its applications and broader support for the Web ..." PC Week. April 28.1997 and this is what they're saying about the competition: "Based on our discoveries, we're removing Office 97 and Outlook from the WinList." Windows Magazine, June 1997 "Corel has priced its office suite so much lower than Microsoft's that I can't imagine enough of an incremental benefit in Office to cover the spread.” IntoWorld, February 29.1997 For Windows* 95 and Windows NT* 4.0 i WordPerfects V fiuiirMunic ntf C4U»o«»t« C 4 M»«ct 10 WwW IIimIIm nut »•* I* Ini Available now! Contact your local reseller. Communicate. 4 /) _ M Collaborate. + /V. jMr K Br* Connect to the World. Whether you're communicating over the Internet or with a simple letter, with words, numbers or graphics, Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 supports the medium that will drive your message home. Collaborate easily with coworkers across the hall or associates on the other side of the world with the effective collaboration features in Corel WordPerfect Suite 8. Experience technology that lets you go beyond traditional HTML layout limitations with the power of Java ,M . Thrive in a competitive environment with the dynamic Web features of Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 and connect to the world. • CwtCIMIMl «■! ' 0 WfcMIfMrCaranffertrwtocl ° cnlryMjf 1 ST“ C COREL hmrittniH w u w wwwcoref.com 1 613776 0676 etf 3060 Doom* a 1363 *0 *r mm Corel cooi/coiHests CO^ . Circlo 1 27 on Inquiry Card. Atomic Power Speeds Data into the Home owadays asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is regarded as a technology strictly for high-speed net¬ work backbones, but one day it will act as a broadband public communications network that carries multimedia services to the home. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies promise to bring that day closer by allowing high-bandwidth ATM connections to be carried over the existing copper wire telephone infra¬ structure. Advanced Telecommunications Mod¬ ules Ltd. (ATML, Cambridge, U.K.) has launched an integrated hardware and software solution optimized for building xDSL systems. (xDSL is the industry acronym covering all four current DSL technologies: ADSL, HDSL, SDSL, and VDSL, as explained in “xDSL in a Nut¬ shell” (page 52). Called Atom Accelera¬ tor, this suite of network building blocks is based on several ASICs designed by ATML It uses a high-performance ARM RISC processor core to provide on-chip intelligence. Also supplied is the ATMOS embedded operating system; a library of software modules that includes device drivers, signaling stacks, debugging and testing tools; and reference designs for modems and network interface cards (NICs) using the Atom chip sets. The Atom chips' on-board intelligence will enable firms to design xDSL modem cards or NICs that require little or no external software. A Periodic Table of ASICs ATML's Atom Accelerator suite is aimed at developers of equipment at all three of these levels: the central office (CO), the distributed loop carrier (DLC), and the customer premises. The first ATOM ASIC to ship is a multifunction endpoint chip called Hydrogen, which supports ATM25, Ethernet, and a PCI controller. It will soon be followed by Helium, which adds multiple line drivers, and Oxygen, which implements a universal switching fabric. The Hydrogen chip can drive the xDSL modems required in the home and at the DLC. Helium is intended for build¬ ing Digital Subscriber Line access multi¬ plexers (DSLAMs) used at local switching centers. The Oxygen switch chip will be used in both DLC and CO switching equipment. ATML developed Hydrogen in col¬ laboration with Cirrus Logic, which is fabricating the chip. Atom is available for evaluation at $75 in small quantities, and the price falls to under $50 in large volumes. The low price is achievable thanks to the tiny ARM core, which per¬ mits a small overall die size. The chip is fabricated in 0.5-micron CMOS and comes packaged as a 208-pin quad flat pack. The pricing makes Atom viable for very low-cost consumer equipment and DSIAMs, which are price-sensitive items. Hydrogen is a universal endpoint chip suitable for video, voice, and data devices such as NICs, modems, cable modems, and set-top boxes that require a very low chip count. For example, you could build a PC-based internal xDSL modem with just three chips: a Hydrogen, one SIMM, and an xDSL line driver. The main function units, shown in “Hydrogen's Microarchitecture” above, are: a 52-bit ARM7 CPU core (which has 4 KB of in- core SRAM instead of a cache) clocked at 52 MHz; 8 KB of on-chip SRAM outside the CPU core; a controller for up to 52 MB Hydrogen supports ATM25, Ethernet, and a PCI bus interface, allowing for a low-eost endpoint chip. www.byte.com AUGUST 1997 BYTE 51 Core CPUs xDSL in a Nutshell D igital Subscriber Line (DSL) technol¬ ogy enables a digital modem to use a standard pair of copper telephone wires to carry far more data than is possible using older, conventional methods. It employs sophisticated modulation schemes to achieve data rates of up to 50 Mbps under some circumstances. DSL variants are what the telecommunications business calls “last mile" technologies because they carry the signal just that last mile into your home rather than across or between coun¬ tries. The best-known DSL variant is Asymmetric DSL (ADSL), which carries high-quality video data. “Asymmetric" here means that much more information goes to the subscriber than can be returned to the central office (CO). The downstream (to the subscriber) rate depends on distance: 8.4 Mbps at 9000 feet, which drops to 1.5 Mbps (just enough to support one MPEG video stream) at 18,000 feet. The upstream rate (to the CO) is only 16 to 640 Kbps. This makes ADSL better suited for distribution services (including Web browsing) than for any-to-any connections. On an ADSL line you can continue a phone conversation along with streaming digital video, and basic phone service is possible even if the ADSL modem fails. High-data-rate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL) uses more advanced modulation techniques to deliv¬ er 2 Mbps at up to 12,000 feet without repeaters. Single-line Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) delivers the same rates as HDSL over a single line. Both HDSL and SDSL are symmetric: Data flows both ways at the same rate, and SDSL can often be used on existing standard phone connec¬ tions. Very-high-data-rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) is currently asymmetric, but with a higher data rate than ADSL: Downstream it can deliver from 13 Mbps at 4500 feet to 50 Mbps at 1000 feet (capable of carrying an HDTV signal). Upstream rates are around 2 Mbps. VDSL is intended mainly for imple¬ menting ATM LANs, and both VDSL and ADSL support error correction. Implementing a DSL system involves two levels of switching. COs receive lines from the main public backbone and fan them out to local switching centers called distributed loop carriers (DLCs). The DLCs contain devices called Digital Subscriber Line access multiplexers (DSLAMs). DSLAMs are the crucial new component needed for DSL. They combine LAN and ATM switch¬ es and routers into a single unit that multi¬ plexes and routes different data types (including ATM and frame relay) to the xDSL service subscribers. In each subscriber’s home there’s an xDSL modem, contained within a set-top box, network computer, PC, or other device. Any of these DSL technologies might be a good candidate for a broadband phone system to replace (or bypass) ISDN, since running optic fibre into each neighborhood and then picking up the existing copper phone lines to subscribers’ homes requires far less investment than running fibre all the way into the home. of external EDO DRAM; a PCI bus inter¬ face capable of acting as master and slave; an I/O expansion bus that can connect an ISA peripheral such as an Ethernet con¬ troller; two ATM interfaces (one for direct A I M25 and one for 8-bit UTOPIA); a segmentation and reassembly unit (SAR) for manipulating A TM packets; and an IrDA-and MIDI-compliant serial port. Software Nucleus AT MOS, the microkernel-based real-time operating system supplied with the Hydrogen chip, is a very simple multi¬ threaded OS that supports a single pro¬ cessor and a flat memory model. It’s com¬ pletely modular, consisting only of the kernel and an arbitrary number of mod¬ ules, which run as separate processes. All modules get complete access to the hard¬ ware, and so device drivers are no differ¬ ent than any other module. The kernel handles interrupts, process scheduling, and interprocess communications using a proprietary lightweight message proto¬ col. The kernel’s scheduler supports time¬ slicing, thread blocking and unblocking, and dynamic context switching in re¬ sponse to external interrupts. The ATMOS kernel needs around 32 KB of memory and runs entirely off-chip. It requires I MB minimum of external memory to run simple applications (e.g., a PC-based ATM/Ethernet NIC), while up to 8 MB is necessary for an ADSL applica¬ tion that does routing and bridging. Hydrogen’s on-chip memory is for use by time-critical nonkernel tasks: For example, the fastest 4 KB of in-core mem¬ ory is typically occupied by the rate-pac¬ ing and cell-reception routines of the ATM driver. ATMOS comes with device drivers for Ethernet and ATM, and various stacks for signaling, IP routing, Ethernet bridging, remote management via SNMP, Telnet and serial port management, and ATM Forum IAN emulation. The ATM driver supports all the required quality of ser¬ vice (QoS) levels: constant bit rate, vari¬ able bit rate, available bit rate, and unspecified bit rate. A'LMOS supports the AT M Adaptation Layers 0, 3/4, and 5, which enable other network protocols to run on top of AT M. It also supports prop¬ er rate pacing for ATM cells. Some older ATM controllers achieve a particular cell rate by sending bursts of cells at maximum line speed fora while, then pausing briefly until the average WHERE TO FIND Advanced Telecommunications Modules Ltd. Cambridge, England +44-1223-566919 http://www.atminc.com/ throughput is the desired rate. This simplifies the circuitry but means that cells are not equally spaced in time. The Atom driver sends evenly spaced cells at a software-determined rate, and this rate can be changed for different vir¬ tual circuits. This lets developers write sophisticated rate-based tariff schemes in software. It’s possible for your Atom- based modem to be simultaneously hooked up to three different ISPs via three different virtual circuits, and all of them would still charge you for the correct number of cells used. The development environment for ATMOS runs on a Sun workstation and is based on the GNU C and C+ + tools that generate ARM code. There are simple post-mortem debugging facilities built into ATMOS itself (to inspect registers and memory contents after a crash), and ARM’s EmbeddedICE debugging system is available as an option. ATML hopes that the Atom Accelera¬ tor architecture will be attractive to xDSL developers because purchasing a single¬ chip ATM controller, OS, and develop¬ ment software from one vendor ensures that they all work together smoothly— which is too often not the case when you buy them from separate sources. □ Dick Vo mi tain is a longtime HYlli contribut¬ ing editor based in London. You can contact him at dickp@bix.com. 52 RYTE AUGUST 1997 :om Programming Microsoft's ODBCDirect offers programmers better ways of processing ODBC data sources. By Rick Dobson Fast and Flexible Access to Databases □ he crown jewels of your com¬ pany’s data will often be in back-end databases, such as Oracle, SQL Server, and Sybase. Microsoft Office 97’s Data Access Objects (DAO) introduces a new technol- ogy—ODBCDirect—that manages inter¬ actions with back-end databases. Besides Microsoft’s Access 8 database, you can use this technology from within other appli¬ cations, such as Excel 8, Visual Basic 5, and Visual C+ + 4.2 and 5.0. Third-party data¬ base applications that use Visual Basic for Applications can readily access ODBCDi- rect’s functions through DAO. Develop¬ ers must have a license for Jet, the tradi¬ tional ODBC database engine that ships with Access and uses DAO as its program¬ ming interface. Database development products such as Powersoft’s Power¬ Builder use their own interfaces to back¬ end databases and thus do not need DAO. ODBCDirect offers several advantages over Jet. First, when working with an application other than Access, develop¬ ers can use familiar DAO code without loading Jet. Second, developers can cre¬ ate stored procedures and run them on a back-end server. Third, asynchronous queries do not “freeze” a local worksta¬ tion while the back-end server processes the query. Fourth, developers can speed performance and reduce network traf¬ fic by building applications that cache changes locally and update the back¬ end server in one batch. ODBCDirect Object Model The ODBCDirect object model has two types of objects. One group manages con¬ nections to back-end databases, while the second set processes objects in a database, as shown in the figure “ODBCDirect Object Model.” The top or root DAO object is DB Engine. You create either ODBCDirect or standard Jet workspaces from this object, where a workspace corresponds to a session. Kach session can contain one or more databases and connections, and a procedure can consecutively open mul¬ tiple sessions. Each workspace type has its own object model. DBEngine’s Errors collection permits custom pro¬ cedures to override system responses to run-time errors. (A collect ion is a group of like objects.) Procedures can connect to back-end databases through either a Database or a Connection object, but connections offer three advantages. First, Connection objects permit asynchronous operations. Second, Connection objects permit the use of querydef objects. Third, ODBC- Direct querydefs enable client worksta¬ tions to create and run server-side stored procedures under program control. Recordset collections belong to either Connection or Database objects. A recordset represents a return set (a table of data) from a query. Recordsets contain collections that comprise all the fields in a recordset. You use the Open - Recordset method of a Da t a base, a Connection, or a querydef to create a recordset and append it to the Record- set collection. You can also use a Jet work¬ space recordset that refers to a local base table in an ODBCDirect workspace. Querydef collections also belong exclusively to connections in ODBCDi¬ rect workspaces. This collection contains all the querydef s in a Connection Some ODBCDirect objects allow asynchronous operations and access to server-side scripts. www.byte.com AUGUST 1997 BYTE 53 Core object. ODhCDirect que rydefs can con¬ tain parameters for dynamically setting criteria. Note that Ouerydefs in ODBCDirect workspaces do not have field collections. Useaquerydef’sOpen Recordset method to view its return set. Connecting to the Database Before using ODBCDirect, you must reg¬ ister your back-end database. You can accomplish this manually with the 32-bit ODBC icon in the Control Panel, or pro¬ grammatically with the Regi sterDa ta - base method of DAO’s DBEngine object. After registering your ODBC data source, you can connect to it with just two steps. First, establish a Workspace. Sec¬ ond, create either a Connection or a Database object. The CreateWorkspace method creates DBEngine workspaces. Set this method’s type argument to dbUseODBC to open an ODBCDirect workspace. Alternatively, set DBEngine’s Defaul tType property to dbUseODBC. This causes the CreateWorkspace method to generate ODBCDirect work¬ spaces without a type argument. The second step involves establishing a link to a back-end database via a work¬ space’s OpenConnect i on or OpenDa ta - base methods. Since the OpenConnec- t i on method generates a more flexible outcome, developers will often prefer it. OpenConnec ti on takes four argu¬ ments. The name argument defines the connection’s name property. The op¬ tions argument accepts constants that specify if the connection will be asyn¬ chronous, and to determine the types of prompts permitted during an ODBC link attempt. The readonly argument accepts a Boolean value designating whether the link is read-only. The con - nec I argument specifies the information that the ODBC driver needs to make the link, such as back-end database name, user’s server ID, user’s password, and data source name (DSN). Access Forms “Using ODBCDirect” presents a pair of procedures that work together to update an Access form based on ODBC Direct processing. The first, Author I i t. le Count, conducts a pair of queries against the Bubs database that ships with SQL Server. It transfers the results to a table that serves as the record source for an Ac¬ cess form. The second cmdCompute Programming Using ODBCDirect Manage ODBCDirect Link Set qdTitles - _ Public Sub AuthorTitleCounU ) conPubs.CreateQueryDef("". _ On Error GoTo stTSQL) AuthorTitleCount Trap Set rsTCount - _ Dim wspPubs As Workspace qdTitles.OpenRecordset Dim conPubs As Connection Set dbsMyDb - CurrentDb 'Other variable declarations Set rsPubs - _ ' omitted to save space dbsMyDb.OpenRecordset( _ Set wspPubs - "tblPubs") CreateWorkspace _ rsPubs.AddNew ("PubsSession" . rsPubs! [AuthorCount] "admin". , dbUseODBC) rsACount![AuthorCount] stConnect - "ODBC;DSN-Pubs: _ rsPubs![TitleCount] UID-sa ; PWD-; " & _ rsTCount! [TitleCount] "DATABASE-Pubs" rsPubs![Date] - Now() Set conPubs - _ rsPubs.Update wspPubs.OpenConnection( "", _ AuthorTitleCount_Exit: dbDriverNoPrompt, True. _ conPubs.Close stConnect) wspPubs.Close stASQL - "SELECT _ Exit Sub Count(Authors.Au_id)" & _ "' AuthorCount * FROM Authors" Call ODBCDirect Sub stTSQL - "SELECT _ and Update Form Count(Titles.Title_id)" Private Sub _ "' TitleCount ' FROM Titles" cmdComputeIt_Click() Set qdAuthors - _ AuthorTitleCount conPubs.CreateOueryDef C" . _ Me.Requery stASOL) DoCmd.GoToRecord . , acLast Set rsACount - _ End Sub qdAuthors.OpenRecordset I t_C lick event procedure launches AuthorT i 11 eCount and moves its form to the record storing return values from the two back-end queries. Clicking the cmdCompute 11 button invokes cmdCom putel t_Cl ick. AuthorT i tl eCount starts with an On Error statement to trap errors followed by a series of variable declarations. After the declarations, the code establishes an ODBCDirect link to the Pubs database. It creates a workspace with the Create¬ Workspace method. Notice the listing sets the last argument to dbUseODBC. Next, it uses the OpenConnection method to link the workspace to the Pubs database. The stConnect string sets the connect parameters for the back-end database. Pubs is the DSN name for the Pubs database. The subsequent block of code com¬ putes the number of authors in the Authors table and the number of titles in the Titles table. The outcomes arc stored in two recordsets. The next code segment transfers the results from the temporary recordsets to a recordset based on a local table, t b 1P u b s . This seg¬ ment also time-stamps the transfer. The local table is the record source for the form with the command button that launches AuthorT i 11 eCount. The final code block before the error trap proce¬ dure closes both the connection and the workspace, freeing those resources for use by others. The error routine (not shown) traps two common conditions, and it presents a helpful hint to resolve the problem. (The complete listing can be downloaded from the BYIT Site at http://www.byte .com/art/download.htm.) The routine also traps other errors and writes their number and description to the debug window. This avoids an abnormal end that can lock up the local workstation. Now that we’ve got the basics down, next month I’ll demonstrate ODBCDi- rect’s more advanced features. □ Kick Dobson, Ph.D., is president of CAR, Inc., a database and Internet development consul¬ tancy. You can send e-mail to him at Rick Dobson@msn.com. 54 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com Sometimes, a Family’s Greatest Strength is its Diversity Family is important. Without the comfort of familiarity, you’d never have the courage to be a little different. Our newest switch family shares some very comforting features. Controlling multiple PCs from one keyboard, monitor and mouse has never been simpler. Just select your PC from an easy on-screen menu; naming your computers makes identification a snap! Our advanced design even lets you add PCs without powering down the switch. If the switch is powered down unexpectedly, the Keep Alive feature prevents you from losing valuable time and data. Beyond this shared technology, these products are each tailored for different needs. Personal Commander II controls two to four PCs in your home or office. AutoBoot Commander II is the perfect size for the desktop or small data center. Use the AutoView Commander for rack-mounted control in your server room. Isn’t family great? For more information on this exciting new switch family, call our sales department anytime. Oh, and don’t forget to call your mother; you know how she worries. NetWare. liANYAN’ Co^Mtifato Cybex Computer Products Corporation 4912 Research Drive Huntsville, Alabama 35805 USA (800) 93CYBEX (29239) • (205) 430-4030 fax http://www.cybex.com AutoView, Commander and AutoBoot are trademarks of Cybex Computer Products Corporation. Cybex and the Cybex logo are registered trademarks ol Cybex Computer Products Corporation. Banyan is a trademark of Banyan Systems Inc. Netware is a registered trademark of Novell Inc. Lantastk is a registered trademark of Artisoft Inc. Circle 130 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 131). Web Components Components and the Web are a match made in developer heaven. By Dick Pountain and John Montgomery Componentizing the Web In a classic three-tier environment, a client connects to an application server, which, in turn, pulls data from a database. The client runs custom software, typically built with components and a tool such as Visual Basic. I cordon bleu chef may spend days preparing a dish. Everything from selecting the vegetables to creating the sauce requires absolute concentration. The results are unique. If that same chef substituted sauce from a jar and had the vegetables delivered in bulk, the dish could be reduced to hours. However, it wouldn’t be unique anymore. Developers, in large, aren’t chefs. They want McDonald’s. They want their applications done. Now. I f they can get the job done by stringing existing components, they will. Components for developing interfaces have been around for a while. How¬ ever, any developer working on a three-tier application can tell you that components for the middle tier are scarce. That’s changing, thanks to the Web. “The Web is a huge accel¬ erator to the three-tier paradigm,” says Greg Hope, Compo¬ nent Object Model (COM) group product manager at Micro¬ soft. Client components save developers time by encouraging reusability. Throw some ActiveX controls together in Delphi or Visual Basic, and you have an application. On the server, they go a step further. If you build your middle-tier business logic from small, quick-to-write components, you can just replace parts when they are superseded. “You can stage it all on the middle tier, and it’s instantly deployed,” according to John Dawes, group product manager for Netscape Enterprise Server. Not only that, if your application breaks into neat chunks, it’s easier to spread the load across multiple servers. Microsoft calls it Web computing. Netscape calls it (in a somewhat cumbersome way) Crossware. And itsounds great— on paper. But a ream of incompatible interfaces and untested standards can face middle-tier developers. Disputes follow everything from network component models—ActiveX, Java- Beans, COM, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), HOP, remote method invocation (RMI)—to trans¬ action systems—Customer Information Control System (CICS), Tuxedo, Microsoft Transaction Server. Where is the matrix that makes sense of all the combinations of Web servers, component models, and programming plat¬ forms? It doesn’t exist. In fact, it can’t yet exist—the equations © The application server also runs custom software, typically built from scratch (without components). > 5 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Web computing is a very flexible variation on three-tier computing. In a Web application, the client talks to a Web server, which may handle the request itself or activate connections to application servers or TP monitors to pull data from a database. These applications running on the middle tier are probably components—sometimes called servlets— that represent discrete chunks of business logic. The client runs a Web browser, which may or may not be Java-enabled. The Web server, TP monitor, and application server can be on the same physical system. V < The middle tier can return data as straight HTML or establish a direct connection back to a component running in the Web client (e.g., a Java applet) using protocols such as HOP, RMI, or DCOM. Middle Tier For improved performance, load balancing, and especially reliability, the Web server may execute this server application within a transaction monitor. Through protocols such as DCOM and HOP, the Web server can make calls to other network services such as mail and directory. www.byte.com AUGUST 1 99 7 BYTE 5 7 Building Net Apps Web Components are still too complex, and the data too sparse. However, some analysis of the technologies involved can help you make some decisions about how you should implement server componentware. Three Tiers for the Web! The classic two-tier client/server-com¬ puting model off-loads work from enter¬ prise servers by separating presentation and calculation from data. Two-tier pro¬ gramming gave rise to rapid application development (RAD) tools such as Power¬ Builder and component models such as Microsoft’s Visual Basic custom control (VBX), both of which eased user-interface (UI) development. In short, two-tier devel¬ opment made components real. However, two-tier architectures had problems when it came time to upgrade an application or distribute load processing. Enter three-tier architectures, separating presentation from business logic from data. Developers could still use components, but the available components were still largely targeted at UI development. Middle-tier developers were left out in the cold. The Web is beginning to change that. Originally conceived as a two-tier system, demands for dynamic content quickly turned it into a three-tier system. The Web’s original middle tier was made up of applications that use the Common Gate¬ way Interface (CGI). CGI enabled you to extend a Web server to access nearly any OS-level function, using development environments as simple as a shell script and as complex as C++. Also, because CGI is portable, applications you wrote for an Apache server could usually run against Netscape or Microsoft servers with little or no porting. CGI programs were the first pieces of Web componentware. Once developers realized what CGI could do, some amazing applications began to appear. The Illustra database, for example, had a CGI interface (the Web driver) that let developers write Web pages that could access a SQL database. If they could write SQL and HTML, they could create a client/server application. Why was this a good thing? There were three reasons. First, the client—a Web browser—was virtually universal. Second, distribution of the application was as sim¬ ple as clicking on a hyperlink. Finally, you could administer all that code centrally. The Web had solved three of the largest problems facing client/server computing in a single swipe. Needless to say, all the Active Platform's parallel architectures enable high component mobility from client to server. trols (OCXes), server components came in two main forms: Netscape server plug-ins and Apache modules. These component systems work fine but are restricted to spe¬ cific Web servers. Thus, they aren’t tap¬ ping into a broad base of component devel¬ opment talent. To fix that, we enter the present (ActiveX) and future (JavaBeans) of server components. These models aren’t just for specific servers, and in fact aren’t just for servers at all, but are just popular ways to package software as components. In an absolute ActiveX world, clients run Active Desktop (an integral part of Windows from NT 5.0 onwards), where embedded ActiveX controls can provide a UI to remote services. These components send requests via either HTLP or COM and Microsoft’s Advanced Data Connector (ADC) to a middle-tier application server. There, Active Server Pages (ASPs) may employ server-side Visual Basic scripts to query a SQL database via ActiveX Data Objects (ADOs). The ADOs generate dy¬ namic HTML pages for returning the query results to the client and call server- side ActiveX components running under Microsoft Transaction Server (M LS) that perform any application processing (see the figure “The ActiveX World”). Note that the client and server pieces of this pic¬ ture are entirely separable. The key to this picture is MTS, which ActiveX OSes Supported Windows HTTP Servers Supported Microsoft IIS Programming Languages C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Network Component Model COM (formerly DCOM) database vendors quickly followed suit. It wasn’t perfect, however. In particu¬ lar, invoking CGI applications can be very slow. To solve that and to give devel¬ opers access to server internals, Netscape and Microsoft created server-specific APIs. Netscape Server API (NSAPI) and Internet Services API (ISAPI) enabled significant speed improvements. They also enabled more kinds of Web components. ActiveX Paralleling the client world, which first saw components as VBXes and OLE Con- 5 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Web Components Building Net Apps will be integrated into Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0. MI'S provides an environment for executing distrib¬ uted applications built from ActiveX com¬ ponents communicating with each other via the COM protocols. You can write a component as a single-user ActiveX DLL and simply install it into MTS, which will run it as a secure multiuser application. MTS handles all the management of sharing, processes, and threads. It main¬ tains pools of threads, network sessions, and database connections, automatically recycling them when they’re no longer being used. All the components that make up an application can share these resource pools. Consequently, using MTS may actu¬ ally improve performance compared to stand-alone execution, in both time and memory (see the text box “Microsoft’s Efficient Transactions” on page 62). Don’t sell IIS short, however. By itself, it manages a pool of threads and a file cache on behalf of multiple services: the ences. First, unlike Microsoft, JavaSoft isn’t supplying a full transaction-server environment (it’s relying on big names such as IBM and BEA). Second, JavaSoft is sticking to an OS-independent architec- HTTP Servers Supported JavaSoft’s Java Web Server; others to come Programming Language Component Model Network Component Model Java Enterprise Architecture Clients Java-Capable Web Browser Server 7 HTTP I RMI or HOP Java Web Server Business Application Components Enterprise JavaBeans Enterprise JavaBean Executive Transaction Monitor JDBC JNDI JTS JIDL JMS JMAPI JDBC-Java API for Database Connectivity JMS-Java Management API JNDI-J;tva Naming and Directory Interface API JMAPI-Java Message Services API ITS-Java Transaction Service API llOP-Internet Interoperable ORB Protocol JIDt-Java IDL API RM-femote method invocation Enterprise JavaBeans are transaetion-aware and use a high degree of abstraetion from base APIs. Web server, news server, and FTP server. It can also cooperate with ODBC TO con¬ nection pooling. Enterprise JavaBeans The Enterprise JavaBean architecture looks similar, although with three differ¬ ture, relying on the cross-platform nature of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Third, it isn’t real yet. Java began as a platform-independent language for creating client-side applets that run inside your Web browser. Release 1.1 of the Java Development Kit (JDK) adds vital features such as object serial¬ ization and database access; and you can get a servlet API to make it equally suitable for writing server-side programs (servlets). Of course, JavaSoft also has a component model called JavaBeans. Put it all together, and you get what JavaSoft announced in April: the Java Platform for the Enterprise. The Java Platform for the Enterprise consists of a suite of APIs such as JDBC (database connectivity), JNDI (directory services), and JTS (transaction services). Key to the Java Platform for the Enterprise are Enterprise JavaBeans. “Enterprise JavaBeans is an extension to the JavaBeans model targeted at the middle tier,” says Sharada Achanta, product line manager for the Java Enterprise Platform at Java¬ Soft. Enterprise JavaBeans take the light¬ weight JavaBean model and extend it with multiuser security and resource manage¬ ment similar to that in the ActiveX model. (To Web-enable Enterprise JavaBeans, you need a Java-capable Web server; see the text box “A Java Web Server” on page 60.) The initiative’s architecture places Enterprise JavaBean components on top of the Enterprise JavaBean Executive, sometimes called the BeanStalk (see the figure “Java Enterprise Architecture”). The Executive, in turn, gives Enterprise JavaBeans access to APIs (e.g., JDBC and JNDI), remote objects (e.g., through HOP or Java RMI), and transaction services. Part of the attraction of the Enterprise Java¬ Bean architecture, according to Achanta, is “the developer doesn’t need to know about Java interface definition language |IDL], JTS, multithreading, or security— the Executive run time abstracts APIs and remote object calls.” Enterprise JavaBeans need some kind of transactionally aware execution envi¬ ronment such as a transaction processing (TP) server or database engine. So far, the I ikes of Sybase, BEA, IBM, Oracle, and Tan¬ dem have all at least voiced support for the Enterprise JavaBeans, if not yet writing the necessary extensions to their products. The Java model of distributed comput¬ ing is coming together. The JavaBeans API offers a format for creating reusable, plat¬ form-neutral Java components (and they can interwork with other component stan¬ dards such as ActiveX and the nascent OpenDoc). The Java RMI and Java Seri¬ alization interfaces allow such compo¬ nents to migrate around the network, heedless of what hardware platform they land on, and then control each other www.byte.com AUGUST 1997 BYTE 59 Building Net Apps Web Components remotely. Using KM I calls, an applet run¬ ning on your client can control a servlet more directly and efficiently than is pos¬ sible using HTTP. Enterprise JavaBeans provide a high layer of abstraction as well as features suited to multiuser execution. Currently, Enterprise JavaBeans are a specification and some prototype code at JavaSoft, according to Achanta. Support, however, appears to be strong, and the specification is moving quickly (it should be available during this quarter). If all goes well, Enterprise JavaBeans could be a good server-side component solution, especially for heterogeneous environments. There are other component initiatives from players such as the Object Manage¬ ment Group (OMG) and IBM (see the text box “IBM Takes on Objects” on page 66). According to sources at both, however, they seem to be leaning heavily toward some kind of adoption of the JavaBeans model. Netscape, too, is behind Java¬ Beans, effectively making it a Microsoft - versus-everybody contest. Do It with Transactions The issue of competing component mod¬ els aside, as we move closer to this service- based model of distributed computing, it becomes impossible to ignore the issues of robustness, reliability, and quality of ser¬ vice. Having easy access to both local and remote services means that more jobs will involve multiple, geographically spread- out resources. The reliability of the links in this appli¬ cation span the whole spectrum from highly reliable (your local disk), through variable performance (your LAN, depend¬ ing on load), to transient, slow, and unre¬ liable (the Internet connection). Any attempt to automate such an application must deal with the possibility that one or more of the connections may fail, as oth¬ erwise you will end up with a half-finished job and data left in an inconsistent state. The mainframe world has learned how to deal with this issue by deploying TP monitors. A TP monitor manages all the processes involved in performing a j< >b and makes the whole job into an atomic trails action (i.e., a transaction that must suc¬ ceed completely or fail completely). In case of a failure in any part, the TP moni¬ tor will undo any partial changes that were made and then restart the whole transac¬ tion and try again. The cliche example of a task that needs atomic transactions is moving money between two bank ac¬ counts. A failure after the first account has been debited but before the second has been credited would lose the customer’s money. After such a failure, the transac¬ tion must be rolled back to undo the orig¬ inal debit before trying again. Mainframe TP monitors such as CICS, Tuxedo, and Encina are ferociously com¬ plex pieces of software—in effect, they’re distributed OSes. They’ve evolved within a model of a few huge servers supporting thousands of clients each, and they may manage messaging, load balancing, fail¬ over after hardware failure, and restarting as part of maintaining the integrity of data operations. A TP monitor is usually partnered with message-queuing software that ensures that information sent between applica¬ tions can never be lost due to communi¬ cations failures. Message-queue managers (e.g., IBM’s MQSeries) define various lev¬ els of secure messaging protocol between applications (e.g., synchronous, asyn¬ chronous, and store-and-forward), which can work across different kinds of OSes and communications links, including wireless ones. One application sends a message to another by placing it into a queue. It can then continue processing without waiting for a reply. The queue manager guarantees that the message will be delivered once and once only, so if any link fails, any queued messages will be sent once it is restored. The service-based distributed-comput- ing model implies there will be more, smaller servers than are usual in main¬ frame on-line TP and more complex con¬ nectivity among them. To apply the prin¬ ciples of TP in such an environment means developing distributed TP monitors and messaging services that are integrated with the component software model. Ideally, the whole environment should have com- mit/roll back and exactly once delivery characteristics. TP guru Jim Gray (now at Microsoft) has described mainframe TP monitors as being “more like the mortar between rocks in a wall than they are like glue” because of the large granularity of the applications they manage. TP monitors for the ser¬ vice-based network need to have a much finer granularity, right down at the level of individual components and even indi¬ vidual method calls. Big strides are being made toward this goal. At a briefing in London on Micro¬ soft’s COM-based Active Server strategy, James Utzschneider, program manager for COM, said, “The name Transaction Server doesn’t do it justice. The product does automatic load balancing, security, thread management, connection pooling, and component management. Now that MTS is being integrated into NT, it defines the programming model for building business applications in Windows.” MTS also automatically manages the A Java Web Server F or Web-enabled access to Enterprise JavaBeans, you’ll need a JavaBean-capable Web server. The easiest way to get this is to use JavaSoft’s own Java Web Server (previously code-named Jeeves) currently in alpha release and downloadable free of charge. Note that currently, servlets running on Java Web Server are not JavaBeans or Enterprise JavaBeans and use a different API. Java Web Server is written entirely in Java. It supports all the usual Web-server functions such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security and Common Gateway Interface (CGI). But there’s a difference: Java servlets. These small Java components can do any job a CGI script can do, often doing it with lower invocation overhead and fewer resources. And even though Java is interpreted, execution speed is not a problem for many server-side tasks. For exam¬ ple, BYTE’s Jon Udell found that rewriting Perl scripts on the BYTE site as servlets made them run faster. Perl is interpreted, too. (So, too, did using Internet Service API [ISAPI] Perl, which also cuts invocation overhead.) Native Java compilers such as Asymetrix's promise to remove performance as an issue entirely. It’s probably unlikely that you’re willing to throw out your existing Web server to get Java Web Server's servlet capabilities. And you don’t have to. Thanks to the universal middle¬ ware of URLs, you can just refer from Internet Information Server (IIS)- or Apache-hosted pages to servlet functions running under the control of your Java Web Server. But that’s OK. JavaSoft also has a package that will enable servlet support on other pop¬ ular Web servers such as Apache, Netscape, and IIS. O’Reilly’s WebSite 2.0, forthcoming, will host servlets. Also, Netscape Enterprise Server 3.0 has its own notion of servlets. 60 BYTE AUGUST 1997 t.byte.com No guts. |H l|No gloryll When we say ViewSonic feilM we’ve got the guts to back it up. excee ViewSonic Shown above VlewSonc PT77S ViewSonic PTIU Model PT/75 • 17* CRT Sre • 21* CRT Sire 11.9* Viewable 20 9* Vlewat’e • Aperture Sulle Pilch 25mn • Aperture Critie Fitch .2loim • 98 Mir HcnronUl Seen Rile • 107 AHr Hanronui Scan Rate •ISM 11200 0 77 Mr • 1893*1200 OI5 Mr Min nun RetoMion Menmwn tewlutoc • ICO Comp'unci • TC0 Ceropharca • ‘Jikj A 'iliy a • f%4 fCuf* Aperture grille technology that rewrites the spec charts. It's on* thing to say our new FT 77 S 17 “ ( 16 . 0 " viewahk') monitor vts a new IRYfoniuiiKV standard Its quite anotlrr to hack up dial claim. KuC w\v got the Icdmolagy anil lie specs to pnne it featuring a O.JSmm aperture grille pitch, the IT 77 S odium breakthrough quality in Imglilm-vv color KituralKiu and sown danty with a maximum lesolutMi id 1600 x 1200 at a remark ahk* 77 Hz refresh rak* It works hard. I t plays hard . The IT 77 S SnuicThm* draus an VtcwSonic krlmnlogy locxcml all iMgfi prrfonnancv dnnamh 1 mm gniytliK design to business |iresentatinns to (Alt and tf ie internet And. the PT 775 is backed by a limited 3 year warranty on CRT. parts and lalior (tin- Ust hi lie lNftinc\s), as wdl as an optional Express Kxchange" Service pro gram that insures iX hour replacements ViewSonic” The PT813 and PT775 are winners. ViewSonic monitors have again ken enthusiastically received by distinguished industry reviewer;. Our m\$ was honoied as I’C Magazine's Editors’ Choice (June 24.1997). lliey said, "...ViewSonic-not NEC or Sony-is the largest purveyor of 20- ;ukI 21 inch monitors in tlie U.S." 'lliey allied the FIX 13’s image quality and failures “excellent” and its price “attractive.” Hie FI775 has also ken praised. PC World calls it "... tops for graphics pros,” and makes it a coveted Best Buy (July, 1997). lliey rave about its “super brilliant images" and "rich, vivid colors” Of course, we knew all along these two monitors would exceed your expectations. For llw dealer nearest you, calI ViewSonic at (HOO) HHH-H5H3. ask for agent 1357, or risit our website at: www.viewsonic.com. (909) 8697976 Fax (909) 869 7968 • Kernel mimww. change Mini nolce •OopjinghlO 1997 VteMSonc Corrnraicn. ai rights reservol • Corporate names and Vademarks stated hear are fie properly ol tes respectoe compares ViewSonic PTHI3 PC Magazine’s Editors' (face June 1997 MAGAZINE EDITORS’ CHOICE ::: PC WORLD BEST BUY ViewSonic PT775 PC World* Best Buy July IV)7 Circle 153 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 154). Building Net Apps Web Components transactional behavior of your compo¬ nents, with full rollback semantics, in a way that is much simpler to program than is normal with TP monitors. To make any ActiveX component transactional, a programmer need only set its transactional property to Transaction Required and then call one of the API routines (Set- Complete or SetAbort) at a point in the code where the transaction should either be complete or have failed. In other words, MTS is not just about financial transactions. It's the manager within which all server-side ActiveX com¬ ponents ought to be deployed, for reasons of efficiency as much as reliability and security. MTS will shortly be joined by Microsoft’s own message-queue server (code-named Falcon). Another product poised to aid the ser¬ vice architecture is BEA’s Tuxedo. Tuxedo is widely used to implement large, mis¬ sion-critical distributed applications in the banking and financial industries. It’s not unusual to build Tuxedo-based systems with over 1000 physical servers handling 25,000 clients. Tuxedo is now available in a native NT version, and it’s accompanied by a new tool called BEA Builder for ActiveX, which lets developers see Tuxedo services as ActiveX objects from NT or Windows 95 clients. You can build the client applica¬ tions using Visual Basic, PowerBuilder, or Delphi and still have access to all the powerful Tuxedo features such as access- control lists (ACLs) for security, the Event- Broker for publish-and-subscribe com¬ munication between applications, and Management Information Bases (MIBs) for application management. Power¬ Builder also allows you to access legacy Microsoft’s Efficient Transactions M icrosoft Transaction Server (MTS) isn’t just about guar¬ anteeing completion of transac¬ tions. It’s about performance. MTS can offer an immediate in¬ crease in processing and memory efficiency to applications. For example, if the third tier of your application requires connection to several SQL databases, MTS’s Connection Pool will create those connections just once when it ini¬ tializes, rather than incurring the repeated overhead of remaking connections. How? Conventional distributed object systems store all data inside objects and maintain long- lived references to them. Under MTS, all the persistent data re¬ mains stored in the back-end database and is fetched only fleet- ingly into middle-tier objects for processing. A new instance of a component is created “just in time" by the first call to one of its methods, which then populates it with data from the database. Once the method calls Set- Complete, the instance relin¬ quishes all its state information and is deactivated. It may be reac¬ tivated and reused by another pro¬ cess in the future (actually, every new instance gets assigned a context object that preserves some state-the transaction sta¬ tus and security I D-between acti¬ vations). This way, many client processes can use the same instance, thus avoiding the prolif¬ eration of objects that often plagues object-oriented designs. On the other hand, should a method need to access the data¬ base many times, it can keep re¬ using the same instance and avoiding the overhead of setting up a new object and connection. This scheme encourages a pro¬ gramming style that's a clever compromise between classical object-orientation and on-line transaction processing (OLTP) techniques. There are some downsides. In its first release, MTS's multi¬ threading support is restricted to "apartment" threading, where only instances of the same class can run on different threads. Later ver¬ sions will support "worker" threading, where any instance can run on any thread. And by using ODBC and Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC), which ships with Microsoft SQL Server, MTS applications can par¬ ticipate in Extended Architecture (XA) transactions, but X/Open TP monitors can’t call components running under MTS. And MTS doesn't support nested transac¬ tions (i.e. atomic subtransactions within transactions), though the MTS architects claim these are an unattainable academic mirage and that MTS’s fine granularity renders them unnecessary. In May, Microsoft announced that MTS was to be integrated into Windows NT 4.0, making its transactional abilities available to all applications and file systems. 62 BYTE AUGUST 1997 FLEXIm The Elegant Solution You don’t have to use the brute force of a baseball bat - or dongles for that matter - to make sure only licensed, paying users have access to your software. There’s a much more elegant and cost-effective solution: FLEX/m from GLOBE trotter. The De Facto Standard FLEX/m is bundled in over $ 15 billion of installed UNIX and Windows software products, making it the de facto standard in license management. And in 1995 alone, 11 HX/m was used to ship over $5 billion in software licenses over the Internet. That makes it the de facto standard in electronic commerce for software, too. Even Works With Dongles II you still want to use dongles, FLEX/m significantly reduces the number you need at a customer site by allowing low-cost dongles to Ik* used as “network dongles,” and by sharing dongles across different products. Your Customers Will Like It In an independent survey, users preferred I I EXhn eighteen-to-one over other license managers. And all of us know customers really don’t care for dongles. With FLEX/m, your customers benefit from: Floating licenses - allowing licenses to be shared over a network, while fairly compen¬ sating the vendor with a higher price per license. • Fully functional evaluation software while the vendor knows the software will stop after a specific date. • Built-in license compliance - customers don’t need to buy expensive license metering utilities to verify they comply with vendor license terms. • Installing software where it is most appropriate from a hardware or administration perspective, while protecting your software. Windows , UNIX and Java If your company develops products on multiple platforms, you should know FLEX/m runs on Windows, UNIX and Java. For More Information Call us at 408-370-2800, email us at info(u globetrotter.com or visit our website at http://www.globetrotter.com. We’ll Ik happy to arrange a demo and show you how to make sure all your users are licensed. Key Features: With FLEXIm you can: • Limit software use to licensed users • License software in new ways to gain new markets and customers Leverage the Internet and CD-ROMs to increase sides while reducing selling and manufacturing exfyenses Reduce the cost of product evaluation programs Significantly reduce the use of ex/)ensive dongles Ask about our white paper on Electronic Commerce For Software t ^ GLOBE trotter Electronic (bmntcrce I'm Software ' http://www.glohctrottcr.com Email: infofa globctrottcr.com Telephone; 408-370-2X00 Fax: 408-370*2884 HI \hn t\ j UTJttfon\J ir.klrtiurk jikI "Kkxfrtwik C MirnniT hw Sofr WB * i\ 4 trjdrnurk <>f (4 <>W7mff«T Software. Al other iratkuurks arc •hr prifuriy of thm rofcxim* ownrrv 14.000 • 12 , 000 • 10 . 000 • 8 , 000 • Number of applications using FLEXIm 6.000 • A . o non • i c,UUU * warn i 1990 1992 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Circle 167 on Inquiry Card. Building Net Apps Web Components The CORBA Connection T he Object Management Group’s (OMG) effort to define interoperability for dis¬ tributed objects began well before the cur¬ rent obsession with the Internet. As a result, its Common Object Request Broker Archi¬ tecture (CORBA) 2 standard now looks slightly old-fashioned, though perhaps clas¬ sic would be a kinder word. This is the clas¬ sical view of object orientation, where all the data is encapsulated into objects that com¬ municate by sending messages to each other via well-defined interfaces. CORBA is supported on all the major versions of Unix, on IBM's OSes, and on Windows NT. Net¬ scape is even adding support for CORBA’s HOP to future versions of its products, so that you will be able to browse CORBA objects as well as Web pages. The notable missing name here is Microsoft, whose ActiveX/ Component Object Model (COM) is in direct competition with (and incompatible with) CORBA (although you can bridge them together with interworking products). The problem with CORBA is that it took such a long time to achieve a workable stan¬ dard, and the result is so complex that there’s still no retail market in reusable CORBA objects. Most vendors are still at the stage of selling ORBs. Many smaller developers are not prepared to wait and are settling for simpler solutions based on ActiveX or Java. Also, the existing CORBA model presup¬ poses that objects are so large that they will stay put and send messages to each other, rather than moving around the network. (There is a request for proposal [RFP] that would extend CORBA to enable passing objects (including Java objects] by value, solving that problem to some extent.) This puts it out of step with the latest Internet/ intranet thinking. It doesn’t help CORBA that none of the current generation of Web browsers are llOP-enabled. Nevertheless, several large firms are using COR BA-based technologies successfully, including Federal Express, Boeing, Chevron Petroleum, and Motorola. Wells Fargo Bank built a mission-critical three-tier customer service system in 1993 using Digital Equip¬ ment’s ObjectBroker (now owned by BEA). The learning curve for implementing CORBA is higher than for ActiveX or Java, but once that’s been climbed, it seems to deliver indus¬ trial-strength results and supports features such as implementation inheritance that COM lacks. This suggests that CORBA objects will remain part of the mix in any service-based future. But they will remain in large corpora¬ tions and will stay on the server. That makes the issue of talking to CORBA objects from ActiveX and Java clients crucial. Fortunately, there are some powerful tools to help do this. CORBA ORBs can be made to talk to COM components-that’s what ORBs do. How¬ ever, programming to raw CORBA or COM interfaces is too tedious for any developer weaned on Visual Basic. Iona Technologies’ Orbix offers an automation interface to ActiveX objects via Visual Basic scripting. BEA’s ObjectBroker Desktop Connection goes further still. It can take the interface def¬ inition language (IDL) of a remote CORBA object and generate an ActiveX control- complete with GUI-which you can embed in any OLE container. The first version of Desktop Connection supports only objects on ObjectBroker servers, but future versions aim to support objects on any CORBA 2-compliant ORB, as well as remote COM objects. On the Java side, JavaSoft, SunSoft, and Netscape are all working on Java support for HOP, so that Java programs can interact with CORBA object services. Also, Visigenic Software is shipping a Java-based ORB called VisiBroker, which Netscape now bun¬ dles with its Enterprise Server 3.0. VisiBroker contains a native implementation of HOP as well as a tool that compiles CORBA IDL into client- or server-side Java code. Netscape's LiveConnect (a layer of the ONE architec¬ ture that enables HTML, Navigator plug-ins, Java applets, and JavaScript to interact with each other in the client) will be extended to support HOP, so that ONE applications can access remote CORBA services as named components. systems based on CICS or IMS via theTux- edo middleware. In March, BEA purchased Digital Equip¬ ment’s ObjectBroker object request bro¬ ker (ORB) and its Desktop Connection technology. Desktop Connection lets you write applications that will work with any CORBA 2-compliant transaction man¬ ager. According to BEA’s CTO Alfred Chuang, “Developers can now create interactive applications that take advan¬ tage of two different object systems— CORBA and ActiveX—without retraining or having to write extra code.” The next step for BEA will be seen in Tuxedo’s successor, code-named Ice¬ berg, due in September. Iceberg will be object-based and both COM- and CORBA- compliant. “Tuxedo today is procedurally driven and not object-oriented,” says Chuang “But in Iceberg, we want to hide all these procedural interfaces.” Why? If you’re following the COM, CORBA, or Java development model, you are funda¬ mentally writing stateful applications— the application at all times has control of the state of the transaction. “ When you’re deploying something in a lot of places, a complex system with mas¬ sive transactions that involve many dif¬ ferent components, that’s a really painful thing to have to clean up if the transaction fails,” says Chuang. Load balancing and the ability to group these objects onto a single physical server and move them around are going to be very critical to seal- ability. “What you really want to do even¬ tually is to hand over the management of all these objects to the system and have them run in a stateless environment.” Other commercial CORBA Object Transaction Monitors (OTMs) that offer transaction services compliant with the CORBA 2 standard are starting to appear on the market, too. A recent example is Iona Technologies’ Orbix/OTM, which incorporates Transarc’s Encina Object Transaction Engine. For more on transaction monitors, see “Guaranteed Delivery” on page 77. Run Over the Network Once you have components running on your Web server, there’s still the not-so- srnall matter of getting these components to talk to each other over the network. At the simplest level, you can pass one com¬ ponent URL-encoded information from another. However, more elegant solutions abound. Microsoft’s COM is probably already familiar to Win32 programmers. Netscape is using the CORBA HOP for its interobject communication. JavaSoft is pushing Java RMI. Right now, the main network object models are Microsoft’s COM, JavaSoft’s Java RMI, and theOMG’s CORBA HOP (see the text box “The CORBA Connection”). These models aim to be platform-neutral by forcingobjects to communicate only by calling each others’ methods, which are exposed via an abstract interface that’s defined in an IDL. COM and CORBA use almost identical IDEs, both of which are derived from the Open Software Foundation’s (OSF) Dis¬ tributed Computing Environment (DCE). Programming tools then compile these interfaces into proxies, stubs, and type libraries that a developer can access from 64 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Get Up To 'peed Fast With These Key Network Management Tools... •Junta Uii Ui'JL/ i [Ul " Jwijy wjjyu you JUJU DPiiS 9120989-XX $69.95 9119549 $39.95 Hardcover/Counts as 2 882138X $32.95 8821231 $34.95 8820251 $24.95 8821428 $29.95 8821991 $27.95 0464618 $49.50 Hardcover 0571996 $60.00 0213895 $55.00 0216266 $69.95 8821657 $34.95 Hardcover Hardcover Hardcover Join Today And Receive These Great Club Benefits... ♦ Savings of up to 50% off the regular publishers* prices. ♦ Club bulletins every 3-4 weeks containing exciting offers on the latest books. A Dfm«on of The McCmw-Hd Comftontn 8820901 $27.95 8820812 $29.95 0632634 $79.50 Hardcover JYES! Please send me the books listed below, billing me just $4.95. plus shipping/handling & tax. Enroll me as a member of the CPBS according to the terms outlined in this ad. If not satisfied. I may return the books without oblig¬ ation and have my membership cancelled. I agree to purchase |ust 2 more selec¬ tions at regular Club Prices during the next 12 months and may resign anytime thereafter. ♦ The Main Selection will be shipped automatically. If you want another book, or no book at all. return the reply form by the date specified. You’B have at least 10 days to decide. If you ever receive a book you don’t want due to late delivery of the bul¬ letin. you can return it at oor expense. ♦ And you’ll be eligible for FREE BOOKS through the Bonus Book Piogram. Purchase 2 more books during the next 12 months, aftci which you may caned your membership at any time. iipptng/handling charge and sales tax will be added to all «dcrs.AI books are softcovcr unless otherwise noted. Publishers’ Prices Shown © 1997 CPBS If card is missing, write to: Computer Professionals’ Book Society A Division ofTbt McGaw-HI Compacts PO.Box 549.Blackkk.OH 43004 9918 select a book that counts as 2 choices, write the book number in one box and XX in the next Name Address/Apt. # Cit_State_Zip_Phone._ *. Valid for new members only, subject to acceptance by CP8S. Canada must remit in U.S. funds drawn on U.S. banks Applicants outside the U.S. and Canada will receive special ordering instructions A shippmg/handUng charge & sales tax will be added to all orders. BYP897C A PHONE; I -6 14-759-3666 (830 am. to 500 pat EST MondayFndiy) • FAX: I -6 14-759-3749 (24 hours a day. 7 days a week) If you Building Net Apps Web Components IBM Takes on Objects H ow much code do you write that you don’t have to? For example, tax calculation is a well- known problem. So is currency conversion. And address manip¬ ulation. Why should you waste your time reinventing these wheels? Well, if IBM and more than 100 independent software vendors (ISVs) have their way, you won’t have to. Called the San Francisco Project, this Java-based, cross-platform, multilayer frame¬ work allows you to string together components to handle the more mundane aspects of business applications, leaving you free to concentrate on writing code that must be unique. San Francisco can be de¬ scribed by a three-tier model (see the figure “IBM’s San Francisco Frameworks"). At the bottom is the base technology infrastruc¬ ture, which includes basic capa¬ bilities such as printing, conflict control, persistence, transactions, and object model classes. On top of that lie the common business objects (e.g., currency manipula¬ tion, tax calculations, and address manipulation). Next up the ladder are the core business processes, such as general ledger, ware¬ house management, and order management. On top of all that lie commercial applications. So what does it take to develop an application using San Fran¬ cisco? It depends on which level you're developing for. You’re go¬ ing to need a modeling tool such as Rational Rose (IBM will have a Rose-to-Java generator this sum¬ mer) as well as a Java develop¬ ment environment such as Sy¬ mantec’s Visual Cafe or IBM’s VisualAge Java. There are still some problems with writing business applications in Java. “Right now, they’re pretty slow," admits Daniel Sabbah, vice president of applications devel¬ opment architecture for IBM’s Software Solutions Division. “But that’s going to change," he con¬ tinues. IBM is working on the per¬ formance of the Java Virtual Ma¬ chine (JVM) in its OSes, and is even working on a native compiler for server-based Java applications (which don’t need to worry about transportability). Even with the performance considerations, Java holds some great advantages for IBM's multiplatform environ- ments-so much so that by the end of this year and into early next year, you should expect to see VMs for Customer Information Control System (CICS) and DB2. According to Sabbah, IBM is Many companies are endors¬ ing San Francisco (at least on paper), especially European com¬ panies such as Software AG and IBM’s San Francisco Frameworks Commercial applications Core business processes (e.g., general ledger, warehouse management) Common business objects (e.g., currency, address, date and time, calendaring) Base layer (e.g., object naming and location, security) Java Virtual Machine Windows NT OS/2 0S/400 CICS MVS/ESA IBM San Francisco Frameworks San Francisco abstracts business processes and should enable developers to focus on building unique applications. even working on a universal VM Siemens AG. You’ll find some with extended bytecodes that will U.S. names in there, as well, be able to host Smalltalk and including Borland and Dun and object-oriented BASIC in addition Bradstreet. to Java. -John Montgomery the actual applications development lan¬ guage, such as C+ + , Visual Basic, Java, or Smalltalk. For a Java RM1, Java itself is the IDL (which works because the lan¬ guage is itself platform-neutral). This sim¬ plifies development both conceptually and in practice. Most of us will be familiar with com¬ ponents through COM, which underlies the ActiveX components that you can deploy from C+ + and Visual Basic pro¬ grams, and from Office applications. How a COM object calls methods in another COM object depends on where they are running. If they are in the same process, they can call each other via pointers. Ob¬ jects running in different processes inter¬ act via proxy objects and stubs that pack and unpack the call parameters into a stan¬ dard format for transmission. Communi¬ cation between components running on different machines takes place via remote procedure calls (RPCs)—the core tech¬ nology inside distributed COM. In all these cases, however, the client object’s method doesn’t need to know the details of how the communication is done (location transparency.) Proxies and stubs provide a static link between components, but COM also enables components to dis¬ cover and call new interfaces at run time. This is the basis of ActiveX. You can assem¬ ble an application by dragging and drop¬ ping components that have no prior knowledge of each other onto the same form. Automation between, say, Microsoft Word and Excel works because these Office applications make their key inter¬ nal functions visible to other programs as COM objects. CORBA works through software en¬ gines called ORBs. Whenever one object needs to call another, it sends a message to an ORB, which handles the whole trans¬ action on its behalf. An ORB can translate between different data formats, proces- sor-endianisms, and other attributes, mak¬ ing CORBA objects processor-, OS-, and language-independent. CORBA makes no distinction between client-side and server-side objects: They’re all just objects. The basic CORBA 2 ORB specification doesn’t deal with issues such as concur¬ rency, integrity, and security, all of which must be provided as separate CORBA ser¬ vices. For example, transactions are han¬ dled via OTMs that work alongside an ORB. Java, like COM, provides a mechanism for components to discover each other’s interfaces at run time, but they can also run on different platforms by virtue of the JVM. JavaBeans can also run as applets outside any container application, and Java Class Loaders can download any libraries a component needs along with the component. Consequently, JavaBeans don’t need to be registered the way that ActiveX components do, which makes them very suitable for building highly dynamic systems. JavaBeans score over ActiveX in the more flexible way that they 6 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 STATISTIC A (automatically configures itself for U iiu/ous ‘)S/\T |lmtg file imiihs, (ft | or .VI) ■ A c omplete data analysis system with thousands of on m i.vii customizable. presentation qualm graphs fully integrated with all proce chin s ■ Comprehensive- Wimhtes support, OLE (elieiu ami servvr). DDK. cus kxui/abk* AutoTask motors. pop up mentis ■ Multiple data. results, ami gnipli- u»ulow> with (laUigmfth links ■ The largest selection of statistics ami graphs in a sni.-le system, comprehensive implementations of: exploratory Icelmhpics with advanced finishing; multi way tables with I tanners (presentation quality ivjhmis). iMMipanuiMIrics; ciistrihcition filling*, multiple rc-grtsshxi; general nonlinear estmia stepwise logit/prohit. general VMXJVVMAACOVV stepwise* discriminant anah w log linear analysis; confirmatory/c*xploral>is; survival analysis; a large selec tion of tiim* series mock'l inr, lorecasting techniques; structural equation nuNleling with Moiifc Curio simulations; and much more ■ Online F/trtrouic I Uni uol with comprehen msi introductions to each procedure and example's ■ Hypertext based Stats Minor expert system ■ Workbooks with multiple AutoOpen documents (eg.. graphs, reports) ■ K\tensive data management facilities (fast spreadsheet of Mlimiled capacity with long formulas. Drag-amt-Drop. AutoFill. Auto k’c, ih nldtc. spill scrcvnAariuhk* s|H*cd scrolling, advanced Clipboard sup|M>n. IMU links, hot links to gratis, relational merge, data verificatiem/cleanmg) ■ hmrrful STATISTICii HiStC language* (professional dcvekipmcnt emirimmeiii) wnli matrix o(x*r.uit iiis. full gra|ifiks Mip|K>n. ami ink*rface to e*\k*mal programs (D//v) ■ Hatch command language ami editable macros, flexible turn kev’ and am inalimi options, custom designed procedures e*an be added lei floating Auto 1o\L' toolbars ■ All output displayed in Scnillslurls’ (dxnamic, customizable, presentation-quality tables with instant 21). 3D, ami imilii|>lc* gra|»bs) or wonl |ir«Mi vsor-style repnrt eelilor (of unlimited capacity) that combines text ami graphs ■ extremely large analysis elesigns (e.g.. convlaliem matrices up lei * mH txAi.OOO. vuiualK unhmiieel ANOVA designs) ■ Mcgafik* Manager with up to LMNM) \anabks (H Mb) per rerorel ■ ( nliniikd sia* of files cslcnckd (quudru |4« i precision; unmatched s|k*ed ■ Kxc lunges data and grains with other applka- inmi via DDK. OLE, or an extensive se'knkNi of file* ImpoflfapOft facilities (bid. IHHU: access to virtually all elata bases ami mainframe files) ■ Hundreds of ivjks •» l graphs, incl categorized multiple 2D and 3D graphs, ternary 20/31) graplis. mailix plots, icons, ami unk|ue multivariate* (eg., il)) graphs* facilities to I us!om design new graph types and aelel them permanently to menus or tool lui ■ On screen graph eustomi/aihm with achanccd drawing tools (e.g., M rolling ami 'tilling of cnni|)!e>x objects in A2x real zoom mode). compound (nested) (HE •lot nineties. Muttifilr (irapt) Autotayoul II rant inuplalis. qxrial effects, k*ons. |xi!;< layout control for slides ami printouts; unmatched s|ie*eil of graph redraw ■ Interactive* rotation, pers|H*ctive* and cross-se*clb>m of M> displays ■ Large ve in turn of tools for graphical exploration of data: e*xtensive* brushing tools wwli.tmunition, fining, smoothing, overlaying. sftociral planes, projections. laxvnd tressktns. marked subsets* Prkv $995. Quick STATISTIC A (for Windows) ■ A subset of STATtSTK'A, cooipre Imisive selection of basic statistics ami the* full analytic ami presentation qualm graphic s capabilities itt SJATtSJtCA ■ Price- $495. STATISTICA Industrial System (requires STATISTICS or Quick SIATtSTKA) ■ Hu* largest sdetlkm of industrial stalislks in a single* package*, qual itv coiarnl charts (real lime* data acquisition options), process t ip.iliilm analvsis. R»\K sampling plans, ami an e*xtntne*ly comprehensive selcctkin of cxjicrimciilal ik-si ii (IH)K) imthoels ■ Flexible lm»ls to customize- ami automate* all anahses and nporis (ind. turn key " syskw uptimes ami tools m add custom prmeduros) ■ I'n $995. •T AT1STIC A/Mac (fe»r Macintosh) ■ hrice $695 (yewi $395 1 Ikmustic sh/li $12 per product; .AO clay money Inick guarantee. _ STATISTICA has received the highest rating in EVERY comparative review of statistics software In which it was featured, since its first release. 2300 E. 14th St. • Tulsa, OK 74104 • (918) 749-1119 Fax: (918) 749-2217 • WEB: http://www.statsoft.com •-mail: info@statsoft.com StatSoft Franco (Pari*. Franca), ph: *33 01-45-185-999. la*: *33 01-45-18S-285 tatSoft Polska Sp. X 0 . 0 . (Krakow. Poland), pk: *4812-391120. fa*: *48 12-391121 StatSoft Italia (Padova. Italy), ph: *39 49-893-4654. la*: *39 49-893-2897 StatSoft Pacific Pty Ltd. (Australia). ph: *613 9521 4833. la*: *813 9521 4288 StatSoft Japan (Tokyo. Japan), ph: *813 3667 1110. far *813 3668 3100 StatSoft Taiwan (Talpol. Taiwan. R.O.C.). ph: *886 2 5786587. faa: *886 2 5793179 IlKludt-* 4 llljr lihrjn ufnjniplr ST-It I.Y/<* profit-ant' ... SP® 8 ™ [• jra ; -- ——1 : yCf a. < ii StalSon ptorkicto .MHl it.iMt«tu| . ii.raiittiH| Mtrwcot. at.t .rvadahht ir.Mti -mil,. ioproso««ta^wotkhviOo. mckxkng AusttVo BrHy unt, Btoz4. Chdo C/och RotKitAc Oonmart r«l.nd • 3 H —5£— s»v* sssins Circle 152 on Inquiry Card. Building Net Apps Web Components can interact with application builder tools. Java applications can use RMI to call methods in components on remote ma¬ chines. RMI resembles COM. If all goes according to their plans, cooperation among JavaSoft, Netscape, IBM and oth¬ ers will also also make it possible for Java- Beans to communicate using CORBA HOP, opening the way to provide secure trans¬ actions via a CORBA-compliant OTM. In theory, COM, CORBA HOP, and Java RMI could all be platform-neutral com¬ ponent standards. But the commercial reality is different. First, while CORBA and Java are available for a variety of plat¬ forms, issues with their interoperability remain to be found and ironed out. Micro¬ soft has so far implemented COM only for Windows platforms (although Digital, Hewlett-Packard, and Software AG are all working on ports to other OSes). Just Plumbing The service-based architecture, for all its advantages, still has some problems facing it. One example is object management. A service-based application could consist of some ActiveX controls running in MTS and an Enterprise JavaBean connected by JavaScript executing on either the client or the server. JavaScript itself is an object, with properties, methods, and events. By what mechanism can anyone manage that mess? Right now, the answer is none. Directory services such as LDAP and Microsoft’s Active Directory will provide some relief, but not enough. And, of course, there’s the overwhelm¬ ing problem that most of what we can get today is plumbing. For all their promise, these object models and APIs aren’t at the level that we’ve come to expect, thanks to client-side ActiveX controls that we can WHERE TO FIND IBM Microsoft Somers, NY Kcdmond, WA http://www.ibm.com/ 800 426-9400 Java/Sanfrancisco 206-882-8080 JavaSoft (Sun Microsystems) http://www.microsoft .com Mountain View. CA Oracle 800-528-2763 Kcdwood Shores, CA 415-960-1300 800 872 'Mi http://www.javasoft 415-506-7000 .com http://www.oraclc.com BEA Tandem Sunnyvale, CA Cupertino, CA 800-817-4232 800-482-8336 408-743-4000 408-725-6000 http://www.bcasys http://www.tandcm .com .com twist together in minutes to create appli¬ cations (although many vendors are work¬ ing toward that). Not only is it plumbing, much of it is incompatible—for example, JavaBeans can’t run in MTS, and ActiveX controls can’t run in CICS. But you have to start somewhere. Which architecture do you adopt? It depends on the size of your application, your existing hardware, your software environment, and whether your applica¬ tion’s function is stable or highly change¬ able. For example, Java servlets are a very good choice for those applications that might now be done by CGI scripts, such as reformatting tables retrieved from a database. The investment is small, so you just throw them away and rewrite them as requirements change. If your site is already Windows-based, ActiveX under MTS looks like a sensible way to go, whereas CORBA ORBs may make more sense for large Unix installa¬ tions and industrial-control applications. The telecommunications industry is strongly committed to CORBA, particu¬ larly in Europe, which might be an influ¬ ence for some people. If you use Java ex¬ tensively, you’ll likely work extensively with JavaBean components and RMI. To some extent, your decision will be affected by the market in shrink-wrapped components. Here, Microsoft has the advantage of its dedicated band of third- party vendors such as Sheridan and Micro- Help, already experienced in VBXes and OCXes, who are gearing up to produce server-side components. Wall Data’s serv¬ er-based ActiveX screen scraper is another example of an ActiveX server compo¬ nent. With it, an HTML client can render green screens without any client-side ActiveX intelligence. But the sheer enthu¬ siasm of the Java world is a powerful force, and the list of off-the-shelf Java- Beans on sites like http://www.gamelan .coni grows daily. Whichever technology you decide to use, you can be sure that by adopting a component approach to server applica¬ tions, you will save time and money on maintenance, as well as increasing your options for future enhancement. These decisions are rarely mutually exclusive. You can deploy “competing” technologies right in the same box (e.g., Java servlets and ASP-based scripts). You can use Java to create ActiveX controls or CORBA objects. You can use HOP to com¬ municate between ActiveX controls or JavaBeans. Because you can use each of these server technologies to target the uni¬ versal client (any HTML/JavaScript-capa- ble browser), they are entirely comple¬ mentary. Each solution has advantages not currently otherwise available. □ Dick Pountain is a longtime BYTE contributor based in London. You can contact him at dickp@bix.com. John Montgomery is BYPE’s West Coast bureau chief. You can reach him at jmontgomery@bix.com. Knowing the Terms JavaBeans: JavaSoft’s component stan¬ dard, backed by Sun, Netscape, and IBM. ActiveX: Microsoft’s component standard, now administered by the Open Group. COM: Microsoft’s Component Object Model and what was formerly the Distributed Component Object Model. COM provides a standard way for objects to pass pointers locally or over networks. It is being ported to non-Windows platforms by Software AG, Digital Equipment, and Hewlett-Packard. CORBA: The Object Management Group’s Common Object Request Broker Archi¬ tecture is a set of definitions for how objects should interact over networks using object request brokers (ORBs). You can find ORBs for nearly every OS. HOP: The Internet Interoperable ORB Proto¬ col is a subset of CORBA and provides a standard way for ORBs to communicate. RMI: Java’s remote method invocation pro¬ vides methods for Java objects to talk over networks. COM-CORBA Interworking: A specifica¬ tion for enabling COM and CORBA objects to work together. OLE: Microsoft’s Object Linking and Em¬ bedding, a Windows compound-document architecture. OLE Automation, a kind of cross-application scripting, is now called sim¬ ply automation. OpenDoc: Another compound-document architecture, backed by a large consortium, including IBM and Apple, largely found on OS/2 and the Mac. CICS, Tuxedo, MTS: Transaction monitors from IBM, BEA, and Microsoft. 68 BYTE AUGUST 1997 INC 1997 Intelligent Intranets Intranets can be anarchy until you manage who can do what where. By Udo Flohr hat could be better than an intranet? You have your own internal enterprise-wide Internet or Websystem where you can post and retrieve company news and information, work in progress, and gossip about co¬ workers. And the potential for group work with colleagues all over the globe is limitless. Really, the only flaw is that your intranet can be utter chaos from Day One—until you realize you have to start managing content and controlling access. Intranets contain many documents and other data items, prepared by many people from many depart¬ ments. How do you manage the process of creation and maintenance in this free-for- all environment? How do you use your intranet to improve your business? Setting up an intranet is probably too easy and inex¬ pensive, as Steven L. Telleen, the person credited with coining the term intranet , has found. For¬ merly of Amdahl Corpora¬ tion and now director of strategy and business devel¬ opment at Intranet Partners (Santa Clara, CA), Dr. Telleen’s mission is fighting the “lack of business scruti¬ ny that is going into intranet projects.” An intranet uses Internet protocols—TCP/IP—and Internet tools on an organi¬ zation’s LAN or WAN. The structure often uses Web-style pages of information. Users with¬ in the organization can post information and can access posted information. Although usually intended for internal use, some¬ times the enterprise allows the outside world access to part or | all of the intranet. Open standards make intranets wildly popular. They are flex- ible, easy to implement and use, and platform- and vendor-inde¬ pendent. Web browsers render information more accessible. Helper applications and plug-ins integrate browsers with exist¬ ing applications. According to Netscape, about 50 percent of its Web servers are for intranets. Web tools for receiving and publishing information are decep¬ tively easy to use—and often deceptively free. All you need to start an intranet are a free server and free Web clients. A skilled user may be able to set up a Web site from scratch in an after¬ noon. And that is just where the problems can begin. It’s as easy as finger-painting, and it can be just as messy. Step i: Make a Mess As the first pages start going on-line, you start wishing for an HTML edi¬ tor. Soon, users discover that the technology is sim¬ ple enough for them to publish information on their own, and pages and servers start sprouting like weeds all over an organi¬ zation. Telleen recounts that when information managers at large corpo¬ rations run a Web crawler on their intranets for the first time, they often dis¬ cover that about 30 per¬ cent of the servers that appear were previously unknown to them. “Unof¬ ficial applications and information seem to be the trademark of intra¬ nets,” he notes. While the unknown may be exciting, it’s not easy to control. Whether official or unofficial, an intranet needs managing. Probably the first thing a Web administrator will need is a set of administration tools to check links and fight “spaghetti.” Then mail and, perhaps, news servers become part of the sys¬ tem. As the organization starts using the net more interactively, CGI scripts implement on-screen forms, and back-office appli¬ cations collect the data and feed it to an order processing or work- flow system. To allow information to flow the other way, the Web needs a database link. continued www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 69 Managing Data Intelligent Intranets I hr inn .met is not open to outsiders by definition, bill it soon becomes obvious ill.u not even .ill insiders should have m i ess io .ill information. An access con- t ml system, something conceptually for¬ eign to Web structures, needs imple¬ menting, and that costs. ()f cc mrse, access control can extend to “outsiders,” namely one’s customers and business partners. Giving them access to price lists and planning materials can be a boon to business—but a security nightmare. The Web is already notori¬ ously permeable. Clearly, some kind of rational access control is necessary. If the allegedly free intranet has not already turned out to be costly by this time, the final straw may be load balancing: Servers and communications links give way, a distributed infrastructure becomes unavoidable. This may be easy enough for the information itself, but not for add-on applications and access control. Notice that all these additions have been serving useful purposes within the organization. Information is available for circulation, although exactly where might be a mystery. The infrastructure for group collaboration is there, even if that bozo from Finance messed up your masterpiece of a proposal: Who let them get access? And why are there 52 drafts of the com¬ pany holiday schedule, and what is the dif¬ ference between them? Companies are struggling with infor¬ mation delivery, as well as work flow, revi¬ sion tracking, and document security, says Thomas Bjelkeman-Pettersson, a U.K.- based intranet consultant and codesigner of an architecture called Intra.doc. Despite its problems, Bjelkeman-Pet¬ tersson believes that the Web and Web- derived or Web-integrated tools “will be king of the hill.” But, as IDC analyst Evan Quinn points out, the ubiquity of Web tools has made “every seat in the enter¬ prise with a browser a ‘developer’ on the intranet.” As a Mortice Kern Systems (MKS)white paper puts it, intranets are “rich with opportunities but loaded with peril.” Corporations should be wary of placing “responsibility of maintaining and publishing this information in the hands of their employees,” as this also means “accountability for ensuring this critical corporate information is valid, accurate, and legal.” The intranet enhances em¬ ployee productivity and helps create a tru¬ ly global corporate communications plat¬ form, but MKS notes that its “grassroots origin...is also its Achilles’ heel.” Who will be responsible if errors make their way into on-line price lists or quarterly financial statements? By this time the Web administrator will start thinking about what the organiza¬ tion has gotten itself into. Maybe an off- the-shelf solution, perhaps even some¬ thing like Lotus Notes, would have been better. In any event, it’s time to start reining in the intranet. Step 2: Clean It Up There is hope. The problem at this stage, Steve Telleen writes in his upcoming book Understanding Intranets , is not things being out of control but people feeling out of control. The first challenge is “a change in roles and responsibilities. In the past, IT professionals controlled the flow of computerized information by virtue of the technology barrier. Almost overnight, Hyperwave’s Information Server Previously known as Hyper-G (see “Hyper-G Organizes the Web," November 1995 BYTE) and using proprietary formats and protocols, Hyperwave Information Server is now fully c=» Java Collection Browser M Document Edit Help ill £l JL| jb| ®J .2J «| Tj S IS Hyper Root 6 Jl IICM Information Server H j| IICM Publk Services ft .il HYPOOC ® Welcome to the IICM Information Server 9) About this Server ♦ _J About the IICM Ofli MyperWave & Myper-C 8 Si About Craz and Styria 9) _J Information about Craz buBBBB @| The Province of Styria (Introduction) ft _J The Province of Styria ♦ „J Sights of Styria ®£j Styrian Specialities ♦>_J Southern Styria ®fij Winter Sports in Styria ft id Images of Austria 8 id Conferences i. , i.,,1 tfiat al latorut Information Server transforms intranets into dynamie linked objeets. compatible with HTTP, HTML, and standard Wob browsors. Hyperwave features dynamically generat¬ ed, bidirectional hyperlinks. The system knows this barrier has come down. | But | control is not gone, only shifting.” Industry analyst Stan Lepeak of the Meta Group (Stamford, CT) warns that thick manuals with rules and regulations will not help at this point. Corporate legal departments, requesting the right to exam¬ ine all Internet and intranet content, are more likely to create bottlenecks. One day, Lepeak says, “an IT manager wakes up and discovers his organization has 600 Web servers.” They have security and integrity problems, but “those departments that have been so busy working on the intranet will have to get back to their real work.” The solutions to intranet chaos are not hard to find. In fact, they are already in use in groupware, software configura¬ tion management (SCM), and document control systems. One necessity is access control: Not everyone in an organization can have unlimited access to everything not only where links point to, but also where they come from, which makes dead links vir¬ tually impossible. Links may attach to arbitrary documents, including MPEG video or Post¬ Script files or documents from application suites such as Microsoft Office. The server automatically indexes documents as they check in. You can search on content and meta¬ data such as creation date and author, as well as on custom, application-specific attributes. Navigation aids include dynamic maps and 3- D representation of content, as well as per¬ sonalized, structured views. Hyperwave cuts site administration costs dramatically by handling most maintenance tasks automatically. It includes sophisticated access control and provides for collaborative and remote authoring as well as annotations, which any Web browser can make. IntraNet Solutions’ Intra.doc The Intra.doc “information delivery architec¬ ture" helps companies automatically maintain Web sites (see the figure “Intra.doc Eases Management," page 72). Document conver¬ sion is often not necessary at all. Native for¬ mat viewers (for example, for PostScript or a proprietary CAD format) start a helper appli¬ cation through a Wob browser. The Intra.doc system provides review and approval func¬ tions. It supports scheduled releases of doc¬ uments: The person releasing a document can specify the time when the new version should become active. Products That Help 7 0 BYTE AUGUST 1997 on the intranet. The access control should have gradations. Some items might be read-only (like corporate information and policies); some items might be accessible only by users in a certain group (like work¬ ers on a particular project); still others might be invisible to all but a select few (for sensitive documents); and yet others might be wide open to anyone. Another need is for version control. A user with the right to write should not make changes to the original document itself: You might want that original back again. So making changes to a document would actually create a new version automatically, stamped with the name of the modifier, the date, and other infor¬ mation. 7 his permits tracking changes as work progresses. The downside is that having many versions of documents takes up space on your drives. But once docu¬ ments reach certain “plateaus” of done- Intelligent Intranets ness, intermediate versions can vanish. Related to version control is check in/ check out of documents. When a user checks a document out of a repository, no one else can modify that document, although it’s okay to merely view it. Once the document checks in again, then others can modify it (or its successor if the first user modified it). Search capabilities are essential, of course. It does no good to produce intra¬ net content if no one can find it. Finally, the user interface is of prime importance. Surprisingly, not all your content producers are going to be super- Webheads. The interface must be simple enough so that any user can get things done. It should be robust but not restric¬ tive. You want control over the process, but you don’t want the process to be daunting. It does you no good if the con¬ trols are so rude and rigid that users pre- Managing Data fer to find ways to circumvent them. While these are old concepts, new tech¬ nologies can give them new twists. For example, if documents exist as related objects in an object-oriented system, then many of the above interactions occur as part of what the documents “are.” Fur¬ thermore, since many intranets are Web- based, preserving links to documents is an important feature. Besides, a single Web page is a complex object in itself, with multiple contributors from different loca¬ tions, both internal and external, sup¬ plying text, graphics, multimedia infor¬ mation, and even software. Web Object Management According to analysts, an organization may typically spend between $100,000 and $2 million to develop a Web site, and up to half a million a year to maintain the information and keep it up-to-date. The Ikonic’s Ringmaster Ikonic's Ringmaster is a tool to automate the content aspect of Web site production. Authors can drag-and-drop their items into a project folder. If a supervisor approves them, they automatically go to a Web server, while rejects get comments and go back for revision. The program synchronizes links, tracks ver¬ sions, controls access rights, and generates content maps. Mortice Kern Systems’ Web Integrity MKS has joined the fray with its own intranet content manager, Web Integrity. It helps coor¬ dinate the internal collaboration process that ensues when many coworkers try to publish at the same time. Even off-site workgroups can publish to the site. Web Integrity also deals with the problem of version tracking. Vignette’s StoryServer StoryServer, developed by Vignette in collab¬ oration with Web news site CNET, is a dynam¬ ic publishing server and content management system for producing Web sites. It separates content authoring from Web page design, enables control over site-wide look and feel, offers advanced personalization capabilities, and scales to deliver millions of page views without performance or cost penalties (see the figure “StoryServer Supports Content Pro¬ viders; page 76). With minimal effort, Story¬ Server lets a site grow from hundreds of pages to thousands, even with content and site struc¬ ture constantly changing. The software han¬ dles many chores automatically. BASIS adds new intranet search and navigation features to client browsers. Information Dimensions’ BASIS BASIS provides an open, scalable, client/ server architecture that includes a compre¬ hensive set of document management ser¬ vices, a robust document storage manager, an enterprise-wide access interface, and a suite of application development interfaces. The BASIS Document Manager ensures efficient control, management, retrieval, and navigation of document collections. It includes complete library services, full-text retrieval, document control, document delivery, security, and authentication. Supported document types include SGML, HTML, tagged text, word pro¬ cessor formats, and bibliographic records. A Web gateway provides access through stan¬ dard servers. FileNet’s Saros Discovery Suite Saros Discovery Suite includes Document Manager, which provides an easy, intuitive way to organize word processing, spreadsheet, and graphic documents. It provides version control, document security, and detailed search and retrieval. Another component is Watermark Client, which captures paper- based information and allows users to share document images and facsimiles. The En¬ semble component helps create work flows that popular e-mail applications can launch, Netscape • [<»me//anino Quick Sean hi ^mezzanine Quick Search • Library to Search: d J Lot* ID |j—Uwr t fetrert £ □ ^ tag!?*, in i A<*oc [own Id I i—to te«M» I I " I oMAtM [tam m twiii nn <■—>*** Doc«m«Co*mi L_ ~l ,cm.I _ c s*n«~Q^n r*mn _ Saros provides document management and searching in ordinary browsers. distribute, and monitor. These bundled tools mean you don't have to integrate third-party utilities.The Saros Discovery Suite is a key component in FlleNet’s Foundation for Enter¬ prise Document Management strategy. w.byte.com AUGUST 1997 BYTE 71 Managing Data Intelligent Intranets lntra.doc Eases Management lntra.doc server r lntra.doc library Doc refinery Web refinery Full-text refinery Common Gateway Interface Web server PDF f URL HTML—► Web server f U RL —S Full-text database User system Plug-in (PDF view) Desktop application Helper application Intranet Solutions' lntra.doc automates intranet maintenance and simplifies document conversion, all using standard browsers. challenge is to improve quality and usabil¬ ity of the content while lowering the asso¬ ciated costs. Intranet users also need different views of information, tailored to what is rele¬ vant for them. Because the Web cannot provide that, many organizations resort to publishing the same content to every¬ one. The result is quiltwork at best, info- glut at worst. Some information is isolat¬ ed from the intranet for security reasons. Furthermore, the static information struc¬ ture causes frustration. To stem the flow of entropy, some orga¬ nizations rely on multiple Web adminis¬ trators, while others have none at all. As the Web itself lacks means of controlling, reviewing, and versioning content, these have been manual tasks—a classic situa¬ tion where a computer might help or might make things worse. Enter Web object management (WOM), or Web content management. These tech¬ nologies marry traditional SCM func¬ tionality with Web-specific features, mak¬ ing control central but lightweight. WOM products try to foster collaboration, re¬ move bottlenecks, automatically enforce corporate look-and-feel standards, and safeguard business-critical information. It helps the Web administrator centrally organize Web objects, including text, graphics, and Java files. Naturally, the two heavyweights to watch are Microsoft and Netscape. Microsoft’s Visual SourceSafe began life performing version control as part of soft¬ ware development products like Visual Basic, Visual Studio 97, and Frontpage 97. It also appears in Visual InterDev as well as in NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition. Now it controls a variety of items in a variety of formats, including HTML documents and Java code. SourceSafe provides all the major func¬ tions you would want. Its version control offers features specific to Web manage¬ ment. “Shadowing” maps a SourceSafe database to other sites. As product man¬ ager Lloyd Arrow says, this is handy dur¬ ing development and staging of sites, before they’re ready for prime time. “Deploy” creates a “consistent state” of a site: a collection of certain versions of files that belong to a certain level of a site’s development. Deploy ensures that with new changes to the site, the links are okay and everything works. A click of a button publishes the consistent state to the Web. SourceSafe access control offers four levels of security, plus a superuser level, for each project or collection of files. Al¬ lowed access includes read-only, check in/check out, edit, remove, and delete (at the highest level). Besides the usual check in/check out (where one person can have file out at a time), it offers a multiple check in/check out option. With this, several people can each have the same file out— to work on the text or graphics of a Web page separately, for example. When they check the file in again, any discrepancies flash the warning light: The person then decides which version of each file element to use. No changes are lost, though: Each version of the file gets saved sepa¬ rately, just in case. Searching with SourceSafe can be con¬ tent-based—looking for a word or phrase in a document, or by filename, or by oth¬ er features like file state (“What files do I have checked out?”). The user interface closely resembles Windows Explorer’s hierarchical view of files. Plus, as Chris Stirrat, program manager, notes, Source¬ Safe integrates easily with third-party products. This allows SourceSafe to become part of another product and also permits using a variety of development tools with SourceSafe. Netscape’s own offering, Enterprise (Web) Server 3.0, provides many features for managing intranet content. These include automatic link management, Intranets Can Save Your Business Document type Problems if lost Important or critical? Interoffico memo Delays or inefficiencies in company operations Important Internal help desk Duplication of effort or loss of efficiencies Important postings Markoting and sales Roduced effectiveness Important litoraturo Competitive rosoarch Revonuo and profit loss, market share standing Critical Corporate policies on Lawsuits, heavy fines, shutdown of operations, Critical safety regulation loss of life compliance Material and safety Lawsuits, heavy fines, shutdown of operations, Critical data sheets loss of life Procedures or records Lost business, shutdown of operations, Critical supporting ISO loss of ISO 9000 certification 9000 certification Legal regulation Lawsuits, heavy fines, shutdown of operations Critical compliance records 7 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Philips Brilliance® Monitors bring out vour best. JRILLlANCE HIGH RFSOIUTION MONITORS Philips Brilliance monitors bring out your best on the PC screen with pixel perfect display plus incredibly high res¬ olution, color, accuracy, contrast and consistency. They're available in 15”, 17". and 21" inch sizes. So. whether you're a design professional, office or small business user, or serious game player, we have the right size monitors for you. Look into a Philips Brilliance monitors today. BU Monitor* Website: www: http: / / www monitors, be philips com or fax Europc:31-40-273-5412 USA: I-770-82 1 -2228 Asia Pacific 8S2-2 066 73S8 Ldi mfe. tkwqs batteV PHILIPS Circle 168 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 169). APPLE SYSTEM 7 • AT ST UNIX • BANYAN • INTERACTIVE UNIX • LINUX • MOTOROLA SSOPEN • QNX PLATFORMS: WINDOWS NT • WINDOW1L95 Q: What does it take^ superior client/server A: A SUPERIOR S / Cf iec/( if erver st <1 'y*.faVL 0ut -'! ' x with the most advanced client-side SDK on the market: c-tree" Plus at $895. • Complete “C” Source code • ROYALTY FREE (Client Side) • Multiple supported protocols • Fast, portable, reliable • Powerful features like transaction processing • Win95, NT, and Windows 3.1 ready economical/ deployable/ your needs. • Portable • Scalable • Exceptional Performance • Flexible • Easy Server distribution • Convenient OEM terms strong, multi¬ platform, industrial-strength Server that supports. • File mirroring • Heterogeneous networking • Automatic disaster recovery • Multi-threaded design • Best pricc/performance available: from $445- $3745 FAIRCOM Server* c UNIX Heterogeneous TCP/IP Network You can’t find a better client SDK with these features! Over sixteen years of proven reliability and performance. No one else supports over 30 platforms in this price range! c-tree Plus® • Complete C Source • Single/Multi User • Client/Servcr (optional) • Full ISAM functionality • No Royalties • Transaction Processing • Fixed/'Variable Length Records • High Speed Data/Index Caching • Batch Operations • File Mirroring • Multiple Contexts • Unsurpassed Portability FairCom Server* • Client/Servcr Model • Transaction Processing • Requires <2MB RAM • Online Backup • Disaster Recovery • Rollback - Forward • Anti-Deadlock Resolution • Client-side "C" Source • Multithreading • Heterogeneous networking • File Mirroring • OEM/Source Available FOR YOUR NEXT PROJECT CALL FAIRCOM: YOU CANT FIND A BETTER HETEROGENEOUS CLIENT/SERVER SOLUTION! Also inquire about these FairCom products: d-tree'“ r-tree® ODBC Driver FAI ROOM' CORPORATION WWWeb Address: http://vAAAyw.faircom.com/ 800 - 234-8180 U.S.A. 4006 W. Broadway - Columbia, MO 65203-0100 phone (573) 445-6833 lax (573) 445-9698 EUROPE Via Patrioti, 6-24021 Albino (BG) - ITALY phone (035) 773-464 lax (035) 773-806 JAPAN IKEDA Bldg. #3,4f-112-5, Komei-chou - Tsu-city,MIE 514 Japan phone (0592) 29-7504 fax (0592) 24-9723 • SUN O/S 4.X • SUN O/S S.X • MIPS ABI (SGI) • Managing Data version control, control of access to doc¬ uments at several levels, and intelligent agents that can inform a user if certain Web documents update. The Netscape server includes pieces from several sources. Netscape’s own LiveWire technology enables link man¬ agement and the creation and manage¬ ment of Web content that can include doc¬ uments and JavaScript applications. Netscape has licensed MKS’s Integrity Engine for document version control and check-in/check-out features. Netscape has also licensed Verity’s search engine technology for indexing and searching not only the content of documents (which can be the usual ASCII or HTML or a vari¬ ety of other supported formats) but meta¬ data about the documents, such as title and author. Netscape’s Catalog Server provides automatic document cataloging. Netscape’s SuiteSpot comprises a whole family of Web server products. It has the advantage of being OS-indepen¬ dent, and Netscape claims it integrates easily into existing infrastructures. SuiteSpot includes nine products, among them Enterprise Server and Catalog Serv¬ er. Also included is Collabra Server, a full¬ blown groupware package. MKS also partnered with Informix Soft¬ ware, developing a DataBlade for the In¬ formix Universal Server. It helps manage and retrieve revisions of new dynamic forms of objects, such as sound, video, geospatial maps, and graphics from an object relational database. Using HTTP, workgroups using Web Integrity can surf, edit, approve, and publish Web objects while working off-site. Documentum describes its similar product, RightSite, as a Web content man¬ ager. Based on Documentum’s Enterprise Document Management System, Right- Site brings Web pages under the control of a dynamic document repository. It helps Web administrators manage the life cycle of Web pages in the same manner as oth¬ er documents. RightSite controls the actu¬ al content of a site, automating the process of contributing and updating Web pages and tailoring their delivery based on a user’s rights and preferences. RightSite’s Virtual Link Processor generates hyper¬ links dynamically, enabling the system to select the appropriate version and rendi¬ tion of a page based on the user’s require¬ ments and security clearance; this also takes care of dead links. The Dynamic Page Assembler uses a combination of Circle 132 on Inquiry Card. BYTE uontmunications HI Ernst & Young H333 herring k ' The Premier Event where European decision makers meet leading technology companies \ 20 and 21 October 1997 Queen\Elizabeth It Conference Centre • London Meet privately with executives from California Companies with leading technologies including: Ambient Capital Bank of America EASDAQ Interactive Investor International Nokia Silicon Valley Bank Southern California Edison Content Delivery Data Warehousing Electronic Commerce Enterprise Solutions R Network Infrastructure ■ Java, Web Tracking & Tools ■ Voice & Data Integration ■ Wireless For company profiles and Forum details see: www.cal-it.com BOOKING FORM, California Presenting Companies AdiCom Wireless Andromedia Arachnid Software Autonomy BackWeb Technologies Berkeley Networks Big Sky Technologies Blue BroadVision C/NET Calico Technology CenTOR Software DEGA Technology OPC Technology Edify Enterprise Productivity Systems Extreme Networks Financial Navigator International Fourll GigaLabs Informatica Isadra Kiva Software Liquid Audio Magnifi Marimba NetChannei NetGravity Netiva Software Netro Nuera Communications Organic Online RedCreek Communications Semio Sonnet Financial Trillium Digital Systems Tumbleweed Software UNIAX VitalSigns Software VPNet Technologies VLSI Technology Wallop Software WebMaster WorldRes XLNT Designs Xoom Software Online registration: www.cal-it.com Registration/Information: Lindy Bird. Cadogan International. 117 Charterhouse Street. London. EC1M 6AA Tel: +44 171 336 8710. Fax: +44 171 336 8703 Name: Yes, please send me the tull programme. Yes, please book _ place(s) at £795 + VAT £139.13=C934.13 per delegate. Cheque made payable to: Cadogan International Conferences Limited. Please charge my Visa/Access No: (No other cords accepted) (required on all orders) Expiry date Managing Data Intelligent Intranets StoryServer Supports Content Providers Authors, production, engineers using StoryServer user interface Web server http^/devsite Development and staging (intranet) StoryServer processes $ StoryServer processes Web server http^/livesHe Live on the Internet (Public) StoryServer provides sophisticated publishing management for content providers. PCMC/A C? QUATECH ... Application to Solution RS-232 • RS-422/485 • EPP 1 - 800 - 553-1170 Visit our website: http://www.quatech.com server-based business rules and the attrib¬ utes associated with a query to assemble Web pages appropriate for a user’s rights, profile, and preferences. Tools Aren’t Everything While having competent tools to manage content certainly simplifies the problem, there are other aspects to the intranet con¬ tent management solution. Methodolo¬ gy can heal the madness. For example, it is important for an organization to main¬ tain as much of a sense of inherent infor¬ mation structure as possible. Once such a framework is in place, it greatly facili¬ tates do-it-yourself publishing by team members: The information should more WHERE TO FIND Hypcrwavc Information Munich, Germany Dimensions +49-89-9930-74-0 Dublin. OH http://www 614-761-8083 .hypcrwavc.dc http://www.idi.odc.org Ikonic IntraNct Solutions San Francisco, CA Eden Prairie, MN 415-908-8000 800-989-8774 http://www.ikonic.com 612-903-2000 File Net http://www Costa Mesa, ca .intranctsol.com 800-345-3638 Intranet Partners 714-966-3400 Santa Clara, CA http://www.filcnct.com 408-588-1100 http://www.ip.com Circle 141 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 142). or less automatically show up in its logi¬ cal place. Should any reorganization become necessary, it will help avoid hav¬ ing to actually move information: adjust¬ ing links should suffice. Once managers and Web administrators start reviewing content, a threaded discussion or, better, an annotation system is invaluable for channeling comments. Whether you are just starting your intranet or trying to streamline an exist¬ ing one, it may help to sit hack and think about the intranet’s implications for your corporate culture. Intranets cause the dis¬ tinction between formal and informal information to blur, for example. Em¬ ployees discover it can help them cir¬ cumnavigate the chain of control by allowing them to publish and share infor¬ mation directly. While some organiza¬ tions will view this as defying a corpo¬ rate policy of top-down decision flow, others may interpret the same situation as empowering. Father way, it might he necessary to redefine management con¬ trol roles. Understanding these new par¬ adigms is an important first step to tam¬ ing the chaos. □ Udo Flohr is a BYTE contributing editor Ikised in Hannover, Germany. You can reach him do editors@bix.com. www.byte.com Guaranteed Delivery Can you have multiple Web servers, application servers, and database servers without transaction-oriented middleware? We doubt it. By Barry Nance h, what a tangled Web we weave when first we prac¬ tice to write three-tier Web-based applications with¬ out using transaction processing (TP) monitor mid¬ dleware. The same software technology mainframes use to process millions of transactions per day, recast into Web- suitable form, is a sine qua non for developing and running busi¬ ness-automation applications on an intranet or the Internet. The effort to program the business logic isn’t the issue here. Supporting thousands of clients is. Business logic ana¬ lysts and programmers have neither the time nor the expertise to create the trans¬ action-oriented, network- based architecture a high- volume application will demand in everyday use; they have enough work to do automating business proce¬ dures and rules. Fortunately, a small but growing group of vendors offers Web-aware TP moni¬ tor tools you can choose from. Some of these are mature, pre-Web products to which vendors have added Web awareness, while others are new tools designed ex¬ pressly for use within appli¬ cations based on Web browsers and HTTP servers. Read on to explore the soft¬ ware technologies embodied by Web-based TP monitors. Transactional Superglue People sometimes call middleware “glue” or “plumbing,” and a few even mystically say, “If you need to ask what middleware is, you don’t need it.” Web-based TP monitor middleware is sim¬ pler to understand than vague metaphors and churlish rnisdi- rections imply. I he levels of a three-tier architecture are presentation, busi¬ ness logic, and data storage. Middleware exists between each of the tiers, connecting the presentation layer to the business log¬ ic layer and the business logic layer to the data storage layer. For example, you might use a Cisco router or a transaction-aware Java class library to distribute incoming HTTP traffic among sev¬ eral Web servers—the router or the Java class performs a mid¬ dleware role. Software you incorporate into the application to help distribute transactions among multiple application servers (running the business logic) is middleware. Whether purchased or home-grown, application components that distribute data¬ base server requests across several relational database manage¬ ment system (RDBMS) servers are also middleware. The con¬ nectivity software (or, in some cases, hardware) is the middleware, and its place in the system assures transac¬ tion integrity and enforces security, in addition to bal¬ ancing the work load. Web middleware, and TP moni¬ tors in particular, gives designers and programmers the intra-application net¬ work linkages and services that let a distributed Web- based application handle a large number of clients. TP Middleware Middleware categories in¬ clude TP monitors, Distrib¬ uted Computing Environ- ment (DCE) and remote procedure call (RPC) envi¬ ronments, messaging, object request brokers (ORBs), and database access tools. TP monitor products offer a middleware environment oriented toward handling transactions over a network. For example, TP monitors bracket developer-defined application operations with implied BEGIN TRANSACTION and END TRANSACTION. By using TP monitor services, applications don’t have to specifical¬ ly provide for transaction integrity. IP monitors help the various parts of an application running on several computers coordinate with each other, performing tasks such as queuing transactions, balancing transaction work load, managing and isolating transaction processesand threads, monitoring the completion of transactions, and verifying rights and permissions. Further, a Web-based TP monitor overcomes HTTP’s inherent statelessness by recognizing which HTTP mes¬ sages (Web pages, most likely) belong to each transaction, or by www.byte.com AUGUST 1997 BYTE 7 7 Building Net Apps G uaranteed Delivery Middleware in a Three-Tier Web Application Browser request is fielded by transaction monitor. Transaction monitor routes request to appropriate application server to balance server loads. Transaction monitor fields request from application server. Transaction monitor routes request to appropriate database server to balance server loads. Transaction monitor Web-based TP monitors let the various parts of an application run on several different computers. Application servers augmenting HTTP with the monitor’s own state-maintaining protocol. You integrate TP monitor services into an application in several ways. You can insert statements into your application program that call the TP monitor’s APIs, or register with the TP monitor those application components and resources that relate to a transaction, or sometimes by taking both actions. Some TP monitor APIs are extremely simple, while others are more involved. In either case, invoking the APIs is usually quite easy once you identi¬ fy where in your application’s flow the transactions occur. TP monitor vendors currently have proprietary APIs, hut most say they plan to implement the new X/Open standard APIs. Here’s another example of how a Web- based TP monitor can help an application run smoothly in the face of a high volume of transaction requests. Because you con¬ figure the middleware with information about which database servers are equiv¬ alent copies of each other, as well as which databases a transaction can affect, the middleware can monitor server activ¬ ity and send SQL messages to less busy database servers. If a particular server fails, the middleware queues the SQL request and delivers it when the server returns to the network. Alternatively, the middleware can reroute the message to a different database server that (as you’ve designed) is a replicated copy of the failed server (see the figure “TP to the Rescue” on page SO). Without faltering, the sys¬ tem continues to process transactions that don’t need access to the failed serv¬ er. Some middleware products can even route HTTP messages to Web servers that are less busy. Web-Based Solutions Companies such as BKA Systems, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Prolifics, Visigenics, and KIVA are in the forefront of Web TP monitor technology. Each takes a some¬ what different approach to helping your application process transactions. BKA offers Java programmers transac¬ tion services with its Jolt product, a col¬ lection of class libraries and functions that complement BEA’s well-known Tuxedo middleware. Jolt also replaces IITTP with its own Jolt Transaction Protocol (JTP), which gives Jolt-based Java programs extra capabilities beyond the limited, doc¬ ument-presentation-oriented HTTP. JTP helps Jolt maintain transaction state infor¬ mation and helps servers distribute trans¬ action workloads. Tuxedo, which supplies the basic mid¬ dleware services to a Jolt/Java application, is a distributed transaction monitor. It gives developers message-oriented func¬ tions implemented in terms of transaction semant ics. Tuxedo consists of a transac¬ tion manager, queue services, a domain feature, DCE integration functions, and client components. The transaction man¬ ager provides naming services, dynamic message routing, load balancing, config¬ uration management, transaction man¬ agement, and security. Queue services provide a messaging framework that insu¬ lates business logic from the specifics of the underlying transport layers of the net¬ work. The domain feature allows you to segment application components on a large network into administratively autonomous groups. Tuxedo’s DCE inte¬ gration is a set of utilities and libraries that can provide DCE services and functions to Tuxedo-based applications. Programmers use Application-to- Transaction Manager Interface (ATMI), a set of TO API function calls, to incorpo¬ rate Tuxedo into their applications. The Open Group has adopted ATMI as a stan¬ dard X/Open API. The ATMI toolset gives developers asynchronous service calls (callback functions), typed buffers, ser¬ vice request forwarding, service request prioritization, and dynamic, program¬ matically controlled data routing. Prolifics, a company that offers a prod¬ uct of the same name, gives Tuxedo-based application designers a visual tool for incorporating database-oriented business logic. The tool emits HT ML, JavaScript, and (soon) Java to help Tuxedo IS shops develop three-tier Web applications. Borland’s Midas (a not-quite acronym for Multitier Distributed Application Ser¬ vices), in development as we went to press, is an object monitor for Web applications. It consists of three broker components: Business ObjectBroker, Remote Data- Broker, and ConstraintBroker. The Busi¬ ness ObjectBroker performs load balanc¬ ing and assures transaction integrity for OLE Automation objects (i.e., ActiveX components) registered with it. The Remote DataBroker acts as an intermedi¬ ary between thin clients (e.g., browsers), business logic, and database servers. Con¬ straintBroker copies database constraint logic onto the computer running the busi¬ ness logic and lets the business logic use www.byte.com 7 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 val*ue (vaTyoo) n. [< L. valere, be worth] 1. to think very highly of 2. See |OPTI Easy Installation DOLLAR-FOR-DOLLAR, OPTI-UPS IS THE REST UPS FOR THE WINDOWS NT” ENVIRONMENT. TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT OPTI-UPS. CALL (800) THE-OPTI, XG477 FOR MORE INFORMATION OR A DEALER NEAR YOU. OPTI-UPS, THE UPS WHICH PROVIDES THE COMPLETE NETWORK SOLUTION. OPTI-UPS is redefining UPS. For less than $300, an OPTI- UPS 650E will back-up a standard server for about 10 minutes. The difference is that we include automatic voltage regulation, compatibility with NT\ Windows # 95 and NetWare? messaging via TCP/IP and shutdown of open files. In older to get those features from the competition, you hotter be prepared to pay as high as $500-that’s 67% more! OPTI-UPS engineers even packed txir OPTI-UPS 280E with power management features that the competition charges hundreds more for. To learn more alxxit OPTI-UPS and see how we’re redefin¬ ing UPS, call WOO-THE-OPTI, xl367. Visit our web site to see what customers are saying alxxit OPTI-UPS. You’re never going to think about a UPS the same way again. You’ll see! OtUtf W* 3B Microsoft Wtndowi96 Mknmmxt WlMXMSVt- ( (AIMIMI Power Products by ViewSonic Product Information (800) THE-OPTI • Internet: www.opti-ups.com Prices and specifications srtioct lo chango wMhtxM notice • Corporate names and trademarks staled horwn are tie property of twr rospoctrve companies. Copyright 01997 VtewSorac Corporation • AM ffcgftfs flooscvod Circle 155 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 156). Building Net Apps Guaranteed Delivery lhose i onstraints as data edits. Without ( «mstraintBroker, applications must either contain data edits that express the same database integrity rules as the constraints in the database or face the likelihood of insert/update failures when issuing SQL statements to the RDBMS. Constraint Bro¬ ker reduces network traffic and simplifies application maintenance. Likely the neatest feature of Borland’s Midas technology is that you don’t have to insert code into your applications to take advantage of it. Borland says it will supply graphical tools for registering applications with Midas and configuring their behaviors. IBM’s numerous middleware prod¬ ucts currently connect more computers and applications, in more diverse ways, than any other. For Web-based applica¬ tions, IBM supplies developers with IBM Transaction Server, which runs on OS/2 Wirp, AIX, and Windows NT and was for¬ merly called CICS for OS/2, CICS for AIX, and CICS for NT. It acts as an enterprise¬ wide coordinator and integrator of servers and clients, managing applications and data sources across a network. IBM also offers Kncina, MQSeries, and the CICS Gateway for Java. IBM Transaction Server is a TP monitor middleware product that ensures integri¬ ty for transactions involving a set of relat¬ ed updates (all the updates succeed or all the updates fail and get rolled back), allocates system resources to transaction- oriented applications, launches applica¬ tions as necessary to process transactions, balances workloads across application servers, and even initiates transactions within Lotus Notes. IBM bundles CICS Gateway for Lotus Notes and IBM CICS Internet Gateway with its Transaction Server products. The CICS Internet Gate¬ way interfaces Web servers and CICS applications, translating between HTML and 3270 data streams in order to, for example, let Web browsers display 3270 screens as if they were Web pages. IBM’s complementary products for Transaction Server include Rncina and MQSeries. Rncina is a DCE-integrated (and RPC-based) transaction processing solution. MQSeries is a platform-neutral messaging facility; it uses a message queue coupled with a transaction mon¬ itor to free interbusiness developers from having to comply with one another’s network infrastructure and timing requirements. The CICS Gateway for Java consists of small Java class libraries developers can use to connect their applets to CICS programs running else¬ where on the network. Microsoft Transaction Server manages low-level operating system resources, such as processes and threads, thus allow¬ ing concurrent client access to applica¬ tions. It synchronizes access to shared data, lessening the effect of multiuser database access as it routes transactions to application servers and database servers. Transaction Server supports ActiveX, has a simple programming inter¬ face for hooking into your application, and offers just-in-time instantiation of object components. This middleware product manages a pool of ODBC con¬ nections that clients can draw from, and it can act as a repository for shared data variables that multiple concurrently exe¬ cuting processes can access. The applica¬ tion components that Transaction Serv¬ er manages are location-transparent, meaning they can reside virtually any¬ where on the network without the appli¬ cation having to keep track of which serv¬ er, drive letter, or directory structure contains them. An application environment that in¬ cludes Transaction Server has an archi¬ tecture consisting of base processes (client programs, which might be browsers), application components (implementation of business logic, written as ActiveX com¬ ponents), the Transaction Server Execu¬ tive (manages transactions and provides services to application components), resource dispensers (distribute and con¬ trol shared resources, such as database connections), and resource managers (SQL Server is an example). Microsoft Transaction Server, like most other TP monitors, has a proprietary API. While other vendors plan to implement the new X/Open standard APIs, Microsoft plans to stick with its ActiveX component model and simple calling conventions. Transaction Server adds just two new APIs: GetObjectContextO and SafeRef(). KIVA’s product is a TP monitor spe¬ cially built for the Web. KIVA designed its Rnterprise Server product as an applica¬ tion server environment for Web-based business applications; it contains no sup¬ port for legacy (pre-Web) applications. KIVA’s middleware works with Web browser clients and supports both Java and ActiveX. Enterprise Server consists of a trans¬ action and request manager, several APIs for programmatic control over transac¬ tion processing activities, a security mod¬ ule, administrative tools, a deployment manager, and a data access manager. The transaction and request manager relies on state and session information to manage multistep complex requests as atomic transactions. The security module can use cookies, database access controls, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Secure HTTP (S- HTTP), and HTTP challenge-response authentication, and it creates an audit trail of transaction events. Enterprise Server has six service classes: transaction management, application and TP to the Rescue Transaction monitor fields request from application server. Transaction monitor does not route request to RDBMS server that's down. Application server The TP monitor can route database updates to active servers and fail transactions requiring access to tables that are unavailable. Transaction monitor routes request to one of the remaining RDBMS servers. www.byte.com 80 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Visual Coverage saves you time* What you do with it is up to you Finally, someone s created a last and thorough code coverage monitor¬ ing tool for developers and ( t )\ testers. Its Visual Coverage from Tracepoint. I he difference? Trneepoint s Binary Code eliminates tin* need for preprocessing or Instrumentation, recompiling. which completely Visual Coverage lets you quickly: • identil\ untested application code • woik direeih on exes and dlls — no source code or ohj files required • view information graphically in an easy and intuitive format • selectively include or exclude code for analysis • find and eliminate dead code With Visual Coverage, time is finally on your side* I*rom Iracepoint. of course. Performance tools for software developers. For a FREE trial version, visit our web site at www.tracepoint.com TracePoint Visual Coverage Viwol Cowxoge wofti on Ww32 appfccahom developed uung Afcciotofl Visual O* 2 X. 4 X. omi .S 0 nwl MtrrotaJl Oevelope* Sludra 4 X ond late* InirrlNiiiil: A DK.I I \l < mm Tfocapon^llw T'ocetoN* logo. V.uwl Coverage. and Ue V.ioal Cove«oge logo we fcadeniwti oi Tint efM.nl Whnnlogy. Ur One* products. brands. and wwoi any Irodernwks ol respective manuloclurms Circle 1 73 on Inquiry Card. Network Integration Guaranteed Delivery Using the wizards provided with Prolifics, you can build sophisticated two- and three-tier applications quickly and easily. server management, system services (such .is load balancing), thread management and application partitioning, data access, and application logic management. KIVA’s implementation of these service classes is modularized, so you can con¬ figure them to run on one or several (dis¬ tributed) machines. Enterprise Server is multithreaded and includes caching and streaming functions to minimize response times. The load-balancing feature doles out transaction requests to instances of application programs running on multi¬ ple networked computers. Visigenic’s VisiBroker for Java and C+ + is a CORBA 2.0 ORB that uses the Internet Interoperable ORB Protocol (HOP) for interprocess communication between network nodes. Visigenic’s par¬ adigm for transaction processing is ORB- based and well suited for applications whose development follows object-ori¬ ented programming standards. The HOP within the C+ + product is a native imple¬ mentation, while the HOP of VisiBroker for Java is written entirely in Java. Both the Java and C+ + versions of Visi¬ Broker use an agent-based architecture, perform automatic configuration (and reconfiguration as the network changes), balance transaction work loads across a network, and offer smart binding. Multi¬ ple instances of VisiBroker “smart agents” keep track of which network server ob¬ jects are running and which are down. These same agents perform load balanc¬ ing by keeping track of transaction activ¬ ity and response times. VisiBroker for Java features a code gen¬ erator that goes from interface definition language (IDL) to Java. VisiBroker is mul¬ tithreaded, and it supports both client- side and server-side Java. The design-time portion of VisiBroker for Java converts object interfaces, rendered in IDL, into skeleton Java code. The run-time portion manages communications between dis¬ tributed applets and other objects. VisiBroker for C+ + offers an IDL-to- C+ + compiler, static and dynamic invo¬ cation interfaces, an object-activation daemon, and object administration and ORB monitoring tools. The IDL compiler is a full CORBA implementation and com¬ plies with CORBA’s C+ + Mapping spec¬ ification. The object-activation daemon conserves server resources by making sure only those objects that are currently in use (or that are frequently needed, a config¬ uration option a developer can select) are running and available. Web Application Server, from Oracle, consists of a Web server, TP monitor func¬ tion, and a set of development tools for Web-based applications. Oracle calls its TP monitor the Web Request Broker (WRB). The Web server, a relabeled ver¬ sion of the Spyglass server and termed the Web Listener, accepts incoming HTTP requests from the browser and passes them directly to the WRB, which exam¬ ines the requests. If an association exists between a request and an entry in the WRB configuration file, WRB forwards the request to the appropriate cartridge —a program built with Oracle’s development tools. For unassociated HTTP messages, the Web Listener behaves as an ordinary Web server. The WRB itself consists of three sepa¬ rate components types: the Dispatcher (WRBD), one or more Execution Engines (WRBXes) associated with each WRB ser¬ vice (such as Java or PiySQL), and a com¬ mon API to interface with each WPBX. The WRBD recognizes the object types specified by incoming URL requests by examining the WRB configuration file and identifying a match between the URL and a list of virtual directories. Each of these directories is associated with a WRB Oracle’s WRB API vs. ISAPI and NSAPI Oracle Web Address space application Address space A server B In Oracle’s Web Request Broker (WRB) API environment, each transac¬ tion’s business logic runs in its own address space and is less likely to crash the Web server (or another transaction’s logic) when bugs crop up. I Netscape or Microsoft Web server ISAPI or NSAPI ISAPI or NSAPI DLL for transaction A DLL for transaction B In the ISAPI and NSAPI environments, DLLs that process transactions exist in the same address space as the Web server, which can be risky if a transaction DLL contains bugs. 8 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 HASP PROTECTS MORE. All over the world, urn* devdopeis are choosing to protect their software against piracy. They’ie protecting i)K)rc products, (hi more platforms, with better protection - and selling more as a result. And more of tliese developers are protecting with HASP Why? Because I MSP offers more security, more reliability mid more features than any oilier product on the market. HASP supixirts the most advanced platforms, including Win NT, Win95, Win32s, Win 3.x, OS/2. DOS, Mac OS, NEC, UNIX mid lANs To learn ..Hire about how you can protect better - mid sell more - call now to order your HASP Developer's Kit. 3B % OSS N-^iSsa?-Mac'()S 1-800-223-4277 www.aks.com pd A/ HASP Packs More Into Less. Based on a full custom ASIC, HASP /kicks the most advanced protection into the smallest hey in the world. ALADDIN The Professional’s Choice North America lnt‘l Office Germany UK France Aladdin KnewledgeSyafems Inc. Td MO 2214277. 212 *4 %7K. Fa, 212 *3 3377 .^,, ha^lote^xmn AtodOto Knowle Oqt Syrt nmt Lid. W . 472 3 4.36 2222. Fax *472 3 337 37*. ima, I hmp*M*ZiLcom It S ^f 0, |r ,War ? S ® CUfl,y Trl ♦■WMM 42 2I-37.N* « 40*1*442 21 -40.Knurl mk^faxt agrfr Aladdin Knowledge Systems UK Ltd. Td ♦ 44 1733*22 M. Fax .44 1753422102. IMi salr.Jddac.dt Aladdin Japan Co. Ltd. Td .Kl 42640-7191. Fax 4204. 7,44. M Aladdin Software Security Benelux B.V. Td *31 2444* *444. Fas .3,24day s PC servers face ever-daunting demands on their resources. Beside traditional roles of file, mail, and print services, such machines must now handle new tasks, such as database queries, on-line transaction processing, and streaming video for multimedia applications. The explosive growth of the Internet and corporate intranets hasn’t helped: Now servers must manage numerous high-speed net¬ work connections and churn out graphics and Java applets for content-rich Web applica¬ tions. A PC server’s architec¬ ture wasn’t designed to deal with the large throughput that these tasks demand. Boosting throughput to han¬ dle these loads has meant adding more hardware to the server, such as more proces¬ sors for symmetric multipro¬ cessing (SMP) and specialized (read: expensive) high-speed peripherals. How far you could improve your corpo¬ rate network’s capacity going this route has been deter¬ mined by the size of your equipment budget. However, a recently intro¬ duced I/O architecture called Intelligent I/O, or I 2 0, changes the situation. I 2 0- compliant servers will be able to administer more tasks despite a limited amount of hardware because the archi¬ tecture off-loads portions of the work onto intelligent I/O subsystems. Dedicated I/O processors (lOPs) on these subsystems take care of the gritty details of interrupt handling, buffering, and data transfers. This improves the server’s I/O throughput and frees the server’s main processors so that they can handle more critical tasks. I2O in a Nutshell An independent standards body known as the 1,0 Special Inter¬ est Group (S1G) manages l 2 0*s architecture and specifications; see the group’s Web site at http://www.i2osig.org/. The standard has widespread support, with the list of members on the steer¬ ing committee reading like a Who’s Who of the computer indus¬ try. System OKMs such as Compaq, NetFrame, and Hewlett- Packard are on it, as are OS vendors such as Microsoft, Novell, and the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO). Networking companies such as Bay Networks, Cabletron Systems, and Eicon Technol¬ ogy are also members. Ver¬ sion 1.5 of the 1,0 specifica¬ tion was approved by SIG members this March. While we have covered l 2 0 before (see “Smarter and Faster I/O for Servers” in the May BYIT), a brief summary won’t hurt. I 2 0 features a hardware-independent ar¬ chitecture centered around a “split driver” model. An I 2 0 driver consists of an OS- specific module (OSM) and a hardware device module (HDM). The OSM manages OS-specific details such as the file system or higher-lev¬ el network protocols, while the HDM understands de¬ vice arcana, such as control register addresses and I/O port addresses, and deals with interrupt handling. Hie OSM typically operates in main memory as an OS process, while the HDM exe¬ cutes on an IOP. A server’s firmware must be modified so that when it scans the PCI buses for devices at boot time, it recognizes I 2 0-compliant devices and uses a different procedure to install their drivers, as shown in the figure “Boot Sequence Using I 2 0” (page 87). The modules communicate by passing messages (typically pointers to data) through a communications layer, which is actu¬ ally a queue. I here is a standard set of message types for block storage devices (hard disks and CD-ROM drives), network inter¬ faces (Ethernet and Fiber Distributed Data Interface, or FDDI), www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 8 5 Managing Data 1 2 O Beats I/O Bottlenecks RAID arrays, and other services. OSMs will be implemented in Windows NT 5.0 as a DLL and as a NetWare loadable module (NLM) in Novell’s IntranetWare. The HDM portion of the l>0 architecture is currently built around Intel’s i960 RP and i960 RD IOPs. These IOPs run Wind River’s IxWorks, a multithreaded real¬ time OS (RTOS). IxWorks implements the object-oriented API described by the DO standard, which simplifies driver design. Because the driver halves converse by passing messages, there is no reason other IOPs could not be used. Furthermore, the common communications interface allows, say, a block-storage OSM to inter¬ operate with the HDM of any vendor’s mass storage device. The Throughput Problem Because of DO’s divide-and-conquer strategy, it promises to wring more per¬ formance out of existing hardware. To understand why, we have to look at two big issues that server architectures must face: availability and scalability. Avail¬ ability is where the server has sufficient resources (memory, disk drives, network interfaces, and processor capacity) to instantly process requests. Given enough users bombarding a server with requests, such resources become scarce, and the I2O Hardware Architecture CPU t $ Physical system memory I/O device A ♦ I/O device B * System PCI bus Primary PCI bus M Local menioryj ^—Primary PCI bus I/O processor -H | PCI device | | PCI device | 3\ | PCI device | Transfers between devices on secondary buses do not create traffic on the primary PCI bus, improving its avaiabftty. IjO’s split driver abstracts^on |sCSI device| the SCSI controller. 1 — - 1 The l 2 0 architecture is flexible, and it's capable of abstracting many layers of I/O controllers from the OS. server’s availability then plummets. more resources to a server, the cumula- Scalability means that when you do add tive effect on its performance should be By Your Peers O ne of the most interesting aspects of l ? 0 is a mechanism called peer-to-peer communications. Championed by Xpoint Technologies, which gave the technology to tho 1,0 Special Interest Group, it lets two or more devices transfer data between them- solves with little or no involvement on the part of tho OS or main processor. This enables a new category of “brilliant handlers" that run on an I/O processor (IOP). For example, a peer- to-peor hardware device module (HDM) might monitor block-storage data traffic to implement disk mirroring. It could also copy recently mod¬ ified files from a hard drive to a backup tape. A peer-to-peer OS-spocific module (OSM) pro¬ vides OS information, such as file system type, to the HDM so that it can sot up the transfers. Additionally, the OSM acts as a traffic cop to monitor file access rights and supervise the transfer. The peer-to-peer specifications did not make it into the l ? 0 1.5 release, but they will be provided as an addendum later. They The peer-to-peer layer allows devices to Communicate will become part of version 2.0, which is due out in March 1996. and move data without involving the main processor. Peer-to-Peer Device Transfers LAN OSM Network operating system (NOS) Peer-to-peer OSM Storage OSM 8 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 1 2 O Beats I/O Bottlenecks Managing Data New boot firmware that recognizes l 2 0 devices is necessary because they re owned by an I0P and use a different setup sequence. linear. This approach works—up to a cer¬ tain point. Adding more resources to the server means that more devices compete for the same system bus. It can become so congested that the additional proces¬ sors and peripherals wind up waiting for a chance on the bus. Now the system bus is the scarce resource, and adding extra hardware does little to improve perfor¬ mance. One solution is to add more bus¬ es to the system—a technique supercom¬ puter designers have used (see “The World's Fastest Computers,” January 1996 BYTE). This remedy works, but the extra hardware and the complex design drive up the system’s price tag. I/O exerts an effect on a design's scala¬ bility in another way. The server's main processor—and thereby its buses—can be tied up for thousands of cycles when per¬ forming a low-level I/O task such as exe¬ cuting a network interrupt handler. Fur¬ thermore, the jumps from the server application to the interrupt handler and back can create cache misses. For 200- MHz or faster processors, the pipeline delays that occur while the cache refills from slower main memory add up to more lost cycles, thus hampering perfor¬ mance. I’O enables the efficient use of the serv¬ er bus because the IOP fields the low-lev¬ el interrupts in local memory provided for it. Furthermore, the HDM uses the bus only when transferring data in bulk to or from main memory. With a less congest¬ ed bus, the server hardware can handle more tasks. The performance improve¬ ments can be dramatic: “Some of our tests have shown an I>0 implementation con¬ fers a 495 percent efficiency gain for Win¬ dows NT throughput,” says David Miller of Xpoint Technologies, a company working on I>0 products. This addition¬ al capacity also contributes to better scalability for the server. “While a con¬ ventional dual-Pentium Pro server can manage only two Fast Ethernet cards, both at 40 Mbps, with an l 2 0-compliant system and our software you can have sev¬ eral Fast Ethernet cards and operate them at full capacity [nearly 100 Mbps],” Miller Circle 146 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 147). Prices cut on SPARCstation" CPU upgrades See new networking standards in motion. World's #1 Networking Forum Step inside NetWorld'+Interop'—the world's largest interactive learning center for mission- critical networking solutions. In only days you can learn how to deploy the most advanced networking, Internet and intranet technologies on the planet. NetWorld+Interop has the expert knowledge and training you need to unleash a new generation of cutting-edge applications. Ones that give your organization the agility, power and flexibility to move forward—faster. Atlanta, Georgia Georgia World Congress Center October 6-10, 1997 For Registution/Information: 1-800-944-4629 Int'l 415-372-7090 www.interop.com SOFTBANKforumS NETWi +INTEROP Tomorrow's Technologies In Action See and test the technologies that will run your enterprise 2 years from now. NetWorld+Interop builds and manages the most diverse, enterprise- class, multivendor network in the world: the InteropNet * Connecting over 600 top vendors to the Internet, the InteropNet lets you evaluate the newest standards in networking, live on the exhibition floor. This is your one chance to see emerging technologies at work, so do not get caught standing still. Pre-register to attend now. « 1997 SOnBAXK !*tr©p il t H * 0 / SOfTBAWC * 0 a h j wnrfc# n**A d> Ho.*- Inc. othtf n tr* p-c*rt> ef ho«dm. HUI7ESPA 1 2 O Beats I/O Bottlenecks Managing Data What to Look for in l 2 0 Servers A t the time of this writing, l 2 0-compliant devices are just starting to appear on the mar¬ ket. To ensure that a potential server can take advantage of l 2 0’s capabilities, look for the following features in its design: • Flash memory for the boot ROM: l 2 0 requires a revised boot sequence to detect l 2 0*com- pliant devices and install the drivers. If the server’s current firmware doesn't support l 2 0, its flash memory lets you add this ability through an inexpensive software download. Even for an l 2 0-sawy server, you’ll want this feature so that you’ll be able to add l 2 0 capabilities coming later, such as Fibre Channel, ATM, and clustering, which will require a change in the boot process. • ISA buses need not apply: 1,0 leverages off the capabilities of the PCI bus for device instal¬ lation and performance. There's no support for the older bus architecture. adds. I 2 0 also specifies a unique mode of operation, termed peer-to-peer, where devices can communicate directly with one another with little intervention from the server OS. (See 44 By Your Peers’* on page 86 for more details.) As an enabling technology, l 2 0’s capa¬ bilities can be used to provide a host of services, both new and old, with little impact on the server’s throughput. Cer¬ tain of these services would be imple¬ mented either as intermediate service modules (ISMs) or through peer-to-peer services. For network operations, l 2 Ocan off-load repetitive chores that make heavy use of interrupts onto smart network interface cards (NICs). Ac a minimum, the NIC’s IOP would execute an ISM that implements the algorithms used to encrypt or decrypt secure data streams, sparing the server’s host processors from this computational overhead. However, given a fast IOP, it’s possible to go a lot fur¬ ther in relieving the server of network operations. For example, another ISM would handle the handshake used in a firewall’s verification process, and any associated IP security. Other ISMs could manage HTTP lookups and process FTP transfers. Finally, in concert with peer-to- peer transfers with a hard drive, the IOP could facilitate Web page caching. Thus, through I 2 0 ISMs and peer-to-peer ser¬ vices, most of the I/O-intensive operations of both a Web server and a proxy server could be combined on the same NIC. Peer- to-peer operations could be used to improve network reliability by imple¬ menting load balancing on multiport NICs. If a IAN segment fails on a network, an ISM on the NIC could detect this, exam¬ ine the incoming network packets, and reroute them to a port that’s connected to the backup IAN segment. For disk storage, an IOP could execute www.byte.com an ISM that implements RAID functions. The ISM would then operate I 2 0-com- pliant hard drives as parts of a RAID array. While such a design lacks the speed of a dedicated RAID controller board, it allows low-cost servers to reap the benefits of RAID’s storage integrity. Other ISMs could perform on-the-fly data compression/ decompression between the OS and the hard drive. Devil in the Details The I 2 0 specification is broad, so a wide range of system designs is possible, each addressing a different market (see “Types of l 2 0 Designs,” page 91). Supermicro’s Super P6DNH and Microconics Comput¬ ers’ M6DPd incorporate an i960 IOP on the main logic board for a low-cost I 2 0 implementation. The on-board IOP per¬ forms most of the interrupt handling for “dumb” peripherals, and so improves throughput. The trade-off is that while the design is cost-effective, it’s not very scalable. Another issue with this design is how much intelligence for I/O handling should be moved to the IOP. Says Gary Abbott, server technology strategist at Dell Computer: “Compared to the clock speeds of IOPs, chip designers are rapid¬ ly boosting the speed of the main proces¬ sors. In six months, the increase in speed of the main processor could negate any advantage to executing code on an IOP.” Other system designers agree. “Compaq focuses on investment protection for our server customers; therefore, the fixed per¬ formance of an IOP on a motherboard has long-term problems,” comments Karl Walker, director of technology develop¬ ment for server products at Compaq. Al¬ though Compaq won’t comment on future products, the IOP could he placed on a removable daughtercard, which would extend the system’s lifetime for the Circle 148 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 149). The SunOSVSolaris® Solution National Software Testing Laboratories A Division of The McGr aw-Hill Companies 625 Ridge Pike. Building 0 Conshohocken, PA 19428 Tel (610) 941-9600 Fax (610) 941-9952 email info(S>nstl.com World Wide Web http://www.nstl.com \ Dhisum ofIly.Mrtimu' UilH 'oinfyDiws "NSTL can test our [multimedia] programs on very short notice and with quick turnaround. And they've uncovered problems that we didn't catch after our own inhouse testing. Their understanding of multimedia technology and the end-user market have helped us deliver stronger bug-free programs." Ikirhl Illinium, Manager of Ill'llitolosr\ • anilIbi'i'lofHiH'iil N///y*>/Y. Mayy>/y7"i • ( hailin'/ \hMnmUa If you develop software or hardware, yoilre sure to need the kinds of solutions that NSTL testing can give you. Solutions that will help you lower technical support costs, avoid unex|X‘cted incompatibilities, and achieve the highest levels of performance. So. if you want to improve your marketing, enhance your product design, sharpen your competitive edge, and make sure your products live* up to your advertising claims...get tested with NSTL. lie s/peeialize in testing: ^ Network and internet products * Telecommunications hardware and software * (11 ieiit -server applications ^ Multimedia products Well work with you to design a cost-effective testing program to give you the answers you need. Contact us early in your product development cycle to learn how NS 'll . can help you get tile hugs out . Now It's Your Turn... build customer confidence. Sharpen your competitive edge. I .el customers know that your products have passed rigorous, inde|HMident tests that verify their compatibility, functionality, and performance. Call NSIL's headquarters at (610) ( Ml-9(>()0 to request a brochure or proposal detailing the sco[)e, pricing, and scheduling of confidential product testing services. NSTL Circle 137 on Inquiry Card. Circle 150 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 151). 1 2 0 Beats I/O Bottlenecks Managing Data Types of l 2 0 Designs Single IOP on main logic board lOPs on peripheral cards Pros: Pros: • Low cost • Concurrent processing possible • Improved availability because I/O • Good scalability-more peripherals interrupts handled by I/O processor add more lOPs (IOP) • PCI bridge chip can filter traffic to Cons: minimize bus congestion • Little to no concurrent Cons: processing • Raises price of peripheral boards • Limited scalability • Overkill in a small server customer. Still, the lone IOP can be of great value processing lightweight, high¬ ly repetitive operations that involve lots of interrupts. This reduces the effects of heavy I/O traffic on the server, and thus improves its availability. Another server design has each periph¬ eral board supplying its own built-in IOP. This enables concurrent I/O opera¬ tions to occur in the server, thus boost¬ ing its availability and scalability. If a busy peripheral happens to be on a secondary PCI bus, the PCI bridge chip can filter out its bus traffic, thus keeping the primary PCI bus clear so that it can manage other high-speed peripherals. The IOP adds about S50 to the cost of the peripheral card, but that’s less than the cost of adding another main processor to the system (about $500). For certain peripherals, such as Gigabit Ethernet devices, the inclusion of an IOP is virtually assured, since a ded¬ icated processor is required to manage the interface’s high throughput. From the OS vendor’s point of view, adding support for CO isn’t difficult. Says 1 WHERE TO FIND Compaq Computer 206-882-8080 Houston, TX http://www.microsoft 800-652-6672 .com http://www.compaq.coni NctFramc Dell Computer Milpitas, CA Round Rock, TX 800-737-8377 800-388-8542 http://www.nctframc http://www.dcll.com .com Hewlett-Packard Novell Palo Alto, CA Provo, UT 800-475-6697 888-321-4272 http://www.hp.com http://www.novcll.com Intel Santa Clara, CA Xpoint Technologies Boca Raton, FL 800-628-8686 561-241-8447 http://www.intcl.com http://www Microsoft Redmond, WA 800-426-9400 .xpoint-tcch.com www.byte.com Michael Rex of Novell, “Because of In- tranetWare’s modular design, we don’t have to modify the OS. We are providing CO OSMs that will run on our existing OS product.” To IntranetWare, OSMs are simply NLMs. Specifically, software engi¬ neers revised existing disk and LAN dri¬ vers so that they convert standard requests into I2O messages. The messages arc then passed to a specific Hl)M, which speaks to the hardware. Support NLMs for han¬ dling PCI operations and the I»0 device- registry were also added. The peripheral vendor provides the HDM, typically in firmware on the PCI expansion card. Nov¬ ell is working closely with peripheral ven¬ dors to ensure a good fit between OSMs and HDMs. The company is a key sup¬ porter of the hOSIG. The Changing State of Servers BO improves a PC server’s availability and scalability by shifting most of the I/O inter¬ rupt handling onto a less costly IOP, which makes it attractive to both IS managers and system vendors. Equally attractive is the fact that this performance win can be done with only minor revisions to the server OS and no modifications to exist¬ ing applications. Since the 1.5 spec was approved early this year, there are just a few LO-compli- ant peripherals available at this time. But this situation should change as high-speed network cards using Gigabit Ethernet become more common, and server OEMs modify their boot firmware to recognize I»0 devices. Peer-to-peer implementa¬ tions won’t arrive until late next year, but when they do, they have the potential to radically change how servers get their work done. 0 Torn VxmtpsoH isaBYJli senior editor. You cun reach hint at tom thompson@bix.com. Capacity 'tnui 9.1 x 9 x 40 x 2 PiJSiss AJJ is\z 'J'sriS 7 For departmental to enterprise storage needs, .£»f>ixArray offers these top-of-the-class features: Factor in the capacity of -£vfnxAiray ’ and you’ll find it the most compact disk array available. In only 7" (4u EIA), you can pack in 82GB of disk capacity using nine Ultra-Wide SCSI 9.1GB drives and still have room for two hot-swappable failover controllers. And when you evaluate the alternatives with our multi-hosted con¬ trollers, you’ll see why you won’t sacrifice performance in your quest for capacity. Here's a situation where cramming works for you. This densely packaged, extremely powerful RAID configuration is ideal for desk¬ top or rackmount environments where space is at a premium. For example, by utilizing ten ZvptxArray chassis in a standard 70" EIA cabinet, you can configure over 780GB of fault-tolerant RAID Several cabinets can be combined for multi-ter¬ abyte requirements. No other RAID subsystem provides as much storage per cubic foot - at any price. Performance - Our RAID controller surpasses the competition with I/Os of up to 4600 per second. Ultra-Wide, end-to-end SCSi achieves transfer rates of 40MB/S burst and 33MB/S sustained. Hot-Swappable Controllers - Hot-swap removable controllers allow for high availability and redundancy of your RAID system. Scalability Grow your configuration from 27GB to several ter¬ abytes of RAID while retaining your investment in existing AjuxArray system components. JBOD/Tape Inline - Backup your RAID system inline with DLT or hot-swap 8mm tape devices all within the same XvptxArray chassis. ZvptxArray subsystems are compatible with Sun, HP, SGI, IBM, Macintosh and PCs. Custom configurations and -48VDC telco mod¬ els are also available. So, if you are looking for a new and better way to solve your RAID storage problems, study up on Artecon’s New RAID Math. Check out our website or give us a call to see how it all adds up! /> Artecon >rab Capturing The World In Storage A Member ttf the Nnnttc (Intup of Com/tanirx 6305 El Caniino Real, Carlsbad, CA 92009 Phone* 760-931-6500, FAX 760-931-6627 email: raidniath3&»artecon.com Nihon Artecon 81-03-6468-8260 Artecon B.V. 31-53-483-2208 Artecon France 88-1-6918-1850 a Artecon U K. 01344-636390 Artecon mid (hi< ArUtvn logo are rr|(iiiU>ml trademarks of Artecon, Inc. l.ynxArray in a trademark of Artecon, Inc. All oilier trademarks are |>ropnotnry to their respective manufacturers. 1-800-U SA-ARTE www.artecon.com/raid Circle 192 on Inquiry Card. ILLUSTRATION: EARL RIPUNOC 1997 BYTE Special Report EXTENDING THE ENTERPRISE Air War Digital cellular is the future. But which digital-cellular technology is the one for your company ? By Marty Jerome hocan blame today’s mobile workers for feeling like marionettes—every transaction, every movement in the field acquiescent to a physical line? The increase I in efficiency and productivity provided by the cellu¬ lar phone and pager only hints at the bonanza a true wireless world will offer. However, getting to that heady future has proven to be perilously slow going. The providers of today’scel- lular networks can subdivide cells into yet smaller bits, adding antennas and phone lines linking them. However, the strain is starting to show. The tradi¬ tional analog cellular fre¬ quency division multiple access (FDMA) methods of sharing radio spectrum— assigning specific frequen¬ cies to each cellular-phone user—cannot keep up with the demand. The only way to get a ten¬ fold or 15-fold increase in capacity is with digital-cellu¬ lar networks. Virtually every cellular carrier plans to con¬ vert its networks to digital technology within the com¬ ing decade. But to which standard? Three digital tech¬ nologies currently vie for your company’s dollars. The one you choose will affect the scope, reliability, and costs of your cellular appli¬ cations for years to come. All three digital technolo¬ gies are heirs to the Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) technology that’s used today. CDPD technology can transmit data at speeds of up to 10 Kbps, sent in the unused channels of existing analog networks. Despite this, CDPD is a greatly underused interim solution. Its three suc¬ cessors will add better network quality, clearer voice transmis¬ sions, higher capacity, faster throughput, and lower power consumption. Which cellular technology will succeed CDPD? Looking at the three contenders, time division multiple access (TDMA) is a well- www.byte.com entrenched and mature technology with excellent capacity. Sec¬ ond, code division multiple access (CDMA) offers even larger capacity and superior voice quality, even if some of its promised capabilities are still untested. CDMA is also the dominant stan¬ dard in the new Personal Communications Services (PCS) fre¬ quencies (see the text box “PCS Goes National” on page 96). Finally, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) enjoys outstanding international coverage, especially in Europe. CDPD: Today's Solution Standardized in 1993 as a bridge to true digital wireless communications, CDPD uses the existing cellular infra¬ structure as traditional ana¬ log advanced mobile phone service (AMPS) in the 800- to 900-MHz range of the spec¬ trum. Because CDPD mo¬ dems transmit during idle times—when voice calls are not being made—their im¬ pact on cellular voice traffic is negligible, which has given CDPD broad appeal to ser¬ vice providers. That said, data traffic is at the mercy of voice traffic. CDPD offers other advan¬ tages. For example, it uses TCP/IP, which makes any CDPD modem a true IP node, unlike earlier modems, which required a persistent connection, just like a land- line-based phone call. With CDPD’s so-called wireless IP, modems can receive data anytime they are powered on and within network range, with minimal setup time and connect charges. CDPD’s greatest appeal lies in coverage, which includes 40 of the 50 largest Metropoli¬ tan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the IJ.S. Each MSA represents a region by the population it represents, not its geographical size, so coverage of only top MSAs can still leave gaps in sparsely pop¬ ulated areas. CDPD also covers international sites: four in Canada, four in Ecuador, one in Indonesia, and two in Mexico. continued AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 9 3 Special Report Air War Wireless Digital Coverage in the U.S. GSM CDMA TDMA Major Carriers APC BellSouth Omnipoint Western Wireless Major Carriers AirTouch Communications Ameritech Cox Communications GTE NextWave Sprint PCS 360° Communications US West Major Carriers AT&T Wireless BellSouth SBC Communications TDMA dominates current coverage of the newer wireless technologies, although CDMA licenses dominated the most recent round of FCC spectrum auctions. Source: AT&T Wireless Services CDPD operates not only over AMPS, but also over other technologies, which lets users share frequencies, including CDMA and TDMA. There’s a broad range of development tools for CDPD, such as Unwired Planet’s UP.Link Internet access software or its Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) 2.0 specification, released in May, for developing applications. Cellu¬ lar phone/modems cost under $500. For businesses that need digital wireless com¬ munications now, CDPD is available. It works, and declining costs make it a feasi¬ ble technology. As a packet-based service effectively limited to 10 Kbps, CDPD is best suited to transferring small files, rather than brows¬ ing the Web, using workgroup applica¬ tions, or remotely accessing a worksta¬ tion. Because of this limitation, in 1996 the CDPD Forum industry association developed a circuit-switched specification for CDPD, called CS-CDPD. Now avail¬ able, CS-CDPD modems function as wired modems—they can set up dedicated calls. Recent cellular-network enhancements are pushing CS-CDPD throughput to a level comparable to landline connections, though actual performance varies accord¬ ing to carrier, geographic location, and time of day. Currently, Ameritech, GTK Mobilnet, Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, and AT&T Wireless Services have CDPD networks that let customers link in 60 U.S. markets. There are a variety of CDPD modems, from PC Card devices to analog phones with digital modems to hand-held com¬ puters. Transmission costs have come down to 8 to 20 cents per kilobyte, on average; most carriers vary prices accord¬ ing to volume. TDMA: Tried and True The best advantages of digital-cellular technology are manifested in TDMA: at least three—and in one case 15—times the capacity of analog networks, voice encryption, caller ID, and text messaging. TDMA systems are being designed to operate with 14.4-Kbps data transmission, simultaneous with voice. To these features, the latest version of the TDMA standard, IS-136, adds extended battery life (by allowing user devices to “sleep” between transmissions), over-the- air activation, and, according to its pro¬ ponents, better voice reproduction than its competitors. TDMA offers Short Message Service (SMS). With SMS, you can switch off the phone, yet messages still arrive, waiting on the network, presented to the sub¬ scriber on the phone’s display the next time the phone is switched on. TDMA even allows advanced voice-mail systems to send users SMS pages. The information could be the weather, traffic information, taxi information, or other useful local information. In addition, TDMA’s alphanumeric paging is two-way, with the help of a keyboard or stylus on a personal com¬ municator or the alphanumeric keypad on a wireless phone such as the forth¬ coming Nokia 9000. Subscribers can send messages of up to 160 characters. TDMA offers enormous advances over analog cellular communications to both cus¬ tomers and carriers. TDMA supports seam¬ less roaming between the AMPS and PCS spectra. It will work across carriers, and users might be notified about a change in billing with a message on their phone’s status display. The IS-136 standard also uses a digital data path called a digital control chan¬ nel, which allows, among other capabili¬ ties, the phone to operate in sleep mode. Because T DMA phones are digitally syn¬ chronized with the wireless network, phones sleep for all but the 6 milliseconds of every second cycle and awaken when the user receives a call. This extends bat¬ tery-charge life by as much as 100 percent over analog cellular phones. For carriers, the IS-136 standard pro¬ vides for a wide range of service offer¬ ings—even for a single subscriber. The phone alerts the wireless network of the subscriber’* location. When subscribers are within their office area, the wireless network may give them PBX functions (e.g., extension dialing and conference calls). When subscribers leave these 9 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com Nokia ana the Arrow logo are registered trademark of Noxia Corporation. Pocket Phone. NOKIA 9000 When closed it looks like a portable phone. But open it and it’s also a portable fax. And a diary and a memo pad And e-mail and the internet. All in your pocket. The Nokia 9000 Communicator makes keeping in touch a lot simpler when you are out of the office - because it is an office in your pocket..The Nokia 9000 Communicator The fax at your fingertips - and the office in your pocket. NOKIA f Connecting People Circle 447 on Inquiry Card www.nokia.com Special Report Air War PCS Coes National W hen the FCC divvied up the 1850* to 2200-MHz part of the radio spectrum into 10- MHz bands, many industry pundits saw the foreshadowings of a revolution in low- cost cellular communications. This narrowband part of the radio rainbow was dubbed Personal Communications Ser¬ vices (PCS). Various cellular carriers began snapping up the six bands for consumer use, lettered A-F, beginning in 1994. When will enterprises be able to enjoy national PCS cov¬ erage? All major licensees are vying for cross-carrier agreements. Some analysts believe that by early 1998, at least two carriers will offer free roaming across the U.S. Freed from the legacy of analog technology, PCS promises high-capacity digital com¬ munications. Voice pagers that can deliver up to 20 seconds of clear audio are already available in some areas. PrimeCo’s new phones (available in parts of the midwest and south¬ east) show customers their account balances and provide caller ID. Some PCS handsets provide links to e-mail and encryption. They feature lower power requirements (that can extend standby time on some phones for up to 60 hours). A new technology called Sub¬ scriber Identity Module (SIM), which is much like a smartcard, allows you to plug your SIM into any GSM handset and then make calls billed to your account. areas—or after a certain time of day— their phones may lose these advanced fea¬ tures and function as any analog cellular phone. Billing could automatically switch over as well. The phones can even display location identification on their screens, detailing the current billing rate. Hughes Network Systems enhanced TDMA with its own version, which is called Extended TDMA (I I DMA). This version more than quadrupled the capac¬ ity of the original specification. E-TDMA networks may be able to carry 15 times more mobile traffic than today’s analog carriers. Hughes accomplishes this through dig¬ ital speech interpolation, in which the transmitter is turned off during pauses and while the user is listening—as much as 60 percent of the total channel time. This idle capacity can be reassigned to other users. Incidentally, E-TDMA net¬ works are backward-compatible with the existing TDMA infrastructure, so the upgrading shouldn’t interfere with cur¬ rent service. The technology behind TDMA has been around since 1967 and is well tested and well understood. It enjoys the staunch backing of LM Ericsson, which is the man¬ ufacturer of 40 percent of all cellular equipment sold worldwide and 50 per¬ cent of all cellular equipment that’s used in the U.S. TDMA technology is currently em¬ broiled in a small controversy that could become a regulatory petard. Apparently, time-division-multiplexing devices can cause interference with a wide range of electronic devices, from hearing aids to camcorders, laptop PCs, automobile air bags, and pacemakers. GSM devices seem to be even worse offenders. But this is not so with CDMA phones and modems. At press time, a spokeswoman for the FCC had no comment about this, though she confirmed that the matter was under investigation. A lesser problem has been with audio quality. Early tests over TDMA networks proved to be disappointing. Even analog phones rendered better voice reproduc¬ tion. TDMA supporters say that these problems have been largely eliminated, thanks to the IS-136 standard. CDMA’s proponents, Qualcomm in particular, insist that their technology is far superi¬ or in terms of audio reproduction. How¬ ever, until there’s national coverage with millions of subscribers using CDMA net¬ works, the claims are unsubstantiated. The more important hurdle is whether TDMA networks will be able to provide adequate coverage fast enough to over¬ come CDMA’s onslaught. Currently, AT&T Wireless is the leading carrier. By the end of the year, the company expects to provide a coverage area that includes almost 80 percent of the U.S.’s populated areas, with 41 of the 49 largest cities. CDMA: The Technology to Beat It would seem that TDMA would have the market wrapped up were it not for CDMA, which is purportedly twice as effi¬ cient and promises to deliver even better voice quality. CDMA has been gathering slow but important momentum in the past two years, as evinced in part by last year’s PCS auction. Of the 2958 PCS licenses that were awarded in the U.S. last year, 51 percent chose CDMA (with 28 percent going to GSM and 20 percent going to TDMA, according to Edge, the research publica¬ tion of AT&T). This larger number of licensees means that both consumers and enterprises will be able to choose from a greater selection of carriers. This, in turn, should provide the kind of price competition that will make the technol¬ ogy imminently appealing. Even so, CDMA is a new technology. Many of its capabilities are untested. Oth¬ ers were exaggerated in its early going, which has tended to make carriers suspi¬ cious of it. Dataquest predicts that the number of CDMA users will grow to 60 million by 2000. Some $6 billion has been poured into the technology’s infrastructure over the past two years. At least six vendors have committed to manufacturing hand¬ sets and modems for the standard. CDMA will putatively deliver all the benefits of TDMA—higher capacity, extended bat¬ tery-charge life, SMS, over-the-air acti¬ vation, 14.4-Kbps data transmission, and improved audio reproduction—and then some. Like TDMA, CDMA features seamless roaming not only between carriers, but also between PCS and traditional cellu¬ lar systems. However, supporters say that its network capacity could be 10 to 20 times higher than an analog cellular network’s. Supporters claim that it deliv¬ ers a clearer signal than TDMA, that it entails lower infrastructure costs, and that users would experience fewer dropped calls. Has CDMA lived up to its billing? Crit¬ ics, including Bill Frezza, president of Wireless Computing Associates, a Yards- ley, Pennsylvania-based consulting firm, have warned that the theoretical poten¬ tial of the technology would never bear out in the field. Interference would limit its purported capacity, networks under heavy loads could become unstable, and infrastructure costs would be far higher than initially projected. In practical terms, the technology has stumbled. Construction snafus and law¬ suits between several key players have delayed deployment of CDMA networks well beyond early forecasts. Early field tests of CDMA failed to sustain its claims of superior audio quality and network 9 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 capacity. Meanwhile, field tests of TDMA’s network capacity now approach a ratio of 7 to 1 over analog technology. Blame the CDMA’s youth and inexpe¬ rience for these blunders and oversights. Introduced with exuberant claims by Qualcomm in 1989, the technology caught the fancy of engineers and carriers because it allowed multiple users to share the same channel. The costs that both enterprises and consumers will pay for digital-cellular service obviously depend on coverage and competition among the carriers. CDMA now has the advantage on the lat¬ ter, thanks to the broad appeal of its higher capacity and better voice quality. Several disappointing cases may slow its implementation. AirTouch Communications, one of the first cellular carriers to commit to CDMA, began plans for upgrading its congested analog system in Los Angeles in 1989. Construction was delayed until 1994, with the planned commercial launch scheduled for 1995. Implementation was plagued by interference from analog service, power¬ balancing problems, and poor voice qual¬ ity. By late 1996, AirTouch had 250 cell sites on-line. Worse, CDMA network capacity ulti¬ mately may reach only six to seven times that of an analog network—which is roughly the equivalent of today’s TDMA networks. CDMA’s vocoder, the technol¬ ogy that turns analog speech into digital signals, must be set at 8 Kbps to achieve this capacity. That rate is decidedly infe¬ rior to the 13-Kbps standard CDMA has adopted. AirTouch’s experiences haven’t been enough to frighten carriers away from CDMA, though a string of internal skir- Getting More Out of Thin Air Frequency Division Multiple Access FDMA carves up radio frequencies into thinner slices. This allows many simultaneous transmissions, but eventually too many users gobble up the relatively small number of frequencies available. Air War mishes have slowed the technology’s march. Nokia, Lucent Technologies, Sony (outside the U.S.), Oki America, Motorola (due out in the U.S. by the time you read this), and Samsung all currently offer or plan to introduce CDMA handsets and modems within the year. However, Qualcomm and Oki are embroiled in a lawsuit (with Kricsson, which does not make CDMA handsets) over patent-infringement claims, the out¬ come of which could ultimately bear on devices made by other manufacturers. In a highly publicized reversal. Motorola has dropped its plans to supply base stations for Sprint because of financial terms. Qualcomm and Motorola also filed patent-infringement suits against each other. Even so, all but one major manufac¬ turer have made commitments to making CDMA devices (many also make user devices for TDMA). A joint venture be¬ tween Qualcomm and Sony alone could deliver as many as 3 million handsets a year. The company even boosted name recognition recently by paying $ 18 mil¬ lion to rename the home of the San Diego Padres and San Diego Chargers Qual¬ comm Stadium. CDMA also enjoys an enormous advan¬ tage in the Block C PCS spectrum (see the figure “PCS Block Party” on page 99), thanks largely to NextWave Telecom, which was the largest bidder in last year’s auction. NextWave plans to build a na¬ tionwide “carrier’s carrier” network and maintains that it has already sold 10 billion minutes of use to MCI Communi¬ cations. The company is committed to CDMA. Lucent Technologies, which claims to be the largest CDMA vendor, has begun \ s Time Division Multiple Access TDMA can push a single frequency a bit further by slicing it up into microsegments of time. It means users receive data or voice a split second earlier or later than other users. The frequency conserved by this triples the number of possible users. Special Report an aggressive vendor-financing package, whereby it effectively underwrites the cost of building the network. While impressive, this kind of industry backing doesn’t ensure that CDMA will become the dominant technology. Cov¬ erage will. According to the CDMA Devel¬ opment Group, CDMA carriers cover 100 percent of the U. S. Japan recently com¬ mitted to the standard. Hong Kong and Seoul, South Korea, also provide cover¬ age. Outside the U.S., TDMA still enjoys better coverage. And GSM is unbeatable. But within the continental U.S., CDMA is clearly the market leader for digital-cel¬ lular communications. GSM: Is Europe’s Standard Coming to America? As pricing goes, enterprises and con¬ sumers alike stand everything to gain from the PCS spectrum, which will put enormous competitive pressure on cel¬ lular carriers. GSM, which uses TDMA technology in the 900-MHz spectrum, enjoys a larger market share worldwide than either TDMA or CDMA—some 70 countries and still growing. With the auc¬ tion of the PCS F-block last year, the stan¬ dard, now encompassing PCS-1900, is now poised to offer 80 percent coverage of the U.S. as well. What’s more, it can provide that cov¬ erage far faster than its leading com¬ petitor, CDMA. GSM technology already owns a large share of the world’s wire¬ less user devices, second only to pagers. Carriers arc attracted to the technol¬ ogy in part because vocoder standards and voice-compression algorithms have been perfected since the mid-1980s. Transferring GSM to the North Ameri¬ can 1.9-GHz spectrum promises to be Code Division Multiple Access CDMA pushes each frequency even further by digitally coding each transmission. In an instant, each recepient's phone or modem perceives only the data or voice encoded for them, ignoring the rest as background noise. www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 9 7 Special Report Air War both quick and relatively inexpensive. GSM carriers who paid exorbitant sums for their PCS bandwidth can expect a shorter time to a positive cash flow than CDMA carriers. Ericsson, Mitsubishi, and Nokia al¬ ready provide GSM handsets. Various manufacturers supply PC Card modems. The technology can already deliver to users the same benefits you’d get from CDMA and TDMA technologies, includ¬ ing better voice quality, higher network capacity, SMS, data and voice encryption, international roaming, and billing flexi¬ bility. It can also simultaneously process voice and 9600-Kbps data. It is not sur¬ prising that Pacific Bell, BellSouth, Amer¬ ican Personal Communications, (Jo Communications, and Microcell 1-2-1 (Canada) have chosen the technology over < DMA. Pacific Bell, which has inaugurated service in California and Nevada, has be¬ come a showcase for the technology’s potential. When subscribers press the send button on their Pacific Bell hand¬ sets, they’re automatically connected to a customer-care representative. Sub¬ scribers can program the network to have specific calls follow them. They can store both voice mail and pages in a uni¬ versal wireless mailbox. SMS service includes multiple languages. Pacific Bell and Ericsson (which manufactures the handset) have agreed to develop an interim solution that would block the interference that people with hearing aids currently encounter. Eventually, a triple-mode, triple-fre¬ quency, triple-codec handset using GSM technology could bring about a world phone, which would be compatible with GSM networks at 900 MHz and the DCS- 1800 networks at 1.8 GHz used outside the U.S., as well as the PCS-1900 network used in North America. In effect, it would be a world communicator, which could be car¬ ried and used anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, GSM continues to enjoy double-digit growth everywhere outside the U.S. and Japan. Some estimates give it 50 percent of the world mobile-phone market by the year 2000. Thus, it should take hold in the American PCS market How the Wireless Technologies Compare Technology TDMA TDMA supports a hierarchical cell structure, which lets you add capacity using microcells in an existing service area, such as a campus or building. The center hex of a TDMA cell is assigned one frequency; the surrounding cells are assigned six others. TDMA also uses direct- sequence transmissions, where each call is assigned a designated radio channel in a cell. TDMA squeezes more out of each channel by placing up to three signals into that channel, giving each signal a fixed, rotating amount of time on that channel. Pro Con Easier to scale within a Adding infrastructure geographic area; seam- (transmitters and the less roaming between phone links linking them) PCS and AMPS; in use is expensive; CDMA’s since 1967. technological superiority in network capacity, voice quality, and costs is rapidly eroding its market share; emits radio interference with some devices. CDMA CDMA modems and phones, which rely on spread-spectrum technology, simultaneously communicate with the current base station as well as a secondary or approaching station before making a soft handoff. The other advantage of using spread-spectrum technology: By shifting a signal from one frequency to another over a wide bandwidth, calls can shift from one narrowband frequency to another to avoid static conditions. In CDMA, the device stays on the same frequency from cell to cell. In theory, it means fewer dropped bits. Critics point out that cell strength must be carefully tuned at each boundary to avoid interference. Wide industry backing; easier to scale as geographic area grows; devices don't need to use as much power to transmit or receive; nature of wideband avoids problems with static; easier to add cells. Largely untested; early snafus and legal battles have delayed its deploy¬ ment; transceivers require more circuitry to support spread- spectrum technology. GSM GSM usos TDMA in the 890- to 960-MHz frequencies as well as in the PCS-1900 spectrum. Eventually, a triple-mode, triple¬ frequency, triple-codec handset using GSM technology could bring about a world phone, which would also bo compatible with DCS-1800 networks at 1.8 GHz used outside the U.S. as well as the PCS network used in North America. The reigning standard in Limited backing from Europe; provides 80 carriers in the U.S.; percent coverage in the limited network U.S. in the PCS expansion when band with an easy compared with CDMA; migration path for emits interference with vendors who choose it; some devices, an exceptionally wide variety of handsets are available, though less so for modems. Carriers AT&T Wireless Services, BellSouth Cellular, GTE Mobilnet, Northern Telecom, PCSI, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems. AirTouch Communi¬ cations, Ameritech Cellular Services, Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, Clearnet, DDI, GTE Mobilnet, LG Telecom, MCI, Next Wave Telecom, PrimeCo Personal Communications, SK Telecom, Sprint PCS, 360° Communications Aerial Communications, American Personal Communications (Sprint Spectrum L.P.), BellSouth Cellular, Omnipoint Commu¬ nications, Pacific Bell Mobile Services, Pocket Communications, Powertel, Western Wireless (VoiceStream) 9 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Air War PCS Block Party 1920 Unlicensed PCS Stock C (mobile) 1990 Block C (base) Block F (mobile) 1975 1970 1965 Block F (base) Block E (mobile) Block E (base) Block B (mobile) Block B (base) 1950 Block D (mobile) Block D(base) Block A (mobile) Block A (base) 1850 1930 MHl MHz Unlicensed PCS The FCC divided the newly available PCS spectrum from 1850 MHz to 1990 MHz into six licensed blocks and one unlicensed block, each of which has separate frequencies for base stations and mobile devices. FCC auctions of this spectrum have raised billions for the U.S. government. long before its biggest competitor, CDMA, is able to get a footing, and even before TDM A networks are up and running. Over the long haul, it is the single best solution for worldwide roaming. On the other hand, GSM can’t match CDMA’s purported network capacity. Many analysts are skeptical about GSM North America’s claim of 98 percent cov¬ erage in the U.S. This has prevented more than a few carriers from signing on to the technology. CDMA still has the edge in North America. For most enterprises— even those with manifold international offices—universal coverage in the 48 con¬ tiguous states is of paramount importance in building wireless applications. For most U.S. organizations, the rest of the world can wait. Your Best Choice Can I DMA, CDMA, and GSM coexist? For the foreseeable future, there’s no question they will. Sooner or later, however, one will predominate, ushering CDPD and analog cellular communications out of the picture altogether. But betting on one technology over the other today is a pre¬ carious gamble. This is especially true for enterprises making broad-based and long-term investments in developing wireless applications. For all practical pur¬ poses, the troika of digital standards will continue to battle each other well into the next century. Besides, venturing into a true digital world may be premature. CDPD has much to offer companies that need to create wireless applications today. It doesn’t require a large cash, time, or technology investment in standards that could be swept away in the next five years. The choice between TDMA and CDMA is more difficult. TDMA enjoys broad coverage throughout the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, in Europe and Asia. It is a AirTouch Communications San Francisco, CA 41 5-658-2000 http://www.airtouch.com Amcritech Cellular Services Hoffman Estates. IL (847) 765-5700 http://www.amcritcch .com/products/wirclcss AT&T Wireless Services Kirkland, WA 206-827-4500 http://www.attws.com Bell Atlantic Nyncx Mobile Bcdminstcr. NJ 800-255-2355 908-306-7000 http://www.banm.com WHERE BellSouth Cellular Corp. Atlanta, GA 404-249-5000 http://www.com/bscc CDMA Development Group (industry association) Costa Mesa, CA 714-545-9400 http://www.cdg.org CDPD Forum (indus¬ try association) Chicago, IL 800-335-2373 312-644-6610 http://www.cdpd.org GTE Mobilnet Wireless Data Services Atlanta, GA 800-483-6625 770-804-3467 TO FIND http://www.datalifc.gtcm .com Hughes Network Systems Germantown, MD 301-428-5500 http://www.hns.com Lucent Technologies Global Wireless Products Group Murray Hill, NJ 800-232-5179 317-322-6848 http://www.luccnt.com Next Wave Telecom San Diego. CA 619-453-2828 http://www.ncxtwavctcl .com Pacific Bell Mobile Services Pleasanton, CA 800-574-7000 510-227-3000 http://www.pacbcll .mobilc.com Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems DallasJX 800-331-0500 972-774-0000 http://www.swbcll.com Sprint PCS Ft. Worth. TX 800-480-4727 817-215-3000 http://www.sprintpcs.com 360- Communications Co. Chicago, IL 888-225-5360 773-399-2500 http://www.360c.com Special Report well-known technology in terms of its capabilities and limitations and, more important, in terms of costs. Some incre¬ mental improvements—especially the advent of Hughes’ E-TDMA—make it highly competitive with CDMA, even if both carriers and user-device makers are marching en masse toward the latter. (Don’t be fooled: Both contingents are ready to jump ship if the other standard prevails.) CDMA has real technological advan¬ tages—especially in terms of future ex¬ pansion of networks. This explains why so many carriers are infatuated with the technology. The more, the merrier, since the resulting competition will push sub¬ scriber costs downward. However, the technology has gotten off to a slow start. Its much-trumpeted potential hasn’t yet borne out in early implementation. Indus¬ try infighting continues to plague it. The digital wireless war is CDMA’s to lose. It’s ten) bad the technology has thus far been its own worst enemy. GSM is the wild card in this contest. Widely used in F^urope and other parts of the world (including many places where it is cheaper than copper wiring to set up and use), it should be your first choice for wireless applications on an international scale—at least for today. Even in the U.S., it has an aggressive pres¬ ence in the PCS spectrum. Also, it’s based on the same time division technology as TDMA, which means that its capabilities and limitations are well known. Cover¬ age in North America is good, if not com¬ plete. Bur can GSM entice enough carri¬ ers to its standard so that pricing would be pushed to competitive levels with CDMA? Can it build adequate capacity so that your enterprise can depend on it? All these unknowns reinforce the fact that digital wireless technology, though no longer inchoate, still has a long way to go. There’s far more certainty about the kinds of services and applications that you can expect than there was five years ago. There are also a world of ways you can harness the technology today. But reach¬ ing the point where you have a single reli¬ able standard served by multiple carriers is still several years away. Getting there is going to be very slow indeed. □ Marty Jerome is a columnist for PC/Comput¬ ing and the Boston Globe. He is the coauthor of three fxxtks on computing. 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Makers ofProfessional PC Diagnostic Toots I KM* East Broadway, Suite 301, Glendale, California, ISA 91205 Toll Free: 8(M)/864-8(H)8 • Phone: 818/547-0125 • Fax: 818 / 547-0397 Web Site: http://www .micro2000.com International Orders please call: Micro 2(HM) Australia.61-42-574-144 Micro 2000 UK.44-1462-483-483 Micro 2gic Probe —works with Post-Probe and enables testing down to individual chip level. Durable Zip-up Leatherette Carrying Case —all your tools in one organized easy to carry toolkit. Post-Probe Diagnostic Card— when Post-Probe detects an error, a 2 digit BIOS code will display on the card telling you exactly what’s wrong with your PC. 100% com¬ patible with all ISA, PISA, Compaq and MicroChannel PCs. Micro-Channel Adapter Card— (behind Post-Probe card) allows Post- Probe to be used with Micro Channel equipped computers. Extensive Post-Probe Manual—exhaustively complete, containing BIOS error codes for most PCs on tlie market, l ook up the 2-digit error code in this manual and instantly diagnose your PC s problem. Also contains common chip diagrams, descriptions and complete troubleshooting tips. Si:kvh:kNkws CHOOSES CENTRAL DATA When U.S. Robotics needed serial ports to test their new x2 Modems, they chose Central Data. Our new 230K-baud scsiTerminal Server was the only solution they found that could handle the sustained throughput of their 56K technology. It pays to be well- connected. Just ash your modems. ' High-speed modems are only as good as the ports they're connected to. And no one connects modems like Central Data. Our popular scsiTerminal Servers attach superfast serial ports (up to 230K baud) to the SCSI bus—without using any card slots inside your workstation or server. And our EtherLite Port Servers connect real local ports via Ethernet. They’re much easier to install and administer than conventional network terminal servers. And for lower-cost solutions, check out our new PCI Serial Cards. Central Data serial ports are compatible with Windows NT RAS, SCO UNIX, and UNIX systems from Sun, HP, IBM, DEC, and Silicon Graphics. Don't trust your modem connections to anyone else. Call 1-800-482-0397 today for a FREE evaluation. Or view our website at www.cd.com 1602 Newton Drive • Champaign. IL 61821-1098 • (217) 359-8010 • (800) 482-0397 • FAX (217) 359 6904 • info@cd.com • www.cd.com Copyright 01997 Central DotnCotp AingMiwitviKJ IfvMii* w i fygnMKi and «cut(nwuf Sww «I ttddmvaiK o( OiMa (kxpotaton IWIX « a tr.Mfcm.irk tiSwUS und otfv# countries. f jurKjmwtV *»nxiylh X/Own Company. Llcl W/v.vww, NT r. A fognta'Ml u.Klen-.v* o» M>ci040f! Corporation U S Rooofccs tha U.S Robotics logo, and *2 ara registered trademarks or tt AOrwrufcVs ot U S Robotics A t otto* Lx and or product names are or may be tradrmarfcs of IN* respective owners Circle 158 on Inquiry Card. j ILLUSTRATION: EAftl RlPUNG C 1997 BYTE Special Report A Kinder, EXTENDING THE ENTERPRISE Smaller Windows Porting front Win32 to Windows CE can be a simple matter— if you know what to watch for. By Jint Geier icrosoft’s third attempt at coming out with an OS de¬ signed specifically for hand-held PCs seems to finally have taken hold. The company’s Windows CE lever¬ ages the company s colossal presence in the desktop computing market with an OS and applications that are already greatly familiar to millions of computer users. Can CE give the slow and stumbling hand-held PC market the kind of kick start that will finally lure legions of businesspeople into its fold? Resistance has come from many fronts. Most hand-held PCs are relative¬ ly expensive given the low volume of information they manage; for many people, a far less expensive, paper- bound calendar works just as well. And until handwrit¬ ing-recognition algorithms are sufficiently advanced, data entry via a stylus offers few advantages over pencil and paper; tiny QWERTY keyboards don’t allow for fast touch-typing. Finally, proprietary OSes throw up a host of compatibility prob¬ lems, steep learning curves, and a dearth of familiar ap¬ plications already used on the desktop. Windows CE devices promise to make the greatest headway against this latter obstacle. Porting Windows applications to CE is remark¬ ably easy. And anyone currently developing applications for Win¬ dows 95 can develop CE applications with little advanced train¬ ing. With growing support from wireless-device manufacturers, the OS finally stands to give hand-held computers a nascent, but important, role in a wide array of large enterprises. If you re a Windows developer, you’d better start considering how to port your applications to Windows CE today. Many ex- www.byte.com isting desktop applications that are scaled down to run on CE offer many benefits to business users. The OS at a Clarice Windows CE is a small but powerful 52-bit, multitasking, multi¬ threaded OS that is a subset of the popular Win32 model (see the figure ‘The Windows CE Architecture” on page 104). On the development side, CE supports approximately 500 of the 1500 Win32-based APIs. This offers developers a relatively familiar, easy-to- Icarn environment for build¬ ing mobile applications. On the other hand, it means you can’t run 16-bit Windows or MS-DOS applications on the CE platform. Windows CE consumes small amounts of RAM, con¬ nects easily to the Internet and desktop PCs, and sup¬ ports a wide array of hard¬ ware. It makes use of ROM for running applications, thus minimizing the use of RAM. In addition, CE allows users to seamlessly extend their computing activities to locations away from the desk. Consequently, it’s an I excellent OS not only for hand-held computers but also for Global Positioning System (GPS)-based map¬ ping systems, digital infor¬ mation pagers, cellular smart phones—and even future household appliances. But don’t expect to go buy a copy of Windows CE off the shelf. It’s available only to OEMs, hardware manufacturers, and soft¬ ware developers. Current versions exist for the Hitachi SH3, NEC4100-MIPS, and Philips 3900-MIPS processors. Currently, hand-held PCs built from a reference platform writ¬ ten by Microsoft are the only commercial devices that support AUGUST 1997 BYTE 1 0 3 Special Report A Kinder, Smaller Windows My Handheld PC % Recycle Bin Inbox Microsoft Microsoft Pocket Excel Pocket Word Calendar m^cE Contacts Tasks {Start 11:11 PM Windows CE's desktop is minimal (especially in gray scale), but it contains all the essentials. The Windows CE Architecture Applications Remote API (RAPI) Object store (Fie system and databases) Strokes T Communications Kernel Core OSes Graphic Windowing and Event Subsystem (GWES) Oe vice drivers Hardware abstraction layer Hardware Windows CE's modular, layered design enables easy applieation porting and makes it simple to strip the OS down to its bones. the Windows CE OS. Microsoft’s con¬ certed effort to simultaneously establish both hardware and software specifica¬ tions for the OS was intended in part to head off the disasters that befell the com¬ pany *s previous attempts at hand-held OSes. First there was WinPad, which ran on x86 CPUs with a stripped-down ver¬ sion of Windows 3.1. Input to this ma¬ chine was limited to handwriting recog¬ nition via a stylus—it had no keyboard. Next, Microsoft attempted to develop Pulsar, which turned out to be a glorified pager. Pulsar offered wireless connectiv¬ ity, hut it had a very small screen and just a few buttons for input. As Microsoft scrapped these projects, it invested in market research that uncov¬ ered the following information: Potential customers need to organize, communi¬ cate, and access information while they’re away from their desks, and all or most of them have PCs running Windows. As a result, the Windows CE Handheld PC was conceived; it was announced at the fall 1996 Comdex show in Las Vegas. Microsoft strove for several key goals with the Handheld PC: long battery life, an affordable price (about $500), com¬ pactness and light weight, a familiar in¬ terface, easy PC connection, and effective keyboard input. The company signed up seven hardware partners to develop hand¬ held PCs based on the core specifications of its reference platform, allowing each to build on features and capabilities as they saw fit. These hardware partners included Casio (http://www.casio.com), Compaq (http://www.compaq.com), ! lewlett-Packard (http://www.hp.com), Hitachi (http://www.hitachi.com), LG Electronics, NEC (http://www.nec.com), and Philips Electronics (http://www .philips.com). Although all Windows CE devices dif¬ fer in price and certain capabilities, they also share many features, which are list¬ ed below. ■ An embedded QWERTY keyboard with alphanumeric keys, including standard punctuation, a Control key, an Alt key, and two Shift keys. Other vendor-spe¬ cific keys are optional. Japanese and Chinese versions will not have key¬ boards hut will instead rely on hand¬ writing recognition alone for data input. ■ An embedded touchscreen with reso¬ lutions of 480 by 240 or 640 by 240 pix¬ els, four gray scales, and 2-bit pixel depth (see the screen above). ■ A stylus that acts like a mouse when it’s tapped on the touchscreen. ■ A docking cradle to recharge the ma¬ chine’s batteries and connect it to a desk¬ top PC for file transfer/synchronization. ■ One PC Card slot, one serial connector, and one infrared port (IrDA). ■ A minimum of 2 MB of RAM and 4 MB of ROM. Windows CE has no standard memory map or interrupt structure, which is typi¬ cal of PCs. Developers interface Windows CE to their respective hardware platforms by writing interrupt service routines. Therefore, Windows CE will not run on a desktop PC or on a standard laptop. Most Likely to Succeed Given these specifications, most applica¬ tions that you’d want to take with you away from your desk can he ported to the Windows CE environment, minus some functionality. The current version, 1.01, does not support the following: ■ OLE ■ ActiveX ■ COM 1 0 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 A Kinder, Smaller Windows Special Report FormLogic's administration console enables the controlled distribution of Windows CE software. Windows CE 2.0 The current version of CE, 1.01, should be replaced with version 2.0 by the time you read this (it’s currently in a beta- test phase). Users will be able to up¬ grade to the new version by swapping out ROM chips. Release 2.0 will contain several welcome enhancements: ■ support for 486 processors from Intel and AMD ■ support for the 82X series of the PowerPC chip from Motorola ■ support for up to 24-bit color ■ printing support ■ LAN connectivity via NDIS and SMB ■ Widely available support for ActiveX, Java, Visual Basic run-time, and Micro¬ soft Foundation Classes ■ MAPI ■ ODBC ■ DDE ■ multimedia (except WAV files) ■ color video Windows CE offers great relief to users who travel. Imagine you’re in your office preparing to leave on a three-day business trip. It’s four in the afternoon, you’re tired, and your flight leaves at 5:30 p.m. You’ve spent all day ironing out your travel agen¬ da. Now you’re frantically working at your desktop PC, copying files onto a disk, reading and sending last-minute e-mail, and jotting down contact numbers and www.byte.com appointments from your electronic cal¬ endar so you’ll have them during the trip. After gathering all this information, you throw the disk into your briefcase, grab your laptop, and then hurriedly head for the airport. Sound familiar? More than 30 million other mobile professionals in the U.S. share this type of last-minute scurry, often forgetting to take along important tele¬ phone numbers, schedule information, and files. The answer to this problem is to use a hand-held PC running Windows CE and associated applications. This will make your life much easier in these situ¬ ations by allowing you to smoothly move from working at your PC to continuing your work while you’re away from the of¬ fice and your desk. Standard Windows 95 word processors and spreadsheets are particularly prime for porting. In fact, Microsoft bundles companion versions of Word, Excel, and Schedule + with CE. Given that Word and Excel currently dominate more than 80 percent of the market, few enterprises will see any reason to develop stand-alone ver¬ sions of basic productivity applications for the OS. All hand-held PCs equipped with Win¬ dows CE include a full-featured suite of personal information management (PIM) software, complete with a calendar, an address book, and tasks that seamlessly and automatically integrate with Micro¬ soft Schedule-F 7.0a on the desktop PC. After you connect the hand-held PC to the desktop, the two automatically initi¬ ate synchronization. The user can then en¬ able synchronization, set the window of opportunity for synchronization to recog¬ nize, and choose which appointments and tasks to synchronize. Of course, Windows CEalso lends itself well to mobile communications appli¬ cations, such as e-mail, faxing, and Web browsing. For example, it includes an e- mail application called Inbox, which uses standard SMTP and POP3 protocols. In¬ box works as a companion to Microsoft Exchange, and e-mail files are easily trans¬ ferred back and forth between hand-held and desktop PCs. Most vendors, including Motorola and AT&T, have adapted their radio modems to work with Windows CE using ARDIS, RAM Mobile Data, or CDPI) wireless WAN services. In addition, companies such as RadioMail Cooperation (http://www .radiomail.net) offer wireless Internet- access applications for the CE platform. RadioMail for Windows CE extends In¬ ternet applications over wireless net¬ works and includes two-way wireless e- niail and wireless workgroup messaging for communications among members of a mobile staff. These services also include basic Web access, faxing, paging, stock quotes, and news. The RadioMail service costs approximately $20 per month. In addition to the common productiv¬ ity and communications applications, there is already a wide array of vertical ap¬ plications for CE devices. Physix (http:// www.physix.com), for example, offers PocketChart for Windows CE, an elec¬ tronic medical-record and clinical-in- formation system that runs on a hand¬ held PC. PocketChart offers a full set of features, such as patient lists, chart notes, a lab browser, on-line billing codes, auto¬ mated prescription writing, and dosage checking. TeleType (http://www.tcletype.com) provides a GPS for Windows CE. A GPS receiver incorporated into PC Card form factor provides latitude and longitude information from a satellite to applica¬ tions running on the hand-held PC. This keeps the hand-held PC informed of its exact geographical location, providing the basis for some interesting applica¬ tions. TeleType’s application has a mov¬ ing map on the hand-held PC screen that corresponds to your location. Roving Software (http://www.roving .com) offers the Roving Reporter for Win¬ dows CE, an application and correspond- AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 0 5 Special Report ing service that allow you to create a per¬ sonalized newspaper that automatically receives news, weather, sports, financial data, and any Internet- or LAN-based cor¬ porate data. You just turn on your hand¬ held PC and read current stories. Many enterprises have begun develop¬ ing applications for the OS on their own. CE is particularly well suited to data-col- lection systems. For example, a hand-held PC interfaced with a bar code scanner, radio network, and applicable Windows CE-based applications software can im¬ prove the accuracy and efficiency of iden- tifying and tracking items in manufactur¬ ing plants, hospitals, stores, and so on. A bar code can identify an inventory item with a number, much like a license plate on a car. After scanning the bar code using a scanner appliance, the identifica¬ tion number maps to the status of the item stored in a database and then reports cor¬ responding information back to the user via the Windows CE interface. At this time, the user can change the status of the item by entering applicable data, which up¬ dates the database. Think Small For developers and end users alike, Win¬ dows CE is very similar to the Windows 95 and NT Workstation 4.0 environments. The important differences between devel¬ oping for these larger OSes and develop¬ ing for CE revolve around hand-held PCs* small form factor, low memory, and tiny displays. The Windows CE shell and user inter¬ face, as shown in the figure “The Win¬ dows CE Architecture,** provide a look and feel similar to that of Windows 95 and NT Workstation. The shell includes the desktop, the taskbar, and a recycle bin. Windows CE differs from these OSes in its limitations in the windowing subsystem. CE doesn’t support multiple overlapped windows, and you can’t resize windows. Microsoft decided not to include these features because users would he unlikely to have multiple windows open within such a small screen size. Nearly all standard and common con¬ trols exist; however, they have limited fea¬ tures. For example, property sheets are supported, but wizards are not available because they take up too much memory space. Also, CE supports only two com¬ mon dialog boxes: File Open and File Save As. Other dialog boxes, such as the color and print boxes, don’t make sense A Kinder, Smaller Windows Unplugging Windows CE A wireless network en¬ ables users to continue to access data stored on a host or a server from their Windows CE device in mo¬ bile situations. The problem, though, is that wireless net¬ works offer limited band¬ width, which significantly degrades the operation of host and server interface protocols, such as 3270, 5250, VT100, and ODBC. Middleware providers have an answer to this prob¬ lem. CIM Concepts (http:// www.cim-rf.com), for exam¬ ple, will release in Septem¬ ber a Windows CE version of its Data Integrator prod¬ uct, offering a highly efficient interface among CE clients, hosts, and servers. Data Integrator consists of a Java client running on the CE OS that communi¬ cates over the wireless net¬ work to gateway software. The Java client interfaces with the gateway using Cl M’s packet-based proto¬ col, which is streamlined for RF networks. The gateway, located on the wired net¬ work, then communicates di¬ rectly to multiple hosts and servers using their specific native protocols. To develop applications, you use Cl M’s visual devel¬ opment tools, which are lo¬ cated on the gateway. After making modifications to an application, the gateway updates the Java client(s). This approach offers devel¬ opers the ability to scrape and shape applicable por¬ tions of a 5250 screen from an AS/400, for example, to fit within the tiny screen of a hand-held PC, or to inter¬ face directly to an ODBC- compliant database. on a hand-held PC because the display is in black and white. In addition, Windows CE does not directly support printing. It has a new control, called the Command- Bar, which combines a window’s cap¬ tion bar, menu bar, and toolbar into a single entity. The Windows CE memory architecture consists <>f both RAM and ROM. ROM contains the system kernel and a set of ap¬ plications, including Explorer, Calcula¬ tor, and Control Panel applets. In a 2-MB system (a typical configura¬ tion), RAM consists of two I -M B sections. Section I of RAM is the object store, which functions like a single hard drive. The user saves new applications and data files in the object store. Section 2 of RAM, which Microsoft refers to as the system storage aredy is for storing process heaps, thread stacks, application code, virtual memory allocation, and so forth. The system always compresses files in RAM, generally at a 2:1 compression ratio. When a user runs an application, Win¬ dows CE decompresses the program and places it in system storage. Files in RAM take precedence over files in ROM. If there are two programs with the same file¬ name, one in ROM and the other in RAM, the OS will run only the program that’s located in RAM. In other words, you’ll want to make sure that your filenames are unique—take advantage of CE’s support for long filenames. The base-level configuration of the OS requires about 150 KB of ROM and 400 KB of RAM to run, with the full H/PC OS tak¬ ing up about 2 MB. To optimize perfor¬ mance, users and developers can divide the usage of the object store and system storage via the “memory tab” in the con¬ trol panel’s system applet. This allows you to adjust memory availability based on the applications that are running on the hand-held PC. Because of the portable intentions of Windows CE, it has very good power- management and user-notification fea¬ tures. The OS constantly monitors the sys¬ tem, looking for ways to conserve power. For example, the OS suspends the pro¬ cessor when all threads are waiting for events, which is the case most of the time. To support PIM-type applications, Win¬ dows CE consists of special commands that allow developers to alert users with dialog boxes. For example, the command PegGet_UserNotificationPrefer- ence displays a dialog box for users to respond to a notification. CE also sup¬ ports the ability to run applications on triggers, such as when the machine boots or a power supply is connected. In addition to the support it offers for Windows PC Card and Socket Services, Windows CE includes the following con¬ nectivity features: ■ TCP/IP and PPP, which allow easy in¬ tegration with server software. ■ A subset of the TAPI, Unimodem, and RAS APIs for dial-up connections. ■ An HT ML version of Microsoft Internet Explorer—however, the small screen on 1 0 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 A Kinder, Smaller Windows E ile Edit View Tools Help | Scale: 5miles/ inch * Waltham B |Oomerv . Wa "town Camb,id9e Cily/Town Name The TeleType GPS Highway Navigator includes all U.S. interstate highways. a hand-held PC makes it difficult to see where you’re surfing. ■ The file filter converts color bit-map and icon files to2-bit-per-pixel bit maps dur¬ ing the copying process. Choose Your Tools A variety of tools are already available for developing CE applications—from Mi¬ crosoft and other vendors. Development for CE is somewhat different from Win¬ dows 95 and NT development because of CE’s limited APIs and functionality. The best results come from developing and simulating an application’s behavior on a desktop PC. Once the application has been thoroughly tested and refined, the port to a hand-held PC should be a rela¬ tively quick and painless matter. When adapting an existing desktop application to run on Windows CE, most likely it must be scaled down in terms of features and functionality to fit within the constraints of Windows CE. Visual C++ developers can turn to Mi¬ crosoft’s newly released Visual C++ for Windows CE. Priced at Si99, it’s an add¬ on component to Visual C++ 5.0. It uses the same Cl 1 compiler technology used in Visual C++ 5.0 for the desktop; it also includes new cross-compilers for CPUs that Windows CE currently supports. For developers who must tie Windows CE to new hardware platforms, Microsoft offers the OEM Adaptation Kit. OAK pro¬ vides the CE code for adapting the OS to particular hardware platforms. Microsoft has also carefully selected a number of system integrators who can assist OEMs www.byte.com in adapting Windows CE to their partic¬ ular hardware platform. OAK requires you to get an OEM license from Micro¬ soft; it’s not a generally available tool. Microsoft’s Windows CE Desktop Emulation SDK is currently available free for downloading from http://www .rnicrosoft.com/windowsce/developer/. Using your desktop development tools, you can create Windows CE applications that run in emulation on your PC; Visual C++ for Windows CE’s cross-compilers and remote tools are required for target¬ ing Windows CE devices. Many third-party companies have tools that add features to Windows CE. Metro- WHERE TO FIND CIM Concepts Plantation, FL 954-472-7009 http://www.cim-rf.com Compaq Houston, TX 800-345-1518 713-514-0484 http://www.compaq .com Hewlett-Packard Palo Alto. CA 408-553-2916 http://www.hp.com Hitachi Tarrytown, NY 914-332-5800 http://www.hitadii.com Microsoft Redmond, WA 206-882-8080 http://www.microsoft NEC Mountain View, CA 800-456-9372 415-528-5306 http://www.ncc.com Philips New York, NY 408-523-2874 http://www.philips.com Physix Houston. TX 800-749-2585 713-797-1199 http://www.physix.com RadioMail San Mateo, CA 800-597-6245 415-286-7839 http://www.radiomail .net Wright Strategics La Jolla, CA 619-551-6808 http://www .wrightstrat.com werks (http://www.metrowerks.com), for example, will offer later this year devel¬ opment tools for CE via its Code Warrior products for embedded and consumer- electronics software development. Code- Warrior’s cross-platform compilers sup¬ port C, C++, Pascal, and Java and allow programmers to build applications for a • number of target platforms from a single development environment. In addition, Syware (http://www .syware.com) offers Dr. DeeBee, an ODBC driver for Windows CE. Dr. DeeBee al¬ lows Windows CE-based hand-held com¬ puters to act as data servers to desktop applications. 1 his provides connectivity to desktop-based applications, such as Microsoft Access, Excel, and Visual Basic. 1 he ODBC 2.1-compliant driver is Win¬ dows 3.X based on the desktop PC, there¬ by consuming none of the hand-held’s memory space. By utilizing the Dr. Dee¬ Bee ODBC driver, desktop software de¬ velopers can communicate with Windows CE without writing code to a new API. Another useful product is Wright Strategies’ (http://www.wrightstrat.com) FormLogic. This package is a develop¬ ment environment that replaces field- based paper processes with hand-held computers; eases the development, de¬ ployment, and management of hand-held applications for occasionally connected mobile workers; and enables the connec¬ tion of hand-held computers to network data sources and existing systems (see the screen on page 105). The future for Windows CE appears bright because of its efficient standards- based development environment. If you are a Windows programmer, you’d better get proficient in writing CE applications. More than 1000 developers have already enrolled in the Windows CE Technical Beta Program, and more than 90 software and hardware companies have already announced products for the hand-held PC. If you’re a user, then start looking— many Windows CE applications for the hand-held PC are on the way. □ Jim Geier is director of network ami software systems at Monarch Marking Systems (Miamis- hurg, OH), a developer of identification and tracking solutions. He is the author of Wire¬ less Networking Handbook (New Rider Pub¬ lishing, 1996) and Network Reengineering (McCtraw-Hill, 1996). You can reach him at jim geier@ccmail.mmsday.com nr 71165.2045 @compuserve.com. AUGUST 1 99 7 BYTE 1 0 7 U1BLI SYSTEMS Germany and International: WIBU-SYSTEMS AG Roeppucrer Straue S4 D-74137 KarHruhe ■W. M9*721 *93 172-0 FAX *49-721 -93 172-22 BBS 449*721 *9)172*23 CIS 100142.1474 email infoQwrtbu.de httpy/Www wibu da North and South Amarica: Griffin Technology*. LLC -r r uuninritc 1417 St Andrew* Dr. Lawrence. KS 44047 TECHNOLOGIES (l00) W4. 6S 78 ♦ (785)8)2*2070 FAX (78S) 832*8787 CIS 71141J424 emad utoQgrdtochcom wwwgrAachcom Argentina. Grupo Contufcor S-A. T«i *54-1-3744711 Fax *54-1-37281 IS rioQwocnxanx Belgium. Lux.: COMRUSEC Tel ♦ 32-2-4450944 Fa* ♦32 2-4444244 ^fofrcoo^Kiiec be Brasil: CASATK Tot ♦55*47-444-0659 F« ♦55-47.444-0859 cautk©n«tv4l« com br Croatia: ARIES D. 0 . 0 . Tel ♦385-1-222752 Fax ♦38S-I-2324S3S Estonia! LanSoft Ltd. Tel ♦ 372-2-215201 Fax ♦372-2-2I528) UnsoltCinlbnet.ee France: NEOL S A Tet ♦33-3-88623752 Fax *33*3*88333772 NEOL©convu*e«ve com Japan: SUNCARLA Corp. Tel ♦81*3 )2493421 Fax «8l )-32493444 CIS 100214.422 Netherlands: COMPUSEC Tel ♦31-53 5740223 Fa* ♦31-5 ) 5724822 mbCconpu^bc SpakVportugal: DUBIT Tel ♦351*1-7971008 Fax ♦3SM-797I0I3 wwwdubept We are happy to serve you: Circle 190 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 191 WIBU-KEY. Providing the highest quality software protection. Since 1989. This is no ordinary copy protection system! WIBU-KEY is not your average, run-of-the-mill copy protection system. It does more to help you earn more. WIBU-KEY provides an entire software management system in one convenient little carrying case. With fea¬ tures like data and code encryption, network licensing, software metering, expiration dating, and secure remote programming, it’s easy to see why WIBU-KEY is the extraordinary alternative to copy protection. WIBU-KEY. There is a difference. _ QQ * The F ' rst and ° n,y lso 9001 rr~Wi Certified Copy Protection System. | D] yf • Built-in Network Support. TO La • Win 3.1 /95/NT, MacOS, OS/2, DOS, t J | Cross-Platform API. • Protect Multiple Applications or Modules With One Key. • Automatic Detection of Hardware Across Ports at Runtime. Remote Access made ae easy asjpuying computer supplies... sv>cei4 ast n avt/U*0 e T-ovvev- * At ZyXEL we believe that buying remote access products should be as j practical and simple as shopping for computer supplies. That's why we've created the Prestige 100 & 128 Routers - the most affordable ISDN routers on the market today. Whether you're looking for simple Internet access, or need an advanced remote networking platform for telecommuting, the Prestige Series is the best, complete solution for you. y Multiple-user Internet Access (SUA) S Auto IP and Gateway Assignment (DHCP) y Microsoft 0 and Novell® Compatible (IP/IPX*) y ISP Compatibility (PPP/MP, POD, STAC®) y Priced from $599 (WOW) So check out your supply cabinet and make sure you’re stocked up on all the necessities. Got floppy disks? Got mouse pads? Got coffee? Got a router? Just like you can't start your day without a good cup of coffee in the office or out, you shouldn't attempt remote access without a ZyXEL Prestige ISDN Router on your desk. Ifjdemjrtis are tie proper Its of tmr respective owners Puces and specifications are safepcl to change without noice 1 - 800 - 255-4101 www.zyxel.com 4920 E. La Palma Avenue. Anaheim CA 92807 ZyXEL Accessing Internet & Intranet 1 0 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Circle 193 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 194). IRAPH: KEUJE WALSH C 1997 B- 1 ^ M J K V I Jon Udell VflSl tf7TT33 Persistent lava row/; scheduling tends to gen¬ erate fairly small amounts of complex object data. With nothing more than a servlet engine , the JDK /./, and a hit of ingenu- dy* you can create useful applications in this domain very quickly. —from the June M Java Servlets” column Boy, was I right about that! As I pre¬ dicted, a modest effort—about three days’ worth of work and 500 lines of Java code—yielded the simple Web-based group calendar that BYTE staffers had been clamoring for. We’re serious about Web-based col¬ laboration lately. In March, BYTE’s head¬ quarters relocated from Peterborough, New Hampshire, to Lexington, Massa¬ chusetts. We retain satellite offices in Pe¬ terborough, San Mateo, and Frankfurt— and, of course, staffers are as likely to log in from their homes, or from hotel rooms, as they are from any of these official loca¬ tions. The Web is fast becoming the glue that holds our company together. Two applications in particular help us collaborate: private news servers that we use for free-form document exchange and discussion, and now the Java-based calendar that enables us to share struc¬ tured, time-based information. I’ll say more about how we use news servers in another column. This time I’ll focus on some lessons about Java persistent stor¬ age that I learned while building and us¬ ing the BYTE calendar. About the BYTE Calendar This simple Web application (see “Byte- Cal, the BYTE Calendar, in Action” at right) aims to do nothing more than provide an electronic bulletin board, in the form of a calendar, that’s universal¬ ly available to BYTE staffers worldwide. continued www.byte.com A servlet-based group calendar becomes a surprising success and prompts an exploration of ways to bind java programs to persistent storage. ByteCal, the BYTE Calendar, in Action The calendar presents three screens to users: Main, View, and Edit. The Main screen presents a list of weeks, a set of checkbox/name pairs, a limit field (which defaults |Mon May 19 1997 J BYTEstdlTca P Ai Gallant P Ed DcJesus 1™ Charles Dixon P Jenny Dondan P < .'hrystie Terry r Jim Perry P Dave Andrews P John Montgomery 1“ Dave Essex P Jon Udell P Dave Rowell P Jov-Lvn Blake P Dennis Barker P Loida Hicons P Donna Sweeney P Mark Schlack 1 weeks starting with selected week wow| n to 4), and buttons labeled View and Reset. Here are the things you can do from this screen: Edit a user’s calendar -click a hyperlinked name for the current week View all calendars for four weeks from current week -click View View selected calendars for eight weeks from current week -check boxes next to a set of names, change limit to 8, and click View Change the current week -adjust the date listbox |MonJ«,021997 J Jon Udell Mon Jun 02 1097 tue wed thu fh sat sun |7AH flight to Newark. IBS meeting 10AH. [Afternoon: PC Expo. mon Tue Jun 03 1997 wed thufojrt sw 110AH, demo Web site to sales staff. |noon: PC Expo Jon Udell Memorial City Mon Aai 02 Comdex Tim Mar 27 2PM. Dynamic HTML, conference call 5 JO PM. Peterboro Speech to HK Software Council The Jun 03 mdJkmOi Comdex Comdex On the Edit screen, you can: Input data-either plain text or _ HTM L-for one or more days -enter data; click Submit Jump from day today -use clickable tabbed index Change the current week -adjust the date listbox On the View screen, you can: Review calendars for selected user(s) -view the Web page Print calendars for selected user(s) -print the Web page Jump directly to the Edit screen for any visible user/date combination -click the hyperlinked date AUGUST 1997 BYTE 1 0 9 Web Project Like the Polls servlet that I described in the June column, ByteCal just manages a simple namespace. In fact, the two serv¬ lets share the same data structure—a hash- table of hashtables. In ByteCaPs case, the keys of the top-level hashtable are a set of user names, and the values are secondary hashtables. The keys of each secondary hashtable—one per user—are date strings, such as “Mon May 19 1997”; the values are user-supplied strings, such as “Dentist ap¬ pointment 8 AM.” One user name, _Global, is special: All other user names inherit from it. For ex¬ ample, the Edit screen for user “Jon Udell” and week “Mon May 26 1997” contains no data for Monday, but the View screen for me (or any other user) reports that Monday is Memorial Day. Why? There's an entry for Memorial Day on the glob¬ al calendar. This inheritance helps keep ByteCaPs data structure lean and sparse. Data grows slowly for other reasons, too. Secondary hashtables spring into exis- Persistent Java fence only when first referenced. They add new entries only for days that record activ¬ ities. And an entry does not consume many more bytes than the combined lengths of “Mon May 19 1997” and “Dentist ap¬ pointment 8 AM.” So what? Well, consider that, after a month of use, the disk file to which Byte¬ Cal serializes the calendars of two dozen staffers is still under 40 KB—the size of an average Web page. Not everyone on staff uses ByteCal yet, so let’s assume a doubling or quadrupling of users and en¬ tries in the coming months. Still, a year’s worth of calendar data uses up just a mega¬ byte or two. Where’s a good place to manage a mega¬ byte or two of data? How about in RAM? In fact, that’s just where ByteCal keeps the data. Updates flush to disk for safekeep¬ ing and so that ByteCal can restore state when the server restarts. But when you fetch eight weeks’ worth of calendar data for viewing, it comes straight from mem¬ ory. I can’t think of a better use for the 2 of the 64 MB of RAM in the server that runs ByteCal. When you’re dialing into the Internet from a notebook PC over a crummy hotel phone line, you don’t need any unnecessary delays. Synchronization ♦ Serialization = Persistence As I explained in the June column, you can use a Java servlet to solve a difficult prob¬ lem—safe multithreaded use of complex data—in a simple way. Just add the “syn¬ chronized” keyword to the methods that touch in-memory objects. The Java virtu¬ al machine (VM) ensures orderly thread- at-a-time access to those objects. If servers never had to restart, synchro¬ nization alone would solve the entire problem for data sets small enough to fit conveniently in memory. In the real world, of course, power occasionally fails and servers sometimes crash, so ByteCal se¬ rializes its data to disk. This technique, new with JDK 1.1, primarily serves the needs of Java’s Remote Method Invoca¬ tion (RMI) facility. RMI needs to flatten Java objects into bit streams in order to pass them over networks. But you can also easily redirect these bit streams to disk files, which become a primitive but sur¬ prisingly handy form of persistent storage. As does the Polls servlet, ByteCal takes the path of least resistance. On every up¬ date it calls the Wr i teObject method of the root hashtable, thus serializing the cal¬ endars of all users at once. With a database that’s still tiny, there’s currently no reason not to do it this way. Clearly, as the data¬ base grows, so will the time required to complete this write operation. I can think of three ways to combat this problem: 1) Serialize in a background thread. Us¬ ers now wait for the write to complete, but they don’t really need to. 2) Serialize on a scheduled basis and supplement with a transaction log. 3) Subdivide the data. Currently there’s just a single disk file, called by tec a 1. obj, containing the whole set of calendars. But an update actually involves only one user’s calendar. Saving the per-user hashtables in per-user files would yield a much more granular process of serialization. All three approaches would make the application more complex. I prefer the last one because it’s a minimal solution that re¬ writes only what needs rewriting. How¬ ever, I don’t think I’ll ever implement any of these schemes. Why not? Object data- Surprising Uses for Servlets S ervlets, like all Web applications, have dual personalities. They’re applica¬ tions that people use interactively, but they’re also components that pro¬ grams can use. This duality, plus the protean power of U RLs, makes ByteCal useful in ways that I didn’t even anticipate: 1) Personalization ByteCal’s main screen lists all the users in the system. But users can skip that screen and jump straight to their own calendars. How? ByteCal’s “API" includes this idiom for viewing data: http://byte.com/bytecal?who-Jon+Udell&view-yes&limit-8 which says: “Show Jon’s calendar for the next eight weeks." The function “Show Tom’s calendar for the next six weeks" is just a variant of this expression. If Tom puts that expression into a bookmark, he’s created a personal calendar. 2) Importing data “Great stuff," said BYTE editor John Montgomery when he first saw ByteCal. “But can I import my Ecco database into it?” My first response was: No way. My second was: Why not? ByteCal’s “API" includes this idiom for editing data: http://byte.com/bytecal?who-Jon+Udel1&edit-yes&Mon+May+19-Dent1st+appt which says: “Record a dentist appointment for Jon on May 19." When you use ByteCal interactively, its Web forms construct this syntax for you. But you can also issue these URLs under program control, from any URL-aware language (Perl, Python, Java), using ByteCal as a component. 3) Printing Anyone who’s ever written a Windows or Mac data-viewing application knows that printing support gets done last, and often poorly. It wasn’t until I saw pages of ByteCal output floating around the office that it dawned on me: ByteCal can print! Navigator and MSIE do a perfectly acceptable job of printing the HTML table that ByteCal’s viewer produces. 1 1 0 BYTE AUGUST 1997 v.byte.com Now you can optimize your network performance without feeling the pinch. MaxPro’s, Intel-based, open system architecture built with maximum scalability and fault tolerance gives you the flexibility you expect. Built to your exact custom configuration, our servers undergo extensive verification tests so you’ll be running right from the start. 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Get to know us: httpyAvww.csslabs.com m km PENTIUM PRO PNOCIStOII LABORATORIES, INC 1-800 852-2680 Where technology is ahead of its time: 1641 McCaw Ave, Irvine, CA 92614 Tel: (714) 852-8161 Fax: (714) 852-0410 Canada (905) 882-0260 Federal Sales: Virginia (703) 242-9710 (ISA IGS-35F-3077I) Circle 128 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 129). \n .1 MaX,V "“ a ,ra *™; k rfCSJ Laboratories. Inc. The Intel Inside Lo*> ami Pentium an- registered trademarks of Intel Com All other manufacturer brand or product names are trademarks of their n-spectiw owners. • >1997 CSS laboratories. Inc. All r.tfhlTn-serwd. | KEYCOOE BYT 0BZP7 | Web Project Persistent Java bases are a better way to make nontrivial Java data sets persistent. Java-Aware Object Databases Java and object databases are a marriage made in heaven. If you prowl around in comp.databases.object, you will sense a ground swell of interest in the subject. Why? Java’s immature SQL foundation worsens the impedance mismatch that always plagues object applications wired to relational data stores. So, developers are looking for ways to connect those apps to persistent object storage. Of course, Java’s ODBMS foundation is no Rock of Gibraltar yet, either. But my experiments with ObjectStore 5.0 (see “What’s in Store for the Web” on page 34) convinced me that persistent Java is a reality now—and a promising future direction. I should mention that Object Design (http://www.odi.com/) isn’t the only provider of persistent Java. Poet Software (http://wwww.poet.com/) offers a solu¬ tion I haven’t yet tried, and I bet there will be others by the time you read this. TOOLWATCH pat 1.0 $10 (shareware) Steven R. Brant http://www.win.net/~stevesoft/pat This Java library does regular expression niatehing a la Perl 5. Even better, you can extend the pattern matcher so that it recognizes user-defined classes of strings—for example, valid dates. BOOKNOTE Java Threads $29.95 by Scott Oaks and Henry Wong O’Reilly and Associates http://www.ora.com/ Java makes thread synchronization seem easy, but under the hood it's still a scary subject. This excellent guide delves deeply into scheduling, syn¬ chronization, and deadlock avoidance. Halfway through I jumped up to rewrite a servlet that, I then realized, was unneces¬ sarily calling one synchronized method from another, risking possible deadlock. At the moment, though, Object De¬ sign’s low-end PSE (Persistent Storage En¬ gine) for Java, which both Netscape and Microsoft are bundling with their next- generation browsers, seems the most con¬ venient way to get started. It’s a self-con¬ tained, pure-Java implementation. PSE for Java, which is freely downloadable, de¬ livers simple persistence. PSE Pro, which currently costs $250, adds a database-re¬ covery tool and the ability to open multi¬ ple databases at once. The PSE products share a common Java API with the flagship product, Object- Store. Object Design hopes you’ll like the rowboat and trade up to the ocean liner. Note, though, that while PSE was con¬ ceived for browser-based local storage, it’s not restricted to that use. In my case, al¬ though I still have little use for client-side Java, I’m forging ahead with server-side Java. PSE is nominally a single-user prod¬ uct, but that’s not necessarily so if you bind it to a servlet. Use Java synchronization to isolate servlet invocations from one an¬ other, and you can actually deploy PSE in a multiuser application. Making ByteCal Persistent ByteCal serializes a hashtable of hash- tables, plus several vectors. ObjectStore can’t store objects of the native Java types Hashtable and Vector. But it does pro¬ vide persistence-capable equivalents to these classes: OSHashtabl e and OS Vec¬ tor. Converting to these types was a sim¬ ple search-and-replace operation. Since OSHash tabl e mirrors the interface of Hashtable, none of the code that does Get and Put operations had to change. Simple? So far, but things got trickier. Matching the thread model of the servlet engine, Acme.Serve, to the thread model of ObjectStore’s Java interface was a puz¬ zle. I was glad I had an Object Design engi¬ neer on hand to help—the company says this is standard practice for all customers, not just BYTE reviewers—and even he had to call the home office for help. What finally worked was to record the servlet engine’s thread ID in a class vari¬ able and then refer to it from a database- initialization call in each invocation of ByteCal. With this arrangement, the serv¬ let engine owned a pipe to the database that many invocations of ByteCal (or, for that matter, other servlets running in the same Java VM) could share. Next came transactions. You can’t read or write persistent data outside transac¬ tion boundaries. I fiddled with different schemes for a while and finally settled on a single pair of transaction calls bracket¬ ing ByteCal’s main service routine. There is a trade-off here between transaction granularity and simplicity. I took the easy route, but if I deploy ByteCal using Object- Store, I’ll need to revisit this issue. Note that neither version of ByteCal currently does pessimistic locking. So, if I’m editing my calendar for the week of June 2, and you are, too, the last writer wins. In ByteCal’s case, the probability of such a collision is small. But the transac¬ tional semantics of ObjectStore don’t help here. Synchronizing multiple live copies of a record in multiple workstations is a classic problem. A Web application, like any application, must deal with it (by pro¬ viding users with abort/retry options) or accept the consequences. Finally, I wanted to create a reusable ref¬ erence to my top-level hashtable. Persis¬ tent Java programs begin by associating transient objects with database roots. In the case of ByteCal, a reentrant servlet, you have to re-create that association each time. Isn’t there some way to remember, across invocations, that an OSHashtabl e object called hByteCal represented the database root ByteCal? Yes, there is. If you call the transaction-commit routine with the flag RETAIN_HOLLOW, Object- Store remembers the association. A Smooth Migration Path I’m still running ByteCal in serialization mode. But I’ve got an ODBMS-aware ver¬ sion waiting. For our own use, PSE Pro will likely suffice. Its pure-Java implementa¬ tion of persistent storage can’t deal with thousands of users or gigabytes of data, but it ought to handle our calendar just fine. Would ByteCal ever need to scale mas¬ sively? It’s conceivable. A future version of The BYTE Site might offer calendar ser¬ vices as a subscriber benefit. I don’t know if that will ever happen, but if it does, a ByteCal/ObjectStore capable of handling 10,000 users is ready to go. □ Jon Udell is BYTE’s executive editor for new media. You can reach him by sending e-mail to jon u@dev5.byte.com. Note: I’ll be speaking at the O’Reilly Perl Conference, August 19-21, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. See http://www.ora.com/info/perl/conference. Hope to meet some of you there. JAVA A 1 1 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 v.byte.cor PHOTOGRAPH KEUJE WALSH C 1»97 HJE7M6HS Write Cosmic Code Rick Grehan Cosmo Code, soon to be combined with SGI’s Cosmo Worlds 3-D development system, is a worthy Java IDE on its own. ith its “Cosmo” family of Web and 3-D development tools, Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI), is paving the way to a richer, more realistic experience on the Web. Tools now available from SGfs Cos¬ mo Software business include Cosmo Worlds, a Virtual Reality Modeling Lan¬ guage (VRML) 2.0 authoring environ¬ ment for creating interactive, 3-D Web applications; and Cosmo Code, a Java development system that’s the subject of this month’s column. In the future, Cosmo Code and Cos¬ mo Worlds will be combined to provide the core elements of Cosmo Studio, which will be a complete 3-D authoring system with VRML as the graphics back¬ bone and Java as the binding glue. SGI officials won’t say exactly when Cosmo U_J-U -I- I UrhiJl Sender button Receiver Uvt Imjpjr jJP*:T*<4_EVE*T | HEss-J!*| Arnumrnl IrxWHd urtlrxin Otpet MoOioO I*** l!vjs |[fW C .«■.{!«. fey !•«. Cosmo Code s wire-guided programming is reminiscent Studio will ship, but you can get a glimpse into the future by using Cosmo Code to¬ day. I did, and I liked what I saw; Cosmo code is as good a Java integrated devel¬ opment environment (IDE) as I’ve seen. Currently, Cosmo Code ($495) is avail¬ able only for SGI workstations running Irix, but a Windows version should be released by the end of the year. All the elements of the Cosmo Code main win¬ dow exist in other Java IDEs in one form or another. At the top are the menu and toolbar, just below is a pane for display¬ ing source code, and at the bottom is a tabbed collection of panes called the “card panel.” The source-display pane also shows status information, such as compiler- error or warning messages. During a de¬ bugging session, just above this pane ap¬ pears the thread bar. This is a series of tabs bearing the names of threads exist¬ ing in the program. Colored indicator lights and icons affixed to each tab reveal of IBM's Visual Age for Java. the state of each thread, such as current¬ ly running, suspended, or dead. The card panel provides different views into an application during devel¬ opment, execution, or debugging. You select which view is active by clicking on the appropriate tab, which brings the as¬ sociated card to the top. These tabs are grouped into three broad categories— development, debugging, and compile/ execute. For example, click on the project tab, and you’re shown what amounts to a small file-manager window holding icons that represent the various files that make up your project. Click on the overview tab, and Cosmo Code shows you an in¬ heritance diagram of the classes in the current project. During debugging, you can click on the call stack and follow the chain of methods calling methods as your program executes. Click on the data tab, and you can inspect the contents of vari¬ ables, arrays, or even objects. What makes the card panel useful (and permits it to bear the name “card”) is the fact that you can “tear” a card off the pan¬ el and place it anywhere on-screen. The torn-off card becomes an independent window. Consequently, you can have several cards active at once, each provid¬ ing different views into your application. Therefore, during a debugging session, you can concurrently view the progress of your application through a callback card while watching the state of variables in a data card. Building Visually Like other visual IDEs, Cosmo Code’s Vi¬ sual Builder lets you construct the visual aspects of your applet with drag-and- drop ease. Once you’ve dropped a visu¬ al object onto your applet’s panel, you www.bytG.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 1 3 Javatalk Write Cosmic Code VRML and Java T he acronym VRML stands for Virtual Reality Modeling Lan¬ guage; it's a language used to describe 3-D worlds for display on a 2-D computer screen. VRML is based on Silicon Graphics' Open Inventor, a library of C++ routines and an associated language syn¬ tax for describing 3-D objects. Actually, it would be more accu¬ rate to say that VRML lets you build 3-D scenes. A scene is more than just its component objects. For example, a scene also has a light source and might have a background. (VRML even lets you specify “fog"; the entire scene can be shrouded in haze.) VRML has been extended from its roots as a language for describing complex 3-D scenes and now includes fea¬ tures that allow those scenes to support animation. That VRML Look A VRML program is nothing more than an ASCII file. (VRML is an interpreter; you don’t compile VRML programs.) The funda¬ mental building block of a VRML program is called a “node." In a sense, a node describes a kind of object, but it serves more to ag¬ gregate than to encapsulate. A node is composed of fields, which are named entries holding data that describes the characteristics of a node. This is best illustrated by an example: Cube I width 20 height 5 depth 3 I The above node describes a cube object. It contains three fields: width, height, and depth. (VRML reminds me of the New- tonScript language: VRML nodes correspond to NewtonScript frames, while VRML fields corre¬ spond to NewtonScript slots.) VRML nodes are typed; each type of node performs a different function. Shape nodes describe 3-D objects that make up a scene-spheres, cones, cubes, and so forth. (The example above is a shape node.) Property nodes give objects their specific traits— color, texture, size, and so forth. Grouping nodes serve to gather other nodes so that the collection is treated as a single unit. It's the grouping of nodes that allows the VRML programmer to build complex shapes from simple ones. A robot, for example, would consist of grouped nodes that define its head, torso, arms, and legs. As you might guess, group¬ ing can be nested. Therefore, the robot’s arms would in turn consist of grouped nodes defining the upper arm, forearm, and hand; its hand would consist of nodes de¬ fining palm and fingers; and so on. In this way, operations applied to the robot affect the entire robot. If, for example, you wanted the robot to change color, you could apply that operation to the robot node as a single unit rather than painstakingly changing the color for each component shape. VRML 2.0 VRML 1.0 defined static worlds. It enabled you to create 3-D ob¬ jects constructed from elemen¬ tary shapes, as well as define col¬ ors, textures, light sources, and so forth. But it was like creating a 3-D still life. Users could “enter" such a 3-D world and roam through it, viewing it from various angles. But what does any of this have to do with Java? VRML 2.0 has added script nodes, which can contain exe¬ cutable code, and route state¬ ments, which send events from node to node. This combination allows programmers to build dy¬ namic VRML worlds. And here is where Java comes in. Currently, script nodes can include VRMLScript code (which is similar to JavaScript) or Java¬ Script code, or they can point to Java class files. In the last case, a script node can call a Java meth¬ od, and-with the help of the VRML 2.0 Java API-the Java code can access nodes and their fields in the VRML world. In short, a programmer can manipulate the VRML world from Java. Java be¬ comes a deus ex machina (“a god from a machine"). Hearkening back to the robot example, not only can the robot move, but with Java in control, it can move intelligently. The robot can also navigate doorways and halls. It might even chase you. Author's note: A number of VRML plug-ins are already available on the Internet. I used Silicon Graphics' Cos¬ mo Player, which is available for Win¬ dows 95, NT, and Irix running Net¬ scape Navigator 2.0 or higher and Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or high¬ er. Look for it at http://vrml.sgi.com. Also, the VRML 2.0 specification was close to being finalized at the time of this writing. Look for the final specifi¬ cation at http://vag.vrml.org. can double-click on that object; Cosmo Code then opens an object-inspector dialog box through which you can alter the object’s properties (text, background color, events supported, and so forth). Once you have a panel populated with visual objects, the real programming task begins: associating events triggered by one object to resulting behavior by another. I have always admired IBM’s Visual Age prod¬ ucts’ approach, in which you “wire” togeth¬ er source and destination objects on-screen and then specify the characteristics of the interaction through IDE-guided dialog boxes. Cosmo Code’s tack is similar. To pro¬ gram the causal relationship between, say, a button being clicked and a text box being cleared, you select the wire tool, click on the source button, and drag to the destina¬ tion text box. This establishes the button as the source of the event, and the listbox as the respondent of the action. A dialog box pops up, in which you specify which event triggers the action as well as the method to be called on the receiving object. Once you’ve done all this wire program¬ ming for the objects in an applet. Visual Builder lets you run the visual component portion of the application to verify that it functions as you meant it to. But this simulation goes only so far. You might, for example, want to code special behavior into your application that the Visual Build¬ er does not support. In this case, Cosmo lets you resort to user-defined methods— those that you write by hand and that are called in response to whatever events with which you associate them. (For example, you may want the clicking of a button to WHERE TO FIND Silicon Graphics, Inc. Mountain View, CA 415-960-1980 fax:415-961-0595 http://www.sgi.com perform some elaborate calculation.) Since Visual Builder can’t compile and execute Java code on the fly, it’s unable to execute user-defined methods. But this is a small and understandable limitation. Cosmo Code is able to handle the 1.0.2 event model as well as the newer delegat¬ ed event model released with the JDK 1.1. As you wire objects together and select events, Cosmo Code’s dialog boxes point out which events and methods are dep¬ recated (in the 1.0.2 version). This dual support is for compatibility reasons: Even now many of the browsers at work on peo¬ ple’s desktops are still not up to the JDK 1.1 standard. So, were Cosmo to emit 1.1 code only, that code would likely break at most client sites. □ Rick Grehan is a senior editor at Computer De¬ sign magazine and coauthor of the Client/ Server Toolkit ( NofdeNet , / 996). You can reach him at rickg@pennwell.com. 1 1 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 There Are 275,000 Good Reasons to Advertise in the BYTE Deck! BYT The BYTE Deck mails to a select group of 275,000 BYTE subscribers in the U.S. who are proven direct market buyers. In fact, BYTE subscriber surveys show that many readers prefer to buy through the mail order/direct channel: Direct Channel Preference for Purchases of: Peripherals Computer Systems Software Networking 83 % 81 % 79 % 65 % Sourer I99S -19% Aticvfar Much The average BYTE reader influences the purchase decisions of 107 others, works in a company with more than 1,000 employees, and influences more computer product purchases than any other person in his/her organization. The BYTE readership provides quality leads. Why settle for anything less? Call Brian Higgins today at (603) 924-2596, e-Mail bhiggins@mcgraw-hill.com or fax yoor order to (603) 924-2683. The BYTE Reader: Simply the Best BYTE A Division of The McGraw -Hill Companies AUGUST 1997 BYTE 115 J he BYTE Euro-Deck offers a unique direct mail approach to increasing sales in the $114 billion European computer market. Reach 50,000 BYTE subscribers for under 4i per reader! m mb mm—m Circulation of the BYTE Ecro-Dhx is targeted to direct channel to Europe. For information on computer experts in over 20 countries in the next BYTE Euu-Dbo, call Mark Stone at Western Europe. Take full advantage of the 603/924-2533, fax him at 603/924-2683 or benefits BYTE provides with this affordable, use e-Mail: stonem@mcgraw-hilLcom. Hit lest drlv D ££@ Extranets ”.~r tomplefe Sean ALABAMA Madison Books and Computers 205-461-8076 (fax) ARIZONA Computer Library • Tempe. 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VA 22031 www. microcenter com WASHINGTON University Professional Bookstore www.bookstore.wasfungton. edu ubsdntwn9u Washington edu WISCONSIN Schwartz Business Books schwartzBB9aol.com University Bookstore www.protechmca.com Djewel I9univbkstr.com Visit our Web site at http://www.betabooks.mcgraw-hill.com X Choticaton success GUIDE FOR COMPUTER TECHNICIANS L , ' 1 “" Order them from a ub i ® J> D Dies i OXB near vou !■ Computing McGraw-Hill A Division of Hu- McGrow I till ( /mtfximes Hardware Hand-Helds Get Serious These tiny computers offer robust performance, surprising functionality, and true portability. By Michelle Campanale ou’ve heard the argument that hand-held computers cannot replace laptops. But pocket-size, sub-1 -pound sys¬ tems are making serious advances in power, functionality, and communica¬ tions. Many of the things you do with a laptop—reading e-mail, taking notes, adding to a contact list—you can now do with the kinds of hand-held PCs we test¬ ed for this report. All this makes us won¬ der if low-end laptops or subnotebooks will soon become obsolete. What’s more, Intel’s new Pentium II architecture currently will not fit into a case that is less than 1 A inches thick, leav¬ ing open a niche for small, pocketable machines that can handle the basics, like reading e-mail, composing notes, and using simple spreadsheets. Hand-helds’ growing popularity is evident in a recent Dataquest study, which reveals that in 1996 the market for standard hand-held computers grew 80 percent. As our review of the most recent crop of hand-held I*Cs reveals, these units won’t replace your laptop today. But they are starting to become truly practical, stan¬ dardized, and able to do just about any¬ thing a nc>tebk or desktop can do (aside from running I )< x >m or Diablo, of course). The Players We judged 10 hand held computers for their usability, features, and perfor¬ mance. Six run Windows CF., Microsoft’s scaled-down version of 32-bit Windows designed specifically for hand-helds: Casio’s Cassiopeia A-11 Plus, NEC’s MobilePro 450, Hewlett-Packard’s 320LX Palmtop P<, Hitachi’s HPW 10E4MB, Compaq’s PC Companion Cl40, and Philips’ Velo 1. These devices run on two AA batteries, have an LCD touchscreen, an IrDA (Infrared Device Association) port, and a minimum of 4 MB of RAM and 4 MB of ROM. We also tested systems based on pro¬ prietary OSes, such as Sharp’s Zaurus ZR- 5800FX, Psion’s Series 3C, U.S. Robotics’ Palm Pilot Professional, and Apple’s Newton MessagePad 2000. We passed on BYTE BEST HAND-HELDS Hewlett-Packard 320LX With its 640 x 240 screen, this is the outstanding Windows CE-based unit. It outperformed all other CE systems in our file transfer tests, is very usable, and has lots of features. NEC MobilePro 450 For the price, this Windows CE low-cost winner is a solid choice, besting its closest competitor, the Philips Velol, in price and features. Psion 3C Fastest of the hand-helds, this unit leads the way in price, usability, and features among the proprietary-OS systems we tested. Nokia’s Communicator 9000 because, at press time, it required a GSM European cellular network. Additionally, Psion’s Series 5 was in early beta when we tested, and Sharp’s SE 500 was in alpha stage as we went to print. The Toshiba Libretto 5OCT, which is similar in size and features to many of the hand-helds we tested, runs full versions of Windows 95 as well as full applications and costs just under $2000. It missed our price cap, so we did not include it in our tests. Weighing the Features Two camps of hand-held users are emerg¬ ing. Some prefer the small, light, cheap, appliance-like computers, such as the USR Pilot Professional or the Sharp 5000. Others, like Psion and Velol users, want as many bells and whistles as conceivable packed into the smallest device possible. All Windows CF hand-helds have the advantage of an interface that is familiar, is easy to use, and offers the closest thing to the Windows 95 desktop. Because Win¬ dows CE is an open standard, various processors and software applications can be ported to the OS. On the downside, software development for the platform is in its early stages, and the multithreaded, multitasking OS is resource-intensive. This may explain why our tests showed that Windows CE hand-helds were 28 per¬ cent slower in overall file transfer speed than the proprietary systems. That’s not to say that non-CE devices are perfect. Inherent to the proprietary systems is a learning curve required to master both the OS and some applica¬ tions, including handwriting recognition software. Architecture can differ dra¬ matically among systems, so there’s no guarantee of interoperability or back¬ ward compatibility between different proprietary hand-helds. But each has a strong community of users plus active software development that, for the time being, surpasses that of Windows CE. The Next Generation I have small fingers. So it wasn’t all too difficult to successfully touch-type on many of the hand-held computers we test- 1 1 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 ILLUSTRATION SANDERS/TlKKANEN DESIGN A ILLUSTRATION C 1997 MODEM Most hand-helds come equipped with a standard Type II PC Card slot, for use with a modem card^ / / ^SCREEN ✓ Display sizes vary from ✓ 3.25 x 2.5 to 6.3 x 2.5. AUDIO SPEAKER / All the CE models have a speaker. The Newton, Velo, and Psion 3C have voice-recording and playback capabilities. BOTTOM VIEW STYLUS Look for a sturdy, angled stylus. Most vendors include two. MEMORY 4 MB of RAM is typical. BATTERIES Two AA batteries is standard. Most have coin-cell backup batteries. EXPANSION SLOT A separate CompactFlash slot allows you to store data and backup without tying up the Type II slot by using a wireless modem, wired modem, or Internet browser at tho same timo as the memory card. \ \ \ \ \ \ INFRARED^ PORT 115.2-Kbpsis thelrOA- standard data transfer rate. \ CPU Most of the CE units are powered by Hitachi's SH-3 32-bit RISC processor. See the features table for CPU details. Illustration based on Hewlett-Packard 320LX ed. Enhancements in keyboard design, such as Butterfly-like or external key¬ boards, are making it easier than ever to type notes. In fact, I drafted a rough cut of this review on a hand-held computer. Such productivity would not have been possible with an early-generation PDA, such as the Sharp Wizard OZ 5100 that I carried around a few years ago. Interestingly, many of the systems in this review are the same size, or only slightly larger than, my old Wizard—yet they are all much more func¬ tional and loads more powerful. Number one on my wish list for future generations of hand-held computers is voice control, which would be of greater value than pen input and handwriting recognition. Future hand-helds are also expected to make use of built-in pagers. This is likely not too far off since Hitachi’s SH-3 RISC processor, which powers the Hewlett-Packard, Casio, Compaq, and Hitachi models we tested, includes sup¬ port for (among other things) voice-acti¬ vated control and two-way paging. Contributors Michelle Campanale, technical editor/BYTE Andrew Froning, managing editor/NSTL Dorothy Hudson, project manager/NSTL Maryanne Eves, acquisitions editor/NSTL Bryan Farmer, editorial assistant/BYTE om AUGUST 1 99 7 BYTE 1 1 9 BEST OVERALL HAND-HELD COMPUTERS c chose the Hewlett-Packard 320LX Palmtop PC as the Windows CE-based winner. It was the performance leader among the six CE systems we tested for this report. The HP did very well in the usability category, placing third after the Philips Velo I and the NEC MobilePro450. Its dis¬ play is impressive; the 320LX is current¬ ly the only CE-based system that features a 640- by 240-pixel full-width screen. The screen constitutes the widest viewing area of all the CE machines we tested, allow¬ ing us to view information just as it would appear on a desktop PC. The keyboard on the HP has sloping keys that work well with the heavy, angled stylus. We found the battery com¬ partments easy to access; you don't need a screwdriver to open them. The spare battery compartment includes a reset but¬ ton to clear the system’s memory, which we found helpful when resetting the unit between file transfers. The HP also did fairly well on features, placing fourth after the NEC, Hitachi, and Philips models. One major problem is its on/off buttons, which are located on the space bar. This makes it easy to acci¬ dentally turn on the machine when the cover is closed by simply pressing down on the closed case. Among the CE hand-helds, the HP was the fastest in our file transfer tests: 217.33 seconds to upload 100 schedules and 200 contact files, and 47.83 seconds to download the same number of files. The NEC.' MobilePro 450 is the winner in our Low Cost category for CE-based machines. It comes with a number of built-in functions and connectivity options, such as a PC Card modem and a 115.2-Kbps infrared port. We found the stylus to be sturdy and the keys tactile. We also liked the built-in stylus cradle on the combination serial port-A/C adapter. In fact, we found the attachment itself handy for easing the hand-held into the cradle for a convenient, one-step con¬ nection. Additionally, data transfer was easy. However, we did not like the shiny screen, which caused glare and made viewing difficult. We chose the Psion Series 3 as the win¬ ner among the hand-held computers that use a proprietary operating system. It was the clear performance winner in both OS categories, taking only 5.8 seconds for file uploads and 6.5 seconds for file down¬ loads. It tied with the Sharp 5800 for first place in usability with its 5- by 2-inch screen, easy-to-use multifunction but¬ tons, and keys that make an audible click.The I’sion Series3 came in first place for features as well, due to its multitude of applications and its battery life (esti¬ mated at 80 hours). Communications options on this system were impressive, with PC Card compatibility and syn¬ chronization software. The unit comes with its own development software, Psion’s Object-Oriented Visual Applica¬ tion Language (OVAL), which is compat¬ ible with Visual Basic. The Psion also sup¬ ports C+ + and Organizer Programming Linguage (OPL). Additionally, we found the Psion's external sound recorder with playback capability to be indispensable. Second Place Second place for the Windows CE-based systems went to the Hitachi HPW10E4. The system is fast, landing in second place for performance among the six Windows CE machines. It boasts a good download time of 51.3 seconds and a decent upload time of 215.03 seconds. However, it is mediocre in the areas of usability and fea¬ tures. We found some serious design flaws, in addition to an annoying screen flicker. To change the backup battery, we had to unscrew an underside panel, exposing the DSP modem board and other circuit¬ ry. Although the keyboard is easy to type with, we found the screen to be somewhat unresponsive for writing with the stylus. Additionally, the PC Card eject button is located directly below the cover release, which makes it easy to accidentally eject the card when opening the cover. The Sharp Zaurus 5800 is our second- place winner among the units using a pro¬ prietary OS. It ranked number one in usability among all the proprietary-based systems we tested. Its multifunction but¬ tons are easy to use, and its large, backlit screen is impressive. The Zaurus is slow at transferring files, however. It ranked last in terms of performance (159 seconds for downloads and 62.4 seconds for uploads) among all the proprietary-OS systems we tested. Notable Toteable We make special note of the Philips Velo 1, which came out on top in usability among the CE machines. The keyboard has well-spaced oval keys and useful mul¬ tifunction buttons. The touchscreen was the most responsive of all those we test¬ ed. The Velo 1 comes with a built-in 19.2- Kbps modem and RJ-11 connector. Its voice-memo feature is extremely useful, storing 16 minutes of sound per megabyte. With the ability to handle both flash or DRAM, the Velo l's upgradabili- ty is a welcome benefit. However, you cannot add a flash minicard if you already installed an OS upgrade ROM in that slot. Price vs. Performance Cost fijjWHiCC ■ Proprietary Weighting: Performance 30% Usability 40% Features 30% 1 2 0 BYTE AUGUST 1997 PHOTOGRAPHS: DARYL SOLOMON C 1097 LAB RATING RE S U L T S V'aV BEST HAND HELD RUNNING WINDOWS CE Hewlett-Packard 320LX The Hewlett-Packard 320LX is the champion of the Windows CE-based crop, equaling or surpassing the other CE systems in features, usability, and performance. Its full-width WEIGHTING screen mea¬ sures 640 by 240 pixels. But the unit is on the low end of the battery-life spectrum; HP says the 3201.X will run for 12 hours if no PC Card is connected. Hewlett-Packard 320LX Casio Cassiopeia A -11 Plus Hitachi HPW- 10 E 4 NEC MobilePro 450 Compaq PC Companion Cl 40 Philips Velo 1 PRICE $699 $689 $599 $499 $479 $699 BEST BARGAIN CE-BASED HAND-HELD NEC MobilePro 450 If price is a major concern, we recommend the NEC MobilePro 450, our Windows CE low- cost winner. It scored well in our Jochnology tr.uis Prico fer tests, and its extensive feature set, plus S499 price, make it an excellent price/perfor¬ mance value. Its claimed battery life spans 30 hours if you’re not using a PC Card. WEIGHTING BEST HAND-HELD WITH A PROPRIETARY OS Psion 3C Excellent performance and an exceptional value. With PsiWin, Psion’s optional PC connectivity package, you can share with Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 files as well as back up to any PC drive. The built-in PIM also synchronizes with Windows PIMs. The PC Card attachment is self- powered, so estimated battery life is 80 hours. The ease of use, robust OS, application development environ¬ ment, and software options add up to a compelling hand-held computer. PRICE Psion 3C $399 Sharp Zaurus ZR-5800FX $599 U.S. Robotics Palm Pilot Professional $399 Apple Newton MessagePad 2000 $ 1099 *****Outstand.ng **** VotyGood *** Good ** Fair * Pb(X Plus, the Velo 1 loses pocketabiliry when you connect an extra half-inch-thick mod¬ ule for PC Card support. Size Matters The largest system of the lot, Apple’s Newton MessagePad 2000 weighs 1.4 pounds and measures 1.1 inches high by 4.7 inches wide, with a depth of 8.3 inch¬ es. But it represents the only option among the units we tested for someone who wants a Macintosh-like OS. Thanks to its 160-MHz StrongARM SA-110 RISC processor, the system is quite fast—just seconds behind the Psion. Additionally, the Newton’s 480 by 320 transflective LCD offers resolution of 100 dots per inch and 16 levels of gray scale. The Newton is a vet¬ eran in the field, so there’s plenty of soft¬ ware available. But it will cost you. The sys¬ tem is priced at SI099, which includes an external keyboard, case, and software. The smallest footprint belongs to the U.S. Robotics Palm Pilot Professional, which weighs a mere 5.7 ounces and mea¬ sures 0.7 by 3.2 by 4.7 inches. Its super- long battery life of two months, in com¬ bination with its $399 price and tiny size, make it the market leader.(The Pilot cap¬ tured 51 percent of the hand-held mar¬ ket in 1996, according to Dataquest.) Our performance tests showed it to be quite fast, scoring 20.9 seconds for file uploads and 19.6 seconds for downloads. How¬ ever, its scores were only fair in features and usability. The Pilot is an excellent choice for people who want smallness and long battery life but could care less about extra bells and whistles. www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 2 1 DETAILS Philips Veto 1 A few things stand out on the Philips Velo 1. Its unique, rounded keys work well with the stylus pen and provide ade¬ quate tactile return. Its multifunction but¬ tons make switching between applications both fast and easy. Though it lacks a PC Card slot, the Velo 1 provides an upgrad¬ able fax modem, a voice recorder, and sup¬ port for a broad range of communications software. The Velo also conforms to Intel's Miniature Card standard, which allows for easy, though expensive, memory upgrades. In addition, the integrated modem and dual expansion slots mean that a user can expand memory and upgrade software while still using the modem. Hitachi HPW-10E4MB e couldn't help but notice a design flaw in the Hitachi when we went to change the backup battery. After we unscrewed an underside panel and located the coin-style battery, we noticed that the DSP modem board and other circuitry were exposed to our hands, dirt, and air¬ borne dust. After inserting a new backup battery, we eventually noticed we had lost quite a bit of battery power: The system had turned itself on immediately after we put in the new power cell. Apple Newton MessagePad 2000 T he Newton MessagePad 2000 can be carried with or without its external, serial keyboard, an option that comes with some configura¬ tions. We’ve heard the argument that if you plan to carry the Newton keyboard around you might as well use a small laptop instead. However, if you decide to travel light once in a while, it is not easy to remove a laptop’s keyboard. Also, a laptop’s bat¬ teries will fizzle out in a couple hours; the Newton's battery, according to Apple, can last for three to six weeks. For Road Warriors Only P sion makes some exciting advancements in usability and conve¬ nience with its Psion Series 5. We were unable to test the system because, at press time, the PsiWin 2.0 software was in early beta. However, we were impressed with the look and feel of the unit. A touchscreen and a stylus are used for data input. It has a large 8croon-5.5 inches wide by 2.75 inches tall—with a resolution of 640 by 240, the samo as the HP 320LX’s display. Its relatively large QWERTY koyboard-6.5 inches wide by 2.5 inchos tall-expands outward, like tho IBM Butterfly, when you open the cover. The keys are more than half an inch apart from each other, making it easy to touch-type and not have to hunt and peck the way most hand¬ helds’ keyboards make you do. The Series 5’s 32-bit multitasking EPOC32 operating system can share files with Windows 95 and Windows NT PCs and Macintosh systems, and it can synchronize with Microsoft, Lotus, and Corel office suites out of the box. The system comes equipped with standard CompactFlash and an RS-232 port. You also get an external voice recorder that can record for 30 minutes on an 8-MB machine. Psion estimates up to 35 hours of typical-use battery life. Besides already supporting Organizer Programming Language (OPL) and C++, Psion plans to add Java support for application develop¬ ment in 1998. Available in August, the Psion series 5 will sell for $599 for the 4-MB model and $699 for the 8-MB configuration. -Michelle Campanale 1 2 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 TEST RESULTS c rated these hand-held com¬ puters on the basis of their usability, features, perfor¬ mance, technology, imple¬ mentation, and price, all on a scale of w five stars—except for price, which we fac¬ tored in at 10 percent for the Windows CE machines and 5 percent for the propri¬ etary machines. Because the CE machines are essentially commodity items, price becomes a key determining factor. The features set and usability factor higher for the proprietary machines, as people buy them for their specific features. We derived the performance rating by averaging the results of our speed tests. First, we measured each system's throughput duringa file transfer from the hand-held computer to a laptop. The sec¬ ond test consisted of a download from the laptop to the hand-held. To judge usability we graded the unit's characteristics in a few key areas. We eval¬ uated the device’s ease of use when trans¬ ferring data, the screen size, and the back- lighting. We judged their keyboard functionality, system labeling, and hard¬ ware documentation. We also looked for a reset button on the systems, and we gauged the size and portability of the A/C adapter. A hand-held earned extra points if it came bundled with applications. Io evaluate features, we looked at the processor speed, the screen, the data entry options, and the amount of mem¬ ory that s included. We paid close atten¬ tion to systems with existing upgrade paths. Because many users of hand-held PCs are mobile workers, communica¬ tions options such as a modem, an infrared port, and a docking station are crucial. Sound, power supply, and bat¬ tery life were also important in our fea¬ tures scores. Evaluations in this report represent the judg¬ ment of BYTE editors, fhised on tests conduct¬ ed Iry NSTL, Inc., as documented in a recent issue of NSTL's monthly PC Digest. To pur¬ chase a copy of the full refmrt, contact NSTL at 625 Ridge Pike, Conshohocken, PA 19428; (610) 941-9600; fax (610) 941-9950; on the Internet, editorsionstl.com. far a subscription, cal! (800) 257-9402. BYl'E Magazine and N.S77. are both operating units of The McGraw- Hill Companies, Inc. www.byte.com Test Methodology For our performance tests we timed a ser¬ ial download of 300 files. These includ¬ ed 100 schedules and 200 contact lists, which were 28.2- KB .SCD files. We trans¬ ferred the files to and from a Dell Lati¬ tude XPI (JI) with 32 MB of RAM and a 166-MHz processor. Our performance testing consisted of three downloads from the laptop to the hand-held, as well as three uploads from the hand-held to the laptop. After com¬ pleting three file downloads, and before starting the uploads, we reset the system by popping out both the spare batteries and the primary batteries and replacing them. We also used the reset button to assure proper flushing of the static mem¬ ory. We did this to make sure that the data bank was empty, putting the machine in the same state for each iter¬ ation of the test. After each upload or download, we replaced a new, uncorrupted file with the transferred file. Additionally, we did all our performance tests with the A/C adapter, and not the battery, powering the unit because battery levels can affect the results. All cables and A/C adapters used in our tests came with the particu¬ lar system being tested. Kill Two Birds with One Phone T hough it has identical data functionality to the Nokia 2110 digital cellular phone. Nokia’s Communicator 9000 is a new hybrid of data and communications. Its two-in-one design includes an innovative pocket-size personal organizer encased in the shell of a cellular phone. Weighing just a little over 2 pounds, the Communicator comes with the GEOS 3.0 operating system, which acts as a virtual processor. It also ships with 2 MB of flash memory, plus 2 MB of addi¬ tional RAM. The Communicator's standard appli¬ cations include a scheduler, contact directory, diary, address book, and file transfer option, which dispatches information from the Com¬ municator to a PC using either infrared or serial connections. The unit’s portable access terminal allows for Internet connections with Web, Telnet, and VT100 terminal emulation. Features of the personal organizer include an address book, cal¬ endar, note-editor, to-do list, calculator, and world clock. Available in the U.S. this fall, the 1900-MHz Communicator will work on GSM 1900 PCS networks (such as PacBell, Aerial, and VoiceStream) and will sell for around $ 1000. AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 12 3 HAND-HELD COMPUTERS FEATURES Apple Newton Message- Pad 2000 Casio Cassiopeia A-11 Plus Compaq Computer PC Companion (Cl 40) Hewlett-Packard HP320LX Palmtop PC Price as tested (MSRP) $ 1099 (includes keyboard. $689 $479 $699 Overall rating case, and software) *** ** *** ***** PROCESSOR Manufacturer and model StrongARM SA-110 Hitachi SH3 Hitachi SH3 Hitachi SH3 Operating system Newton 2.1 OS Windows CE Windows CE Windows CE SCREEN Resolution (dpi) 480x320 480x240 480x240 640x240 Screen area (inches) 49x3.3 4x2 4x2 6.3 x 2.5 On screen function icons DATA ENTRY Touchscreen with pen stylus navigation ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Keypad External ✓ ✓ ✓ Both ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Handwnting recognition software included On screen keyboard ✓ ✓ CASE Height x width x depth (inches) 1.1x47x8.3 1 x6x3 1x68x3.6 1.1x72x3.6 Weight 1.4 lbs. (including batteries) 13.4 oz. (incl. batteries) 13.4 oz. (incl. batteries) 15.6oz. (incl. batteries) MEMORY Amount of RAM 5MB 6MB 4 MB 4 MB BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS Word processor ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Spreadsheet ✓ ✓ ✓ Standard features ** ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Sketch/paintbrush ✓ Optional capture ✓ ✓ Alarm clock Games ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Expense filer Financial management Pager Internet access/Web browser ✓ ✓ Optional ✓ ✓ Faxing ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ E-mail ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ COMMUNICATIONS Interlace cable included ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Pnnter link ✓ Optional ✓ PC Card-compatible ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Other N/A N/A N/A N/A MODEM On board modem PC Card modem available Speed N/A ✓ N/A ✓ N/A ✓ N/A INFRARED PORT IR port included ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ File transfer range (distance) 3.2 feet 3 feet 3 feet 3 feet Data transfer speed 115.2-Kbps 115.2-Kbps 115.2 Kbps 115.2-Kbps DOCKING STATION Docking station required lor H PC/PC connectivity SOUND External sound rocorcfcng/playback capabilities Integrated speaker ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ POWER SUPPLIES AC power adapter Battery type Does AC adaptor have a battery recharger? Backup battenos/type Estimated battery life without PC Card ✓ 4 AA ✓ NmH 3-6 weeks Optional 2 AA No (rechargeable battery pack available) Lithium 20 hours Optional 2 AA Optional NimH (optional) 20 hours ✓ 2 AA ✓ (through docking station) NiCad 4-6 weeks CUSTOMER SUPPORT Toll-free telephone 8004624396 80096CASIO 800 652-6672 800 443 1254 Phone 408996 1010 888204-7765 287-370-0670 970-392-1001 On-line address http://www.nowt on.applc/connect http://www.casio.com http://www.compaq.com http 7/www.hp.com/handhe*d Inquiry number 980 981 982 983 BYTE Best ✓-yos N/A « not applicable ***** Outstanding * * * * Very Good *** Good ** Fa» * Poor 1 2 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Hitachi NEC Computer . Systems MobilcPro450 Philips Consumer Psion . Sharp U.S. Robotics Handheld PCHPW-10E4MB Electronics Velol Series 3C H Zaurus ZR-5800FX Palm Pilot Professional $599 $499 $699 $399 $599 $399 *** **** **** ***** **** **** Hitachi SH3 NECVr4101 Philips R3910 NEC V30H Motorola Dragon Chip Motorola 68328 Windows CE Windows CE Windows CE Psion EPOC 16 Zaurus Synergy PalmOS 480x240 480x240 480x240 480x160 320x240 160x160 5x2 45x2.2 5x2 5x2 4x2.7 2.5x3.25 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Keyboard driven ✓ ✓ 1x6.58x3.78 1.07x6.89x3.74 1.25x6.75x3.75 6.5x3.35x0.87 1x67x3.9 0.7 x 3.2 x 4.7 13.6 oz. (incl. batteries) 0.88 lbs. (ind. batteries) 13.2 oz. (not incl. batteries) 9.7 oz. (ind. batteries) 14.7 02 . (incl. batteries) 5.7 02 .(incl. batteries) 4 MB 4 MB 4 MB 2 MB* 2MB 1MB ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Optional Optional ✓ ✓ Optional ✓ ✓ ✓ Optional ✓ ✓ ✓ Optional ✓ ✓ ✓ Optional Optional ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 1 (via b2 software) No (via desktop) ✓ (cable/wireless) No (via desktop apps) ✓ ✓ Mini PC Card *** ✓ (via adapter) ✓ No N/A N/A N/A OVAL Wireless e-mail N/A VB compatible programming tool ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ (snap-on modem) No 28 8 Kbps N/A 19.2 Kbps N/A N/A 14.4 Kbps ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 50 cm 8-12 inches 2 motors 3 feet 20 inches N/A 115.2 Kbps 115.2 Kbps 115.2 Kbps 115.2 Kbps 115.2 Kbps N/A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Optional Optional 2AA 2 AA 2 AA 2 AA 2 AA 2AAA Optional Optional N/A Lithium 3-V lithium Lithium Lithium Lithium 12 hours 30 hours 15 hours 80 hours (PC Card 100 hours 2 months attachment is self powered) 800HITACHI 8006324525 888367 8356 80099PSION 800BE-SHARP 800 881-7256 http://www.hitachice.com 984 508264 8000 4085232800 508 371 0310 201-529-8700 415-237-6000 http://www.neccomputers.com 985 http://www.velol .com 986 http://www.psion.com 987 http://www.sharp-usa.com 988 http ://www.usr.com/palm 989 • Can add 16 MB of RAM ** Standard features - Dal aba so/coni act manager and agenda/or ganuror/synchroni/ation software ••• Can use standard PC Card with adapter www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 2 5 Wolf pack Howls Its Arrival Software With Wolfpack, two NT servers can act as standbys for each other while both still do useful work. By BYTE Editors icrosoft, the 800-pound go¬ rilla of the software industry, is set to release a new exten¬ sion for its NT Server OS that will dramatically change the server land¬ scape and allow NT networks an unprece¬ dented degree of reliability and fault tol¬ erance. Popularly known as Wolfpack, this new product will, for the first time, allow built-in clustering—the ability to interconnect two or more servers so that one can automatically take over another’s processing in case of failure, with mini¬ mal disruption to end users. To a user, clustered servers appear as a single entity, even when the client is accessing several servers in different locations. Clustering NT servers (not to men¬ tion those using other OSes) isn’t a brand- new idea, but it’s never been hooked directly into the OS before—where it really belongs, in our judgment. Hereto¬ fore, there have been a variety of clus¬ tering solutions from a number of ven¬ dors, most of them requiring dedicated hardware links and proprietary hard¬ ware/software bundles. Many of these vendors have been working with Micro¬ soft and are making plans and products to confront what will be the new market reality. Phase one of Wolf pack’s release is scheduled for this month. It will sup¬ port two-server clusters. The second phase will follow in 1998 and enable clus¬ tering more than two servers. This report is based on tests by both BYTK and NSTLof the second beta release of Wolfpack. In addition, we look at some important issues surrounding clustering technology, many of which involve limi¬ tations that have been ignored or glossed LAN L HBh Server Interconnect (requires an additional network interface card for each server) 4 4 Shared SCSI disk-storage subsystem The basic configuration of a Wolfpack duster is quite simple. over by vendors. Finally, we take a quick survey of the existing products in the market, with a table summarizing their fea¬ tures and a text box describing their plans and positions vis-^-vis Wolfpack. (Harly on, we planned to conduct a comparative look at cluster solutions, but because no common hardware configuration has been feasible, we couldn’t conduct BYTE’s usual apples-to-apples performance compar¬ isons.) To help you better understand Wolf- pack’s capabilities and limitations, we’ll quickly review the basics of clustering. Why Cluster? The whole point of clustering is to main¬ tain “high availability” of computing resources to end users. To do this involves three essential functions: fault tolerance (called failover), load balancing, and cen¬ tralized administration and monitoring. Fault tolerance ensures a backup to re¬ place a failed resource (e.g., server, router, or network). Load balancing detects when processing overloads one resource to the point that it’s virtually unavailable and distributes the load among less-burdened resources. Central management of clus¬ tered servers lets administrators moni¬ tor and control the cluster from a single console, both to troubleshoot failures and shift resources for routine maintenance. Unfortunately, most clustering prod¬ ucts, including Wolfpack, provide only automatic failover and management. Load balancing is a manual operation, though some third-party systems may provide additional software components or add-on products to help with this. The heart of any clustering implemen¬ tation is redundancy. Have two or more of everything, so that if any single resource on the network fails—whether it be a server, server network adapter, disk drive, application, router, or segment—the sys¬ tem will automatically detect this and swap in a standby component. Wolfpack knows about the following NT resource types: Fault-Tolerant Disk Set, File Share, Generic Application, Generic Service, Internet Information Server (IIS) Virtual Root, IP Address, Network Name, Physi¬ cal Disk, Print Spooler, and Time Service. While it’s clearly possible to set up a clus¬ ter with an extra server standing by, con¬ nected to the network but idle, waiting to take over if it’s needed, this configuration (called active/passive or asymmetric) is 1 2 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 FaiOn- r Network Faiure C Link Fata j r Eiher ^ Both Network Timeout fir Armed Status a C Disarmed Wizards ease the learning curve when setting up migration rules and configunng fho rllictnr W TCP/IP Faiover Only Command Files— TCP/IP Configuration On Fad Detect _ jOrOetect cmd OnFaJover; jOnFad cmd After Fatover |AftrFadcmd On Revert to Standby / |OrReve»tcmd / F Alow IP Addrett change on Fatover Current Hott Naro- Hoit Name After Fatover nf$eive»2 |DAVE SERVER Adapter ■ Novel! NE2000 Adapter dI , Current IP Adder t Curent Mask IP After Fatover MaJ 159H 4 255 255 2550 1991 1 1 ^33 ofrecfr) ~ Failover of IP configuration from one server to another sends an alert to the administrator. • m Ml .——*>* 2 muk ’"*• ,k * if (IIMbtarl I-* t Mm •; • hi Mttai* For many clustering programs, such as Isis Availability Manager, senpting adds flexibility and power but calls for programming expertise. Wolfpack should handle failover automatically, but a lot of manual administration goes into configuration. hardly cost-efficient and rarely justifiable. Instead, the usual practice is to have each server active, doing useful work but ready to take over the other’s processing if it should fail. In addition to the servers’ LAN connections, a second private connection, called the interconnect, is usually established so the two servers can monitor each other. Achieving fault tolerance in a client/ server information technology (IT) envi¬ ronment means addressing a number of hardware and software issues: continuing electrical power, multiple servers, redun¬ dant data storage, backup network links, and failover management software. • Power to the Process. All hardware required for continual services must be connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that allows time to switch to a backup generator or, if necessary, to conduct a fast but orderly shutdown. • Many Machines. You can reduce the pos¬ sibility of downtime simply by dividing tasks up. A Web server on one machine and an e-mail server on another means that one server going down won’t cause both applications to fail. • Share the Storage. Disk mirroring or replication techniques between servers ensure that data—and possibly appli¬ cations—will be available should a disk drive or server fail. Right now, SCSI is the gold standard for shared-disk technolo¬ gies, but it has limits (see the Tech Focus on page 128). One of them is that the dis¬ tance between clustered servers is lim¬ ited to only 25 meters. Also, non-SCSI failover systems can make the server cluster vulnerable to network parti¬ tioning. In the future, technologies such as Fibre Channel, Serial Storage Archi¬ tecture (SSA), or I 2 O may provide dedi¬ cated disk sharing over longer distances. • The Dept, of Redundancy Dept. Adding an additional connection between serv¬ ers helps reduce the possibility of com¬ munications failure over the network. • Manage the Monster. Failover manage¬ ment software offers a way to detect hardware and software failures and invoke backup, standby, or takeover technologies. Failure-detection param¬ eters require some fine-tuning by the administrator. A too-sensitive failure test will cause needless switch-overs, but a test that s not sensitive enough risks the loss of services. A redundant dedicated interconnect between servers makes for more reliable failure detection. NSTL technicians had difficulties with NT’s deadly “Blue Screen” after trying to uninstall some clustering packages. Thus, it s prudent to make an emergency repair disk prior to installation. Simple stateless Web services are fairly straightforward to migrate, but stateful applications (e.g., database applications) are more difficult and may require spe¬ cial add-on kits. For greatest flexibility, failover software should offer an AIM to let in-house programmers add failover code to custom and homegrown applications. What Wolfpack Docs To create a Wolfpack-based cluster, you need two (no more, no less) NT 4.0 servers (with Service Pack 3 installed) that share a SCSI bus supporting an external disk- storage subsystem (see the figure on page 126). Both servers must be members of the same NT domain, and each must have its own system disk on a local, unshared bus. Wolfpack enables the two servers to exchange their status, resources being run, and activity with each other. Two compo¬ nents of the clustering software are the Cluster Service and the Resource Moni¬ tor. The Cluster Service, which runs on every clustered server, controls cluster activity, communication between servers, w.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 2 7 Software Lab Report Wolfpack Howls Its Arrival and failure operations. The Resource Monitor checks the assigned states of tar¬ geted resources (i.e., off-line, off-line pending, on-line, on-line pending, or failed) and reports any state changes to the Cluster Service. Each server can run one or more Resource Monitors. The primary monitoring communica¬ tion between Wolfpack nodes is called heartbeat synchronization. Basically, each node is always checking whether the other is still there and ticking. If a node’s Re¬ source Monitor determines that the other node has disappeared, the Cluster Service The siren song of clustering is that it enables shared, simultaneous disk aeeess and divides the processing load between servers. Un¬ fortunately. the reality is that neither of these benefits is fully realized, primarily because of limitations in both SCSI and disk partitioning. Consider the simple cluster shown at the right. Two servers. J and K. share a SCSI array that's organized as volumes X and Y. The reality of SCSI is that you must aeeess each volume through a single server. De¬ pending on how the cluster is set up, you might actually see three servers: J, which sees disk X; K, which sees disk Y; and L (a node alias for IP and Microsoft networking), which sees both disks. Thus, you can aeeess disk Y through either server K or L, but in truth. K does all the work. If both J and K have SQL Server running on them (currently possible with Digital Clusters for Windows NT, but not on the initial Wolf¬ pack release), either one can aeeess databases on the volumes they see. However, if K wants to access a database on disk X, it has to pass the request to server J, which performs the requested operations and passes the results back to K. This has serious consequences for load management. Say there are 100 users on L, with SO using an application on J and SO on a K-hased appli¬ cation, but all are aeeessing data on disk X. Remember, all X aeeess has to go through J. In reality, J is doing everything for its SO users as well as all the file handling for an additional SO users, while K is humming along with just the I/O for its 50 users to keep it busy. Server J could Ik* seriously overworked, and response for all users would suffer as a result. What happens if poor, overworked J can't executes the predefined failover instruc¬ tions. Because there is a separate Cluster Service and one or more Resource Moni¬ tors on each node, this cluster communi¬ cation takes the form of interprocess communications (IPC) and requires little network overhead. This traffic is small enough that it can be run over a private Ethernet LAN (usually called an Inter¬ connect), a public LAN, a serial connec¬ tion, or even the SCSI bus, though the last one isn’t recommended. The administrator can specify two polling intervals and a time-out value for take it and goes down? The clustering soft¬ ware instantly fails over and reassigns volume X to server K, which all of a sudden has to do some real work. The good news is that users will notice little degradation of service and little or no disruption in their applications; in the worst ease, failover may look to them like SCSI storage Both servers ean aeeess both disks—sort of. a quick server reboot. Now, K may be in the same overworked and underpowered situa¬ tion that J was just in. Load balancing this is not. At the moment, only an Oracle-based duster gets around this one-scrver-pcr-vol- urne restriction. It does this by creating its own file and data structures. resources. The polling intervals affect how often the Resource Monitor does its checks. There are two levels of polling, known in Wolfpack jargon as Looks Alive and Is Alive. In Looks Alive polling, Wolf¬ pack performs a cursory check to deter¬ mine if the resource is available and run¬ ning. Is Alive polling is more thorough, with Wolfpack determining if the resource is fully operational. The time-out value specifies how long the Resource Monitor should wait for a response before it con¬ siders the resource failed. Planning to Fail The most significant advantage Wolfpack offers over current clustering solutions is its tight integration with N'T. For example, Wolfpack lets you group NT resources with applications into failover groups. When a single resource fails, Wolfpack fails over the entire group to which the failing resource belongs. This provides a handy means of creating failover dependencies and ensures that a failed service will have the appropriate resources it needs to restart. Some systems require involved scripts to accomplish what Wolfpack allows via prompted dialog boxes and mouse-clicks. Automatic failover isn’t always possi¬ ble, unfortunately. Some applications can run on only one node on the cluster and in case of failover would have to be manually started on the other node. Some applications (e.g., IIS, FTP) can be man¬ aged and configured to automatically start on the other node in the event of a failover. Wolfpack’s migrating functions and resources to the alternate server, when its cluster cousin fails, let the IT staff trou¬ bleshoot and fix the problem. But how do you restore resources to the original, failed- but-fixed server (a process called failback)? Can you, and should you, automate it? It might seem that automatic failback is the best solution, but only if the problem is really fixed and unlikely to recur. If not, automatic failback can cause subsequently failed resources to bounce back and forth between servers, causing problems for users. Restricting failback to a deliberate manual action by IT personnel can elimi¬ nate this ping-pong effect. Cluster Management In an ordinary server environment, users employ a number of administrative tools to identify the servers and monitor their contents and activities. Wolfpack uses a TECH FOCUS BALANCING ACT Shared Access, Divided Load? Not Exactly 1 2 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 FEATURES Number of servers clustered Supported OSes Clusters f" s,Wa,ch HACMP Isis LifeKeeper Octopus Ousters tor Availability for andSASO WindowsNT NT Serve* a9 * r W ' ndOW * NT 2 ^ 16 Up to 100 2 or 3 Standby & Standby On-line Server Recovery for NT Server NT 4.0 SP2 NT 3.5 lor AIX 4.0; Solans NT; Solaris, Systems supported, if restricted Identical servers required Requires shared* ✓ disk subsystem GUI-based ✓ management Load balancing Client software required ✓ Special API supplied Interconnect type NIC Failover mode: A/A A/A or A/P RESOURCES PROTECTED Shared disk Generic applications Specific applications, via kits Genenc services IP address ✓ Network name File sharing Print services Time service Name service Microsoft Exchange PROTOCOLS SUPPORTED TCP/IP ✓ NetBEUI ✓ IPX/SPX ✓ HEARTBEAT MONITORING Network connection ✓ Shared disk Senal port A/A - Acl i vo/Ac live ✓ ✓ (Unix) RS/6000 HP-UX family ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ NT NCR Worldmark or S series 2 NT NT 3.5x, 4.0 NT 3.5 or higher; NetWare; OS/2 Warp ProLiant & ProSignia (Standby only) ✓ Wolfpack NT 4.0 SP3 ✓ ✓ Use Load Leveler ✓ ✓ ✓ Use Compaq Insight Manager ✓ ✓ ✓ 2 NICs/ server NIC NIC NIC NIC Serial NIC NIC A/A A/A or A/P A/A A/A, A/P, three-way (N/A) A/A (on-line); A/P A/P (standby) A/A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ A/P- Activu/ Passive* N/A-not applicable single program, the Cluster Administra¬ tor, to centralize control over applications and services. You can run it as a client from any NT workstation attached to the clus¬ ter. All cluster resources appear as hierar¬ chically organized objects that you can assign and configure with relative ease. Cluster Administrator manages ser¬ vices, file shares, and directory replication. It allows reviewing the activities and fail¬ ures of the computers in each cluster to determine which nodes are currently run¬ ning applications and services. Color de¬ notes resource ownership—that is, the colors change when a failover occurs, an instant notification that also tells you which server owns what resources. Clus¬ ter Administrator lets you specify the applications and related components that run on the servers and establish policies that monitor availability and recovery fail¬ ure detection. Manually taking individual nodes off-line for maintenance involves only a right mouse-click to fail services and resources over to the other server. While failover and fallback are han¬ dled well, load balancing is still a problem under Wolfpack. It’s neither automatic nor dynamic; in fact, it’s completely a manual process. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor cluster loads, because it’s possible for one node on the cluster to be serving 200 users and the other node handling only a few clients. And, unfortunately, there may be nothing you can do to fix it. At 1WI I*., we installed Wolfpack on two www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 2 9 Software Lab Report Wolfpack Howls Its Arrival The Rest of the Wolves T o paraphrase the old E. F. Hutton commercial, when Microsoft talks, other vendors listen. Mindful of the importance of open specifica¬ tions and industry-standard hardware, Microsoft enlisted a group of technology partners to assist in Wolfpack’s early development: Compaq, Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, NCR, and Tandem. Digital, in particular, was a key player. Microsoft licensed Digital's clustering source code, which forms the heart of Wolfpack. All but Intel plan to distribute Wolfpack-based clusters. Amdahl, Siemens Nixdorf, and Stratus Computer have announced plans to certify and offer Wolfpack clusters this year. Computer Associates, Oracle, and SAP have publicly discussed plans for Wolfpack-enabled products. Once Microsoft releases Wolfpack, Digital will no longer sell its Ousters for NT package. Digital's customers will migrate to Wolfpack, which Digital will support with an enhancement package that includes increased scalability, disaster tolerance, and administrative tools. Veritas plans to make FirstWatch as compatible with Wolfpack as possible, although some Wolfpack application- and device-depen¬ dency issues don’t apply. Isis, a division of Stratus Computer, offers Isis Availability Manager, which currently supports up to 100 servers, a capability far beyond Wolfpack. Nonetheless, Isis is committed to Wolfpack as its strate¬ gic API for clustering and maintaining compatibility with NT-based solutions. Thus, Stratus's Radio Cluster users will have an easy migra¬ tion path to future Wolfpack-based products. NCR sees its LifeKeeper, with extensive capabilities in both Unix and NT environments, as its premium high-availability enterprise offering, and considers the more-focused Wolfpack an entry-level offering. Octopus Technologies offers a data-mirroring system that can work with Wolfpack as well as provide an alternative, stand-alone fault-tol¬ erant solution for NT environments. Also, Octopus works in one-to- one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many configurations, not just Wolfpack’s initial one-to-one. Octopus will support all Wolfpack APIs as they become available. Some users may choose Wolfpack to implement local clusters and use Octopus to provide data mirroring and failover between clusters-in other words, cluster clustering. Soon, Compaq expects to introduce a multiserver failover system with full Wolfpack functionality, additional administrative tools, and Fibre Channel-attached external storage. Vinca plans to improve its Standby Server for NT by adding advanced features and Wolfpack compatibility. At the same time, Vinca is developing Wolfpack enhancements, utilities, and cluster-aware applications, allowing its customers a future migration to Wolfpack. Digital Equipment servers (200- and 166- MHz Pentium systems) sharing a single external SCSI cabinet with two 2-GB hard drives. Setup was quick and easy. The first node creates the cluster—cluster name, IP address, alias information, groups, etc. When the second node joins this existing cluster, we could assign resources and de¬ fine failover procedures. We tested manual failover (of IIS server, SQLServer, and disk resources) by moving resources back and forth using Cluster Administrator. We shut down one node to test automatic failover. In all cases, recovery seemed nearly instantaneous. Cluster Administrator was also smart enough to prevent us from assigning new resources to the now-missing node. Pick the Pack? The reality of clustering for NT, right now, is that neither Wolfpack nor any of the available clustering products for NT fully implements all the functions and concepts that BYT E believes constitute true cluster¬ ing. Available products provide add-on kits to support a short list of programs, mostly databases. Wolfpack adds much of the required functionality directly into the OS and provides common APIs for custom solutions. But if you need to cluster more than two servers, you probably can’t wait until Wolfpack grows up some more. Thus, one of the other products, includ¬ ing some non-NT clustering solutions, may be a better choice. Still, there seems little doubt that Microsoft will soon Ik* the leader of the pack. □ (Contributors to this report arc / \tvid Seachrist of NSTL ('dseachrist@prodigy.comj; Russell Kay , a BYlli technical editor (russellk@bix.comj; andAl Gallant (al gallant@mcgraw-hill.comj. HYIli's technical lab manager. Evaluations in this refxirt represent the judgment of BYIJi editors. based in part on extensive tests conducted try NSTL, Inc., as diKumented in a recetit issue of its monthly Software Digest. To purchase a copy of that report, with its own eval- uations and data on eight clustering systems , contact NSIL at 625 Ridge Pike, CUmshohtxken, PA 19428; (610) 941-9600; fax (610) 941- 99SO; on the Internet, editorsiwnstl.com. Ikira subscription, call (800) 257-9402. BYlli mag¬ azine and NS11. are both operating units of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. PRODUCT INFORMATION Digital Clusters for Isis Availability Manager Standby & On-line Windows NT $1500-$2500, NT; Recovery Server $995 $5000-$ 10,000, Unix $1499 Digital Equipment Corp. Isis Distributed Systems Compaq Computer Maynard. MA Marlborough. MA Houston, TX 800-344-4825 800-258-0990 800-652-6672 http://www.digital.com/ 508-460-2430 281-370-0670 Enter 1013 on Inquiry Card. http://www.isis.eom http://www.compaq.com/ FirstWatch for Enter 1016 on Inquiry Card. Enter 1019 on Inquiry Card. Windows NT Server LifeKeeper for Windows NT Standby Server for NT $4995 $1495 $2999 Veritas Software NCR Vinca Corp. Mountain View, CA Dayton. OH Orem, UT 800-258-8649 800-774-7406 888-808-4622 415-335-8000 937-445-5000 http://www.vinea.eom http://www.veritas.eom/ http://www.ncr.eom Enter 1020 on Inquiry Card. Enter 1014 on Inquiry Card. Enter 1017 on Inquiry Card. Wolfpack Price to be determined HACMP Octopus and SASO IBM Corp. $1499 Microsoft Corp. Somers, NY Octopus Technologies Redmond, WA 800-225-5249 Langhorne, PA 206-882-8080 http://www.ibm.com 800-919-1009 http://www.mierosoft.com Enter 1015 on Inquiry Card. 215-579-5600 http://www.octopusteeh.com Enter 1018 on Inquiry Card. Enter 1021 on Inquiry Card. byi 1 3 0 BYTE AUGUST 1997 SOMETHING MISSING? Complete your BYTE collection by ordering Back Issues today! 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 January February March April May June July August September October November December Special Issues Ottlloofc'97 1‘lHt jlnlily Wndom 93 B Guide Summer 93 B Guide f jll‘93 U * DehVerV $3 0 °' F ° re ' 9n De ' ivery $4 00 ’ 1990 thru 1997 U S - Deliver V $6-50. Foreign Delivery $8 50 Canada 6t Mexico $7.00 All issues prior to 1990 U.S. Delivery $3.00. Foreign Delivery $4 00. (Call for availability) These surface mai1 (forci9n) - ah chccks must bc ,n usfunds and drawn ° n a u - s - bank - ease indicate which issues you would like by checking (/) the boxes. Send requests with payment to: Back Issues, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, N.H. 03458 (603)924-9281 BYTE Check enclosed VISA MasterCard Card # Exp. Date Name Signature Charge: American Express First Name Last Name Address Address City State Zip A Division of Vic McGrow Hill ( xmipanies AUGUST 199 7 BYTE 1 3 1 Looking for your best careerjnove? MEJoBNet If you want nationwide exposure to hiring companies seeking quality Information Technology personnel, join the BYTE JobNet Registry today. BYTE JohNet is the most comprehensive Internet'based service ever developed for seasoned IT professionals who want to find the perfect joh by managing their own job search. This is a free service to job seekers. Try it and see! Hundreds of IT jobs! Find out instantly if you qualify! Search the BYTE JobNet IT job Bank. Register online for free! Create an updatable online resume. Reply automatically to any jobs. Manage 'matching job* lookup. Choose when to reveal your identity. Special Bonus! AutoMatcIf When you register as a BYTE JobNet job seeker, we compare your online resume with every joh ad in our IT Joh Bank every day. When our search engine detects a match, you will automatically receive an E-mail from us with specific details on replying to the employer. For a quick online tour of this free service to job seekers, click BYTE JobNet Quick Tour on our Web site. www.ISSil.com/jobnet A partnership with Elephant Online Information Technology Employment Matching Service Technical recruiters: To become a new client of BYTE JobNet, E-mail sales^ elephantonline.com, or call 1-800-632-7946. Code: ITCG B001 Database Management With significant enhancements, DB2 Universal Database 5.0 works better and on more platforms. By Barry Nance IBM Builds a Better DBMS I lthough nearly every DBMS these days wants to call itself universal—as, for example, the new Oracle 8 (to be re¬ viewed in the September BYTE)—IBM has co-opted the field by incorporating the term into the name of its flagship database product, DB2 Universal Data¬ base 5.0. If anyone is entitled to use this term, it’s probably IBM. According to some estimates, nearly 80 percent of the world’s digitized data resides in l)B2 databases on IBM-compatible main¬ frames. The remainder is scattered across a variety of platforms—primarily Unix, OS/2, and Windows NT—running Ora¬ cle, DB2, Sybase, Informix, or other rela¬ tional DBMSes (RDBMSes). This nonmainframe market—encom¬ passing client/server systems, the Inter¬ net, and intranets—is the hot spot for both sales growth and new features. In the race for speed, ease of use, features, and scalability, IBM’s I)B2 Universal Data¬ base 5.0 is challenging Oracle’s com¬ manding lead in this market. Available for NT, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and OS/2 platforms, the new I)B2 stores and retrieves audio, pictures, movies, user-defined data types, and, of course, numeric data. I tested the beta 4 version, which included (on nine CD-ROMs!) the database software, multimedia “extend- RATINGS TECHNOLOGY * * * IMPLEMENTATION ★ * * * PERFORMANCE * * * * ers,” Lotus Approach 97, Visual Age for Basic (OS/2 and Windows), client-side driver software, Net.Data (for integrat¬ ing l)B2 into a Web environment), and a System Development Kit (SDK). Clients for l)B2 can be any combina¬ tion of Unix, Windows (N'T or 95), OS/2, and Macintosh System 7 computers. & 3 Hflh H O 092 B 0 MMU VS Sir: I ******* ****** ItUwDMI#. ■ SYtlNGUIK vwixaijtm maw ■ SVSSOCMA $rm ■ STSXXUA SYMM ■ iYSUMMU SVMM ■ SWiftMl SVSOM ■ rnaum* sysim ■ SYSWJMIR STMM ■ mm ■ CXPMItMCNI BMW ■impact mm ■ moxrt I imp photo Idp.wuM mm DB2 Universal Database 5.0 Price to be determined Available in September IBM Corp. Armonk, NY 800-426-2968 http://www.software.ibm The Control Center is a new and useful graphical tool set that DB2 administrators have wanted. They can connect to DB2 via IPX/SPX, NetBEUI, APPC (I.U 6.2), and TCP/IP net- work protocols. Applications programmers can choose from a variety of APIs for delivering SQL to the database engine, embedded SQL (processed by a precompiler), DB2’scali- able programming interface, or Micro¬ soft’s ODBC Level 3. In the SDK, IBM explains how to access DB2 from a wide variety of computer languages, including C, C-f +, COBOL, FORTRAN, BASIC, and Java (via IBM’s supplied Java Database Connectivity [ JDBC) driver). BYTE’s testing shows that DB2 Uni¬ versal Database 5.0 scales well, runs quickly, is easy to administer, and adapts painlessly to Web-site use. I exercised DB2 running on NT Server and AIX, accessed by Windows, Mac, and OS/2 clients. In the lab, many of the tests focused on the integration of the NT version of DB2 with ***** Outstanding **** Vory Good *** Good ** Fa* Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) HTTP server and Netscape’s browser, letting DB2 play a central role in a TCP/IP- based intranet environment. Scalability One of DB2’s greatest strengths is its abil¬ ity to uniformly scale from notebooks to clustered environments and massively parallel processors. In past versions, de¬ velopers and network administrators had to work around subtle differences among the various DB2 versions, because the package behaved somewhat differently on each platform. For instance, the Data Definition Lan¬ guage for OS/2 wasn’t exactly the same as the one for NT. This current version corrects these discrepancies. For as many platforms as it runs on, however, DB2 Uni¬ versal Database 5.0 still lags behind Ora¬ cle’s ability to run on 92 platforms. continued AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 3 3 Review Ease of Use Lotus Approach 97 proved an effective and easy-to-use front end for DB2, supplying decision-support functions not available in the core l)B2 product. Approach was particularly good for formulating queries and graphing the data I’d stored in I)B2. A central tool set called the Control Center holds DB2’s graphical database management tools for administering, con¬ figuring, and tuning l)B2. I believe that IBM did an excellent job of combining most of l)B2’s administrative functions (i.e., performance configuration, moni¬ toring, and operation scheduling) into this easy-to-use interface. Control Center is a major improvement over the limited tools of previous versions of DB2. DB2 5.0 incorporates wizard-like func¬ tions called SmartGuides. Using the Per¬ formance Configuration SmartGuide, for example, I made tuning changes to im¬ prove l)B2’s performance for my setup. The SmartGuide allowed me to review a summary of proposed changes, execute those changes, or save them to a script for later processing. DB2’s familiar command- line interface is still available. Speed For larger enterprise-level environments, this new release of DB2 has improved per¬ formance optimizations for handling par¬ allel transactions and complex queries. It boosts performance with large buffer pools, 64-bit memory support, and pro¬ gramming enhancements to the SQL opti¬ mizer. In the lab tests, this new version responded 15 percent faster to SQL re¬ quests, on average, than its predecessor. IBM continues to distinguish between dynamic and static SQL in l)B2. Dynamic SQL can be a string of text that you type into a program at a command-line prompt. Static SQL, by contrast, consists of state¬ ments, embedded directly in the program, that are fully known at program compile time. Like other RDBMSes, l)B2 can com¬ pile and optimize dynamic SQL at run time. However, I >B2 gives developers pre¬ compile and postcompile options (IBM calls the process binding) that store static SQL statements in files with a BNI) exten¬ sion. In general, static SQL executes much faster than dynamic SQL. Reliability In the lab, when I emulated an enter¬ prise-level environment with multiple database servers and clients running con- IBM Builds a Better DBMS tinuously and concurrently, DB2 showed itself especially strong in the areas of load balancing, redundancy, and back-up-and- restore capabilities. Its replication feature let me push and pull database updates among servers with ease, and I had the option of replicating updates on an asyn¬ chronous or synchronous basis. In tests that ran 24 hours a day, unat¬ tended, l)B2 provided consistently high lev¬ els of uptime. In addition, other enhance¬ ments to this new version include clustering support (i.e., load sharing and redundancy) fora variety of operating environments, fast Rollup and Cube functions. Rollup is a data-grouping function, while Cube is use¬ ful for cross-tabulations of data. The ease with which I could incorpo¬ rate DB2 into a Web environment (intra¬ net) impressed me. DB2 Universal Data¬ base 5.0 includes support for Java and JDBC, and its Net.Data component made database access from HTML easy. Net .Data lets HTML developers insert data- base-access macros into their Web pages. I used Net.Data to quickly and painlessly create JavaScript-based Web pages that accessed a DB2 database. Like Microsoft’s TECH FOCUS Optimizing SQL Queries OPTIMIZATION DB2 subjects SQL statements to one of nine levels of optimization just prior to processing those statements. The nine levels, configurable by a database administrator or settable by applica¬ tions software, allow precise tuning of database response times. For example, you'd use level 0 or 1 for SQL that's already optimized by the programmer. Higher levels let DB2 examine and reformat SQL that’s been submitted by, for instance, a front-end query tool such as Microsoft Access or Lotus Approach 97. The SQL optimizer uses cost-based algorithms to determine the most efficient execution method. The optimizer finds the best join order, for example, and it decides whether the exe¬ cution of the SQL statement will be CPU- or I/O-bound. The optimizer chooses an execution path for the SQL statement that will result in the quickest response from the database engine. restart, and point-in-time table space and table-level data recovery. Versatile and Valuable DB2’s extenders, similar to Informix’s DataBlade technology, let developers store and retrieve multimedia data types. IBM ships four extenders with DB2 Universal Database 5.0 for handling text, image, audio, and video data. Furthermore, IBM says it’s coordinating with third-party ven¬ dors to create extenders for additional data types. The new version of DB2 offers stored procedures, triggers, and constraints, like previous versions, but it goes a step further to allow the storage of business logic and rules as objects. With a view toward the future, IBM has provided the option of cod¬ ing stored procedures in Java. DB2 Universal Database 5.0 has a new Tible function for better integration of external data into a DB2 database. I used this function in the lab to capture nonre¬ lational data and process that data with DB2 SQL statements, which I couldn’t do with other products or earlier DB2 versions. IBM has improved DB2 considerably, matching most of the features offered by other RDBMSes with its new support for Active Server Pages technology. Net. Data is a server-based scripting facility. It works on Unix and N'T with HTTP servers from Microsoft, IBM, and Netscape. DB2 Universal Database 5.0 also has expanded support for accessing very large databases as well as databases that extend across multiple nodes of a network. For mainframe or minicomputer database access, via a gateway, the new DB2 supports IBM’s Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA). This is the middle¬ ware through which DB2 Universal Data¬ base 5.0 can connect to and interact with other instances of DB2 running on plat¬ forms that support DRDA. These include MVS on mainframes and OS/400 on mid¬ range computers. In my opinion, almost all current DB2 users will want to upgrade to DB2 Uni¬ versal Database 5.0. And anyone who isn’t using DB2 but needs a scalable, robust, ver- satile database manager should take a good look at this new release. □ Harry Nance , a computer analyst and consul¬ tant for 25 years , is a BYTE consulting editor and the author of Introduction to Networking and Client/Server IAN Programming. You can reach him via the Internet at barryn@bix.com. www.byte.com 1 3 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Single-Sign-On Server Assigning roles to users with TrustedWeb enables the publication of sensitive data. By Tom Yager All the Web’s a Stage I n the Internet, whether you’re paranoid or not, there prob¬ ably is somebody out to get your data. Inexpensive Inter¬ net access puts millions of juicy targets within an aspiring hacker’s reach; there¬ fore, any system or network that’s acces¬ sible through the Internet is automati¬ cally on the target list. One popular cure for security prob¬ lems, the firewall, only does part of the job of keeping unauthorized users out. A single sign-on product, such as Trust¬ edWeb from Siemens Nixdorf’s Software and Systems Engineering Division, pro¬ vides an alternative to publishing only the data you don’t mind anyone seeing. De¬ spite many warts, the public beta version that I tested offered a unique and promis¬ ing approach to Internet security. Based on the Kerberos authentication technology, TrustedWeb adds SESAME (Secure European System for Applica¬ tions in a Multivendor Environment) extensions to provide role-based access control and public-key encryption. Roles typically group users by their work func¬ tion. TrustedWeb protects Web pages, scripts, downloadable files, and anything else that can be addressed with a URL. Only validated users engaged in an au¬ thorized role can access the data. The TrustedWeb server components run on Solaris and Sinix (Siemens Nix¬ dorf’s flavor of Unix); Wi ndows NT sup¬ port is expected in July. The client runs °n 32-bit Windows, Solaris and Sinix; other Unix flavors for both client and server will follow later. I installed the TrustedWeb server on a Solaris box, and the client on a Pentium system running Windows NT4.0 with Service Pack 2. Role-Based Protection I he notion of role-based security isn’t new; it’s implemented in commercial da¬ tabases, OSes (including NT), and other ri/m'**™ 0 * ° Ser Admin ' nstr *'on ■ Microsof t Internet Explon . S20 rjvontes O CD Slop Mmh Horn S«d, ft* £$ Address |wo /. °t ntt 3011 /og»/«ftnvHJMr*7U -dmcvi TrustedWeb User Adniini [ iisgs ] [ Profiles ] [ Roles ] [ Aiwlicalioi Name duacan Default Profile dssadin Authorisation Type Password and Public Key Access ID tacim@MAXX.NET Audit ID 123 TrustedWeb 1.0 (beta) $100 per registered user (up to 500 users) (client: Windows 95/NT, Solaris; Sinix server: Solaris, Sinix) Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems, Ltd. Dublin, Ireland Modify! (Back) O Software * Systems Engmceim* Ltd 199" AO lights rtse +3531 676 7551 http://www trustedweb.com Enter 997 on Inquiry Card. You display and change user profiles, server-access controls, and most of Trusted Web’s operating parameters via a Web interface. secure applications. The theory is won¬ derfully simple: Organize those who have physical access to your data into groups based on their job descriptions and/or the RATINGS TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION A * tasks they perform. For instance, the wom¬ an in accounting who handles some basic administrative chores might be assigned the roles “accounting” and “system oper¬ ator.” Roles are usually arranged in hier¬ archies that make some roles composites of others. Roles simplify administration. Access rights to files and services are usually as¬ signed on a per-user basis. Adding, re¬ moving, and modifying access permis¬ sions becomes tedious when you must track individual users. Role-based access ***** Outstanding ****V«yGood *** Good ** Far * Poor is an extension of simple groups; you could build yourself a basic role-based security system on any OS that supports groups—with a couple of twists. Each user is assigned a single default role, but not all OSes have the notion of a default group. If a user wants to switch to an¬ other role, that role can have different attributes associated with it. Its transac¬ tions might be more heavily logged, or the user might have to supply a pass¬ word to switch to that role. In Operation One of Trusted Web’s most appealing as¬ pects is that it should seamlessly inter¬ operate with virtually any Web server. Trusted Web’s server components sit be¬ tween users and your Web content; the Domain Security Server sets up a con¬ versation with the TrustedWeb client and determines whether the user is authen- AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 3 5 Review Ail the Web’s a Stage TECH FOCUS PROXY SERVERS Proxies Serve to Supplement Security TrustedWeb is able to maintain compatibility with most Web servers by implementing what is known as a proxy server. This is a piece of server software that acts as an intermediary be¬ tween a browser and a Web server. All requests for access to protected Web, FTP, and other content are filtered through the proxy server. In addition, the proxy server can allow or deny access based on rules configured by administrators. In TrustedWeb's case, its rules are based on user roles (as described in the main article). A proxy server receives access requests from Web browsers (and other Internet tools, such as FTP clients) through a special TCP port. It analyzes each request, cheeking to sec whether the system making the request is on the list of systems permitted access. In intranets, proxy servers are configured to deny access to IP addresses outside the company's assigned ranges. Individual users might have their access to certain (or all) external sites logged or restrict¬ ed. And proxy servers offer the ability to use a low-eost (i.e., single IP address) Internet link to bring Internet services to a number of systems. Microsoft's Proxy Server product, for in¬ stance. automatically dials your Internet provider on demand. Proxy servers and firewalls usually operate together; they can even be combined into a single product. Working together, a firewall and a proxy server provide an excellent defense against unauthorized external access. tic. The Domain Security Server, like the rest of Trusted Web, takes its data from a configuration file. When the client hands over its authentication data, the Domain Security Server compares that data with the fields in its configuration file until it finds a match. Once the Domain Security Server au¬ thenticates the user, the separate Trusted- Web Server determines whether the user is allowed to access a particular URL re¬ source. TrustedWeb Server creates proxy connections between clients and one or more Web servers. Configure your Web server to refuse all connections except those that go through the TrustedWeb proxy, and you can secure your content. Each user has five key properties set in the Domain Security Server’s configuration file: domain, user name, default profile, audit identity, and allowed profiles. The domain and user name uniquely identify the user. The default profile names the role the user is assigned if none is requested. Typically, users don’t change to a role oth¬ er than the default. The audit identity field determines how a user is listed in TrustedWeb’s logs. Some users might prefer to use an alias rather than the true user name that’s listed in the logs, and usage patterns might be more than some wish to reveal to others. Final¬ ly, the allowed profiles provide the names of all roles a user is permitted to take on. Entries in the TrustedWeb Server’s con¬ figuration file use wild-carded URLs to protect hierarchies of Web resources. Each line describes a resource or group of re¬ sources and assigns to it an access type of open, entry, or hidden. Open access allows all browsers to access the resource; no au¬ thentication is requested or required. Entry access lets all browsers know the page ex¬ ists on the server, but the content isn’t de¬ livered until the user is authenticated. Hid¬ den access lets an unauthenticated user see nothing; even the structure of the content is concealed until the security data is ex¬ changed. For entry and hidden resources, TrustedWeb accepts a list of roles that are permitted access to each resource. The TrustedWeb client, available for 32-bit Windows, Sinix, and Solaris, links the user’s browser with the remote Trust¬ edWeb Domain Security Server and ex¬ changes authentication data. The client runs in the background, separate from the browser. Once a user logs in through the TrustedWeb client, his or her credentials are valid for the remainder of the session or until a configurable time-out expires. Unlike straight Kerberos, which is strict¬ ly for authentication, TrustedWeb sup¬ ports the negotiation of encrypted chan¬ nels using the RSA algorithm for public- key encryption. As a non-U.S. company, Siemens Nixdorf is not subject to U.S. ex¬ port restrictions for cryptography; thus, it can deliver full-strength TrustedWeb internationally. Miles to Co TrustedWeb represents a marvelous seed of an idea, but it falls short in its imple¬ mentation. With its SlOO-per-registered- user price tag for clients (for up to 500; af¬ ter that, Siemens Nixdorf will talk site license), even after applying the forgive¬ ness filter common to reviews of beta soft¬ ware, TrustedWeb’s basic flaws seriously diminish its appeal. For example, the product’s role struc¬ ture is too simple to suit most complex or¬ ganizations. It’s flat, except for the domain prefix, which allows you to set up a basic two-level hierarchy. Also, the roles them¬ selves have no properties associated with them. They work too much like groups, delivering the convenience of pooling similar users together, but without the functionality one expects from a true role- based system. In addition, TrustedWeb’s setup and ad¬ ministration are nightmarishly complex. Someone who already understands X.509 certificates and proxy servers will he able to get through it just fine. But if you’re a little fuzzy on either of these concepts, ex¬ pect to be bewildered by the 35 pages of related documentation that accompanies TrustedWeb. I tested the Solaris version of the Trust¬ edWeb server. Perhaps the NT release will show some improvement in ease of setup and administration. The client, which has no user interface and provides no feed¬ back, was no walk in the park, either. When it didn’t work, there wasn’t much to go on. The promised appendix cover¬ ing appropriate registry entries wasn’t part of the beta documentation. Siemens Nixdorf’s Web-based admin¬ istrative interface is shaky in the beta ver¬ sion; it doesn’t commit changes and fails to bring up some pages. But something as convoluted as TrustedWeb needs better graphical administration tools. In the end, TrustedWeb feels less like a commercial product than an internal hack that the company chose to release. That’s no slam—lots of worthwhile solutions started life as internal hacks—but it would be worth hanging back to give Siemens Nixdorf a chance to make TrustedWeb ready for prime time. At this stage, the package doesn’t seem quite ready for an external beta test. I look forward to taking another look at Trust¬ edWeb when it’s more mature. □ Tom Yager is a software project manager and a freelance analyst and u/riter located in north Texas. You can reach him Iry sending e-mail to tyager@maxx.net. 1 3 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 www.byte.com Ik T J MV E-Mail Attachments Until e-mail-attachment standards become standard, Tumbleu/eed's Posta is ready to ease your file-delivery phobias. By Pete Losbin Speedy File Delivery on the Web I ile transfer, whether it's done over old 300-bps dial-up lines or as file attachments to e- mail messages, is far from foolproof. Tumbleweed Software claims up to 50 percent of e-mail file attach¬ ments don’t reach their destinations— that’s why it created Posta. The idea is simple: E-mail a URL and have the recipient get the file via the Web instead of having to figure out how to en¬ code the file attachment (see the Tech Fo¬ cus below). As a bonus, recipients down¬ load only the files they need. Posta executes nicely on the user side. Receiving an attachment is simple and requires no special software at all: An attached file shows up in a message as a rather hairy-looking URL pointing to the file as it sits in a SQL database that you’ve set up on Posta Server. With Web-enabled e-mail clients, you’re just a click away from opening the file remotely. If you’re licensed to send files with Pos¬ ta, you can use a Web front end if your browser can upload files, or the Posta Desktop client if it can’t. Account man¬ agement is done through the Web, so if you have no browser you can send only k LA y**. fro Cmnuto H«t> 1 / . 3 .a*, * .£ a; Posta $3QQQ V J777 for server and 20 accounts Prichut Plani * Las** Wfrg Create Invoico H»h> (additional seats, from $189 each) if II ^ II (9 1/ W«m H U(Mlt || mum Mil Create Pricing Plan requires vvinoows IN 1 Server, SQL Server, 64 MB of RAM, and 1 GB of disk Pricing Information: space Plan: Jsuper3«v«r Tumbleweed Software Corp. Subscription Pricing Redwood City, CA Host Prica: j|l0.00 |MontMy jr| Phu: $|2.00 per member over fi member Delivery Pricing; 415-369-6790 http://www.tumbleweed.com Bmo Price: jfo »° per deWery Jfcw: Sjo.ZS per 0 1MB over |i x 0 1MB Enter 1058 on Inquiry Card. Reducing network traffic by charging for big e-mail file transfers is easy with a Posta pricing plan, administered through the server. attachments. Tumbleweed plans to inte¬ grate Posta into other e-mail clients and already has separate DLLs that add Posta to the Microsoft Office toolbar and to Vi- Posta works, and it’s a worthy solution to a pressing need. One little nit: Posta pur¬ chasers must submit their server’s URL be- TECH FOCUS sioneer scanning software. Although the client side is easy to use, | ' -/ RATINGS the server is tough to set up. Posta Server TECHNOLOGY * ★ * Internet c-mail is designed to handle ASCII text: 7-bit characters from the ba¬ sic text selection. Attach binary data and intervening e-mail servers, and gateways will convert your bytes to ASCII text that looks like gibberish. UUencode turns bina¬ ry data into ASCII text but requires UUdc- eode to turn it back to binary. The newer Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) standard, which can encapsulate many different types of files within e-mail messages, must also be supported by both sender and recipient. it needs your SMTP server and more: Win¬ dows NT Server 4.0, SQL Server 6.5, In¬ ternet Information Server 3.0, 64 MB of RAM, almost a gigabyte of disk space, and full TCP/IP services, including Domain Name System (DNS). You will need ex¬ pertise with NT Server, SQL Server, and I CP/IP; plus, you’ll have to coordinate with firewall, proxy, and DNS configura¬ tions. Once you’re done, though, admin¬ istration through the Web interface, in¬ cluding account management, server monitoring, and configuration, is simple and straightforward. IMPLEMENTATION ★ * * * protective and a potential source of prob¬ lems for buyers who change server names down the road and forget to call Tumble¬ weed for a new license. My biggest com¬ plaint is Posta’s lack of integration with my e-mail client, but that should be coming s Macn> Tallin ^h-s, Ini J ttahifcma Si POHox IISI6, A/.ur S8U0I bisd Td: (972-3) SSH234S Fax: (972-3) SS8-2344 I*-mail: mf< *<• ink n wnai n u t wn USA Mk nrfiuurd 651 StHJih Pnmiar Si. Denver CO. H022* USA Td: <303) 320-1628 Pax (303) 320-1599 E-mail: uvani mi< mm.K mron) MICROGUARD SEE YOU AT. HCOMDEX Foil *97 I A » VIG A 4 Booth #S8049 __ __ * Windows Mac )S Somehow, On to Cairo! got bogged down in the Second Battle of Tobruk. 14 0 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Circle 1 74 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 175). Some Things Make You Feel Stupid Chaos Manor features and functions: where some sys¬ tems require a variety of programs and plug-ins to finish a job, most of those fea¬ tures will typically be present in Softini- age. There will be several hundred such tools, including ways to join two objects, explode an object (the function is called kaboom) and control what happens when the pieces hit other objects, smoothing functions, and so forth. The result is a bewildering—one Soft- image executive unapologetically said frightening—array of tools and options that can overwhelm a beginner. It’s pre¬ cisely the opposite of Microsoft’s ap¬ proach to software, although all future upgrades of Softimage will run in NT. 1 hose familiar with the software can do wonders. They’re not up to Adam Selene, the computer-generated personality in Robert Heinlein’s classic The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress , but they’re closer than I thought anyone would be now. In particular, it’s possible to model a semiclothed human body so realistically that you have trouble determining if this is a computer-generated animation or a human actor. The face, however, is a dead giveaway; no one would think even the best computer-generated human face is a real person. Put a Darth Vader or storm trooper mask on it, though, and you could probably bring it off, and I doubt that it would be a problem to do a convincing alien. I hat may explain why my agent reports new interest in the movie rights to The Mote in Hod's Eye. One of the impressive tools used by Softimage is a MIDI sound box—the kind with the sliders that sound mixers use— set up to control the movements of a com¬ puter object. One slider might control the mouth, another the hand. The result is something like the control of a puppet with a dozen invisible strings. We saw other marvels, including talk¬ ing dragons. It’s hard not to leave there talking to yourself. (E NOW HAVE SOFTIMAGE 3D Extreme running in NT4.0, and my artist associate David Em will be comparing it to its chief rivals. While Softimage at $ 13,995 for software alone won’t be some¬ thing you’ll use this year, one of my goals in this column is to keep an eye on the future, and computer graphics is a fast¬ growing area. I suspect that a significant number of BYT E readers will be working in that field by 2001. By then, programs www.byte.com with this power will be available at office suite prices. Meanwhile, Softimage won’t be standing still. Lord knows what capa¬ bilities they’ll have programmed in by then. If you’re thinking of a career in 3-D graphics, the best preparation is to start off at home. You’ll need N'T on a Pentium system with a decent monitor, a Wacom tablet, ;ts much memory as you can afford, and a lot of disk-storage space. That will be working space; if you want to keep your early efforts, add something like a Fujitsu DynaMO drive. T hen buy Caligari’s trueSpace—the current version is called trueSpace*—and get to work. While trueSpace doesn’t have anything like the capability of Softimage, it’s plenty powerful enough to learn with. There are tutorials to help you create and animate some objects, and more than enough power to teach the basics of com¬ puter graphics. I he Softimage people esti¬ mate that even experienced designers need three months and more to learn Softim¬ age; I’ve heard estimates of as long as six months. Practice with trueSpace can cut that time significantly. I haven’t taken a survey, but it’s my impression that most successful 3-D graph¬ ics artists come from architecture and industrial-design backgrounds rather than fine arts or computer science. Of course, there are exceptions, David Em being one of them; but then David has always been to be unstable; so we decided to install the DynaMO 640 on Princess. My usual routine with new SCSI devices is to ignore the cables they come with and set up with Granite Digital SCSI cables. Since about 90 percent of all SCSI prob¬ lems are cable-related, and Granite Digi¬ tal cables always work, I can get things run¬ ning with one less darned thing to worry about and then switch to the included cables. Granite Digital cables and termi¬ nators also have diagnostic lights. If you don’t have a set for SCSI setup, I bet you wish you did. We powered Princess down, installed the cables, noted that the green light on the cable came on, and powered up. Alas, the controller didn’t see any SCSI device. We fooled around awhile and concluded that the unthinkable had happened: we had a bad Granite Digital cable. So we swapped for another one. That didn’t work either. Then I swapped the DynaMO 640 for the DynaMO 230 hooked up to Cyrus. It worked fine over there. How¬ ever, the DynaMO 230, which had no problems on Cyrus, wasn’t visible to the Compaq’s controller. We must have fooled around for an hour. I was very reluctant to believe there was anything wrong with Princess’s SCSI controller, because that runs her hard drive just fine. What was there about the external connection that made it fail? Eventually we got back there with a I suspect that a significant number of BYTE readers will work in computer graphics by 2001. as interested in sculpture as in graphic arts. Anyway, if you’re thinking of getting into computer graphics and you’re still in school, you certainly won’t go wrong by taking design courses. Meanwhile, spend a lot of time just fooling around learning the tools. To become a writer, you have to write, which includes finishing what you write; to be a graphic artist, you have to produce finished graphic art. It takes about a million words to get started in writing. FEW DAYS AGO, WE GOT THE new Fujitsu DynaMO 640, an external SCSI big brother to the DynaMO 230 we’ve had for more than a year. We have a big dual Pentium-based server running under NT 4.0 back in the cable room, but it already has enough external devices that adding another makes the SCSI string long enough flashlight. The external SCSI connector is attached to the case with two small hex nuts that are themselves tapped to accept the screw fasteners on the cable. Princess is a preproduction model, and whoever assembled her put two tiny lock washers under those hex nuts. Those caused the nuts to stand away from the case by about a millimeter more than normal, but, of course, the SCSI connector didn’t protrude any further. The result was that while some of the SCSI connector pins made contact— enough that the lights came on in the cable—at least one didn’t. We removed the nuts, attached the SCSI cable without fasteners, and voila! As I said, 90 percent of all SCSI problems are cable-related. There are two morals to this story: doubt everything else before con¬ cluding you have a bad Granite Digital AUGUST 1997 BYTE 141 Circle 138 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 139). PKZIP for Windows Version 2.50 Compatible with ✓ Windows 95 v Windows NT v Windows 3. lx Why use PKZIP for Windows? • Save on-line time charges and save disk space. • Compress files an average of 50-70%. Many large files compress well over 90%. • Open .ZIP archives downloaded from the Internet. • Simple point-and-click interface. • PKZIP 2.50 for Windows includes a separate 16-bit and 32-bit program. • Combines the best and fastest patented compression technology found in PKZIP 2.04g. Other PKWARE Products: PKLITE & PKl.lTli Professional' for Windows Put your executables on a diet! PKWARE Data Compression Library " Put compression in your application. Separate versions available for DOS, DOS32, Windows, Win32. OS/2. UNIX & MacOS. To order call 414-354-8699 or visit our web site http://www.pkware. com mi mt PC World World l la** Award ftM Oooornmotd Computor Now* Itotl Now ProtArtl Award at fOif FtnoAU 199S Com p utor Catron!* Roador* CRoko Award mi Sharowaro lndu*try Award mi Prowdoto Computing AUgatmo Award mi Oootak/loom Award PKWARE, Inc. 9025 .V. Deerwood Drive Brown Deer Wl, 53225 USA FAX: 414-354-8559 Email: inJ'o(apkware.com < iw PK« AM . lor AN Armsrd AM Mwt. " H|Mnnl luiraaAi jar Ac fHfntt ml An infn(n< mwti BY 897 Chaos Manor cable, and use a strong light to examine your connections. Meanwhile, the DynaMO 640 works very well indeed. There was one more problem: if you boot up your system with an unformatted disk in a SCSI drive, the controller will hang up. There’s no prob¬ lem with a formatted cartridge or with no cartridge at all. One test was to transfer files from the 230 to the 640; it’s clear from watching the lights blink that the 640 writes about as fast as the 230 reads. The 640 will read and write to 230 disks, so any archives in 230 format are available after an upgrade to the 640. The 640 is a larger and more rug¬ ged unit than the 230. The 640’s power supply is integral; the 230 uses a line lump. Unlike the 230, the 640 has a “power on” light as well as a “being accessed” light, which is just as well. At one point, we had everything working right and then tried to bring the system up with the 640’s power off, and wondered why the SCSI controller couldn’t find it. Duh. SyQuest SCSI cartridge drives are fast and reliable, but Iomega drives arc fast becoming standard for data exchange: Zip tridge drive as the boot disk. He can now boot up in NT4.0, DOS, Win 95, and OS/2 Warp depending on the disk cartridge he puts in at start-up. Alan reports that it’s tricky getting it to work, but it can be done. I’ll have details next month. Chaos manor intern eric Pobirs reports that if you don’t have Microsoft Word but you need to read Word documents, WordPad, which comes with Win 95, works just fine. Eric says: “I’ve gotten in the habit of using the WordPad accessory bundled in Win 95 and NT for most text generation. While sup¬ posedly limited to 32-KB files, this is rarely a problem for the length I tend to work in. Although it loaded the 69-KB Chaos Manor column without any problem, Netscape wanted to launch Word even though it isn’t on this machine. This has never happened before. “The vast majority of what I do gets transmitted, so the compact size of Word- Pad keeps the system from dragging. On the receiving end, WordPad has one big advantage: it understands Word 7 files but has no macro functions. If someone sends The files on a DynaMO cartridge will be safe for many years. for text and Jaz for big image files. You’ll find Iomega drives at Kinko’s as well as in image-processing houses. They work, although I’m inclined to think of them as a little less reliable than SyQuest drives. Both are faster than DynaMO drives. However, I never tire of saying. Zip (and SyQuest) cartridges are both larger and more fragile; I can put a DynaMO 640 car¬ tridge in my shirt pocket. The files on that cartridge will be safe for years, and the cartridge costs only a fraction of what a Jaz cartridge costs. I have long been a fan of glass disks. I still have a Maximum Stor¬ age 300-MB-per-side cartridge drive on¬ line on the network as part of my backup system. The 640 gets that much on a sin¬ gle side (the cartridges are single-sided), takes up less room, and is much faster. When you absolutely must use your car¬ tridge drive as a hard drive, go for SyQuest or Iomega. However, for archive-quality storage with reasonable speed, you can’t beat the Fujitsu DynaMO. One last point: my associate Alan Ogden has managed to get a system work- ing using my SyQuest Syjet 1.5-GB car¬ an infected file, the code is never run and is stripped during the save. No macro virus, ever.” If you have Windows 95 or NT, you have WordPad, and it’s often good enough. The game of the month is Fragile Allegiance from Interplay, but I’m not really recommending it. There’s a good game in there, but it’s hard to find. Fragile Allegiance is a game of asteroid mining, a sort of SimCity in space with the complications of enemy missiles. There’s also trading activity. Alas, while it’s sup¬ posed to be a game of strategy in real time, it soon becomes a form of whack-a-mole. Fragile Allegiance is vastly improved if you have a second computer available: there are a number of complex decisions you have to make, and the game gives you no help. What you need is a spread¬ sheet to add up the income potential of an asteroid so you can decide what kind of investment to make there. You can play Fragile Allegiance in a DOS window (be sure to check the “Protected” box in the program information file [PIF] launching www.byte.com The Definitive Reference Source! BYTE on CD-ROM Seven Years of BYTE — 1990-1996 Plus, Quarterly Updates PLUS; On CD-ROM Instant Access To More Than 80 Issues of BYTE 1990-1996 rs Product Reviews & Core Technologies • BYTE bnb/NSTL Reports Benchmarks Cover Stories & Features Complete Index to Articles A Full Text Database SEARCH ► FIND ► ELECTRIC MONEY •How to list It -Mow to Mint Your Own ► EXPORT ► LOCATE ► SCAN Older Tuday! 1-80U-924-6621 j PIUS Call 1-800-924-6621 It’s all at your fingertips — emerging trends, comprehensive world-wide industry analysis, multiplatform coverage of all the technologies, in-depth testing and product evaluations, advice, tips, expert opinions, and much more! It’s a deal for anyone who’s evaluating the significance of new technologies...doing research...making complex multi platform purchasing decisions...developing the next generation hardware or software products...preparing corporate plans. It’s Comprehensive... Time Saving...and Easy to Use! It’s all In BYTE on CD-ROM. I m l Order Now! Toll-free International Numbers: Belgium 080071635 Germany 0130826112 UK. 0800973017 Italy 167876155 France 0800916068 Netherlands 060222146 Switzerland 1557257 Denmark 80017728 Sweden 020791136 Other lnt‘1 091-752792 U.S./Canada 1-800-924-6621 FAX 609-426-5434 i! I want the power and convenience of BYTE on CD-ROM FU "** ' r0,n 1990,996 ,SSUeS °' BYTE ** ,0ur CDR0M « <«• J Send me BYTE on CD-RuM! Full lex! lro,n 1990 1996 issues of BYTE-more than 80 issues lor only $39.95. «i9e my: U Master Card lI VISA UAmex LI Check enclosed (Payable lo BYTE magazine. US funds only) Card#_ c vrt --Date —--Signature Name_ _ Address _ City _ E-mail Address _ - _ Slate/Province/Country _ Zip/Postal Code. BYTE Mail lo: BYTE o.. ou-RuM, P.O. BOX 526, Hightstown, NJ 08530 rnnoiooT C «“ * 95 * and handling, and s.a1e tax where appteatte KmUmJSl arv«>|Xiate 6»T). Ouuue Norttt America, add $5.00 lor ax mad delivery Allow 68 weeks hr dekvety A llmmm a/ IktMrtimrlhlU .m+mmn A Message to Our Subscribers From time to time we make the BYTE subscriber list available to other compa¬ nies whose products or services would be of interest to our readers. We take great care to screen these companies, choosing only those who are reputable. Furthermore, subscriber names are made available for direct mail purposes only; telemarketing calls are strictly prohibited. Many BYTE subscribers appreciate this carefully managed program, and look forward to receiving infor¬ mation of interest to them via the mail. While we believe this information is of benefit to our subscribers, we Firmly respect the wishes of any subscriber who does not want to receive promo¬ tional literature. Should you wish to restrict the use of your name, please send your request (including your mag¬ azine mailing label, name, address, and subscription account number) to: BYTE BYTE Magazine Subscriber Services PO Box 555, Ftightstown, NJ 08520 g? A Division of The McGrmP'HiU Cotnpamcs Chaos Manor it), but it won’t restart: you still won’t be able to get at Excel and return to the game. There’s nothing for it but to bring in a sec¬ ond computer, which is wretched excess. Fragile Allegiance assumes a major cor¬ poration would send you out to manage a multihillion-dollar operation with inade¬ quate manuals and about half the equip¬ ment you absolutely must have to do the job. They graciously allow you to buy that equipment, but they don’t tell you what you’ll need. There are other insults to your intelligence, and I’m afraid my willing sus¬ pension of disbelief went all to hell quite early on. The good news is that Interplay has made a number of improvements to Con¬ quest of the New World. These are avail¬ able from their Web site. I’m undecided which is the better game, the old one with bugs fixed or the new Deluxe Edition, which not only has bug fixes but new fea¬ tures. Either is more fun than Fragile Alle¬ giance as released. Maybe they’ll improve it, too. The book of the month is The Trap by James Goldsmith (1994, Carroll 8c Graf, ISBN 0-7867-0185-4). The theory of free trade is that the com¬ petition will keep your domestic industries efficient, and thus provide cheaper and better consumer goods. I have often asked economists, including one Nobel winner, what happens to that theory if you impose the political constraint (in economic terms, an externality) that those U.S. work¬ ers unemployed because their company couldn’t compete with low-wage offshore workers must be supported at above¬ poverty levels by those who retain jobs. Given that unemployment has social costs—my mother used to say idle hands are the devil’s workshop and certainly high unemployment seems to be accom¬ panied by high crime rates—and given the costs of unemployment compensation and welfare, are those taxpayers who retain their jobs sufficiently compensated by the availability of cheaper consumer goods? I have never got a satisfactory answer, and one well-known economist literally shouted at me, “You haven’t read Ricardo,” as if that were a sufficient an¬ swer to what I thought was a reasonable question. James Goldsmith has read Ricardo. He asks my question and others like it, and concludes that global free trade is a deadly trap for the West. Whether he’s right or wrong, I think his questions need answers. The first computer book of the month is the previously mentioned Bulletpnx>f- ing Windows 95. I’ve found two others I can recommend. The first is Dan Gookin’s Web Wambooli (Peachpit Press, ISBN 0- 201-88597-2). Most beginner’s guides to the Internet break off just as they get to the interesting parts. Gookin goes a bit beyond that, and his irreverent style makes this a good book to read as you sit and watch nothing happen on the Web. If you know someone contemplating Web entry, this is a good book for them to start with. Paul Gilster’s The Web Navigator (Wiley, ISBN 0-471-16495-X) isn’t as good a beginner’s introduction as Gookin’s book but goes well beyond it. There’s a lot about browsers and plug-ins and cus- PRODUCT INFORMATION 1 Fragile Allegiance Softimage 3D $49.95 Extreme Interplay Productions $13,995 Irvine, CA Softimage 3D $7995 800-468-3775 Softimage 714-553-6655 Montral. Quebec, f ix: /14-252-2820 Canada infointerplay.com 800-576-3846 http://www.intcrplay 514-845-1636 .com fax:514-845-5676 Enter 976 on http://www.softimagc Inquiry Card. .com Enter 978 on Fujitsu DynaMO 640 external, $499 Inquiry Card. internal, $449 trucSpace3 $795 Fujitsu Computer Caligari Corp. Products of America Mountain View, CA San Jose, CA 415-390-9600 800-626-4686 fax:415-390-9755 408-432-6333 sales(tfcaligari.com fax:408-894-3606 http://ruok.caligari http://www.fcpa.com .com Enter 977 on Enter 979 on Inquiry Card. Inquiry Card. tomizations. All the information here is available on the Web itself, but here it’s well organized and available for reference. Most Web and Internet books are obsolete before they’re published, but this one should be useful for another year or so. I can see five other items I wanted to write about, but I’m way beyond my word limit, both for the magazine and the Pour- nelle Web exclusive. □ Jerry Pournelle is a science fiction writer and BYTE ’s senior contributing editor. You can unite to Jerry c/o BYTE, 24 HartivellAve., Lexington, MA 02173. Please include a self-addressed , stamped envelope and put your address on the letter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot guarantee a per¬ sonal reply. You can also contact him on the Internet or BIX at jerryp@bix.com. 1 4 4 BYTE AUGUST 1997 om BUYER’S GUIDE Essential Products and Services for Technology Experts Mail Order Top mail-order vendors offer the latest hardware and software products at the best prices. Page 1 46 Hardware/Software Showcase Your full-color guide to in-demand hardware and software products, categorized for quick access. Page 152 Buyer’s Mart The BYTE classified directory of | computer products and services, I by subject so you can easily locate ! I the right product. Page 158 AUGUST 199 7 BYTE 1 4 5 AUTOMATKAUY DECODES AND COPIES . K VIRTTJ AUY ANY CD FORMAT. CD-ROM, Audio, CD-DA, CD-XA, Mac, Mixed Mode, and ISO 9660. INTERNAL A/V HARD DRIVE. .. Stance bit-by-bit duk image.* for instant duplication. EXTERNAL SCSI PORT WORKS LIKE A FAST CD WINTER. Connect it to your PC or Mac and use it to design custom CIX*. Software included free! COPY CD-ROMS INSTANTLY. NO COMPUTER REQUIRED. CD DUPE-IT1 Instantly duplicate CD-ROM disks for software distribution. Make spare backup copies of your valuable software. Produce disks quickly and economically. No Cl) design or multimedia production is required. HOW EASY IS IT? One-button operation means CD DUPE IT! IS SOLD AND INTENDED FOR BACKUP AND IN HOUSE DUPLICATION PURPOSES ONLY COPYRIGHT LAWS MUST BE OBSERVED. CALL FOR RACK MOUNT AND MULTI DRIVE COPIERS. BUY MANUFACTURER DIRECT: $1295 408-743-8732 anyone can use CD Dupe-It! Simply insert your original disk and push “enter." The onboard fast multimedia processor decodes the CD format and copies it to the internal A/V hard drive. Insert blank recordable disks and make as many exact copies as you like. You'll easily and quickly produce identical bit-for-bit duplicates. CORPORATE SYSTEMS CENTER www.corpsys.com V •Dupe-lt! c TOTALLY SELF-CONTAINED. No additional barthcare or software u* required. AUDIO EDIT FEATURE. Allows you to select and copy Audio CD tracks to create your own custom Audio CD*. Circle t 78 on Inquiry Card. he first 100% Computer Based Training (CBT) programs on I CD-ROM to fully prepare you for Novell’s CNE, Microsoft’s MCSE and the A+ Certification exams. Forefront's Self-Study Courses give you flexibility and portability unmatched by traditional training methods. You’ll study at your own pace using our easy to follow, step-by-step format. Study whenever and wherever it’s convenient for you! • All on one CD • Interactive simulations for hands-on exercises • Study at your own pace • Hundreds of practice questions • Priced below competitive products • Everything you need to prepare for the exams! Become MCSE Certified ...FAST! The ForeFront MCSE Self-Study Course™ ensures the highest rate of retention so that when you complete your training you’ll be fully prepared to pass your MCSE exams. You’ll be ready and confident to go into the workplace to effectively plan, implement, maintain and support information systems in a wide range of computing environments using Windows NI and other Microsoft Server products. Contains All 6 Training Modules! Call for Special Pricing! ; >** /"'XTE Sclf-S«udy v GNU Cour*e^. Become CNE Certified ...FAST! The ForeFront CNE Self-Study Course™ provides fast, effective and convenient training to anyone wishing to become a Certified NetWare Engineer even when hampered by a busy schedule. Our CNE CBT allows you to learn and practice everything you’ll need for full NetWare certification. Contains All 7 Training Modules! Call for Special Pricing! Become A+ Certified ...FAST! Getting A+ Certified will help open the way to further advancement in the corporate world The ForeFront A+ Certification Self-Study Course™ is a hands-on self-study course that will give you all the technical material, knowledge, interactive exercises, and confidence you’ll need to pass your exams and excel in today’s competitive PC repair marketplace! Call for Special Pricing! •M • Free Technical Sii|)|inil • Next Day Shippiny • Performance Gunrnnhiiul Call for Special Discount Pricing Today! 1 - 800 - 475-5831 (813) 724-8994 • FAX (813) 726-6922 Forefront DIRECT 25400 U.S. Hwy. 19 N„ #285 Clearwater, FL 34623 Copyright 0199/ f•»«•< *.*» . ' ". . ^ Courw. Forefront A. OrUhcak* SrfSmdy Couw and Forefront MCSE Sed Study Course are trademarks ol Frwrfrn* rw. .nr ■.... * o,„c lK t Circle 179 on Inquiry Card. BM Circle 186 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 187). Windows NT 4 Solaris Linux Windows 95 OS/2 PC-DOS SCO UNIX Switch without Risk! Now you can run both Win 95 and DOS/Win 3.x on the same PC! If you’re considering Windows 95, hut have “update phobia”, new System Commander lets you switch without fear! In fact, you can run Win 95, 3.1, NT, OS/2, and DOS without repartitioning your PC unless you want to ... safely, effortlessly and inexpensively. System Commander: • prepares your PC automatically ' more than one s sKS»rr K for new operating systems in 5 min¬ utes • it’s easy to use - just select the OS you want from the menu and System Commander does the rest; to use another OS, simply reboot and make I another selection • it saves you money - install any combination of operating systems on a single PC! EVTE April 1996 Jan 7,1997 COMMANDER is only *99” and comes with an unconditional 60-day money back guarantee. Get FREE overnight shipping* when you mention this ad. Call today, have It tomorrow!* 800 - 648-8266 www.v-com.com Look for System Commander in the Utilities sectiim of most major software stores. ▼ V Communications. Inc. • 4320 Stevens Creek Blvd. #120-BYT8 • San Jose. CA 95129 • (408) 296*4224 • Fax (408) 296-4441 • When ordered betoro noon PST No Saturday dekvety Continental US CA res add $7.25 sates tax Offer subject to change without notice Al logos and product names are trademarks of their respective companies VISA/MC/Amex 01997 Windows 3.x DOS/V Windows 95) Warp 4 MS-DOS Linux CTOS Raidtec RAID Discover the best price/performance RAID in the industry. Raidtec is the affordable, open, RAID solution for complete data protection. We manufacture a full line of RAID subsystems, enclosures and controllers that can give 100% data uptime and data availability. Ideal for mission critical, storage intensive, and high bandwidth applications. • l ibre Channel (FC-AL) • Up to 200 Mli/sec data transfer • l ast, Wide, Ultra SCSI • Single Ended or Differential • Programmable RAID Levels • On-the-fly hardware parity generation • Rackahle, stackable • Hot replaceable drive hays, fans & power supplies • RAIDman/RAIDmanLite Software • Remote alarms, configuration & iwnitoriij; • New Environment Array Manager ,,M • State-of-the-art N+l power suppl A complete RAID selection: • Traditional SCSI - up to 300 GB data storage • Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) - up to a TERABYTE data storage with new Raidtec FibreArray * Raidtec Corporation (USA) 105-C Hembree I’ark Drive Roswell, (.A .10076 Tel. 770 664 6066 Fax. 770 664 6166 eMail: raidtec@raidtec.com Raidtec Corporation (Europe) ( Mk Road • little Island Ind I stale t Cork. Ireland Tel. 353 21 35*440 Fax. 353 21 353799 eMail: raidtec@raldtec.ie C'O R P O R A lnternHthttp://www.raidtec.com 1 4 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Circle 184 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 185). NetWare NeXT Step Windows 95 UnixWare XENIX 4ultiply Your Ability to Manage File Servers by the Power of 4. Outlook ' enables network administrators to access simultaneously from any one of four PC consoles. ft A Vaise your ability to view and coni ml your network to a higher order. OutLook 4 deliveis moic perform¬ ance for less money* than any othu multi-user keyboard, monitor and mouse swiu h OutLook 4 features the latest OSCAR'“ on-si urn firmware. So now up to four network administrators can key in their passwords and simultaneously access up to 64 file servers connected to OutLook 4 with just a keyboard and mouse. Simply highlight the server name you’ve entered into memory, i lie I and connect * Based on a similarly configured competitive pit*In. i OnllnokMil to any PC Macintosh™, Sun™, or UNIX™system via the OSCAR menu screen. Want more administrative control, flexibility, and productivity? What are you waiting four? Look into OutLook 4 . Call (800)-861 -5858 or (425) 402-9393 today to see how we can raise your efficiency by the power of Outlook 4 . http://www.apexpc.com Innovation & Technology by Design APEX PC SOLUTIONS Apex PC Solutions, Inc. • 20031 142nd Ave Nl • Woodinville, WA 98072 • fax (425)402-9494 • e-mailsales@pcsol.com ©1997. Apex /Y. Solutions. Inc. All rigftts reserved OS( AH, i ha I with optional Remote LEO Pak These are the finest terminators available, they fix SCSI problem* and improve reliability Benefit* • knprtwet SCSI Bus Pwfor ounce • leutrrorv MoreRrkablpData Transfer • Dtagnove* ProMerm • Analyses Srgn.il Quality (•Rum • Artive RerpilatKVi • f.rst SOU f.nt Mfcfc 68 • Statin bKfc.iton • Gold Contact* ive2-1 SCSI ‘witch / Repeater Up to WDiMcrsto 1 Computer • V*w (bMi r* Between 2 Computer* FMm: • 21 Active OtgrtalVwittMteprater Regenerate* SCSI VpMl for long Run* _ from: $599 Gold Diagnostic Adapters Style* Gender Otangm • Both SO|mi and 68 |xn (ai rnmtMnatKwn) is. nuci|7it from . $49 Stytr* 6R|Mn Drive to SO Ben • 68 ISn Drive to SO IVi IX (fun* wwfe dime a* rianriw) Style* : 68 Pm AcLifiter Wide to SO Pin Narrow • 68 Pm I eternal Aria, Her to SO Pin (convert* Ifcnt Arla,xer) Ml r*n •» .0 Pin 4 mtoM.« Style* For Adaptec Ultra Wide Card* • Adapter* w*h partial termmation buRt m for 68 to SO converter* (convert* Host Adapter) ♦ » No lot* Of Important Data • Faster Performance • Test Cable Integrity Features: » Diagnostic Indicators • Large Ferrite Filer* From: . 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Shown with Optional Bay Cooler metaled ( tyrw I m r j nU dm 68 Pm Internal Cable*, custom or stock, from 1 to 15 SCSI devices per cable We can also make Custom 68 pm and SO pin Combination Cables that allow you to use narrow drives on a wide cable Boy Cooler Kit keeps those HOT Ultra SCSI Drives COLD as KE1 HOT SWAP Pull Out Bay* Compatible with all SO pin 8 68 p SCSI Buses up to Fast SCSI 2 From: • Faster F’erformance • Test Cable Integrity P No Loss Of Important Data Features: Nrw JkivnUfea SOI Corrector • Triple Slvekbng (Unique Design) From: J I . Double Gold 20u* Plated Connector* • Diagnostic bvfcators • Large Ferrite FRter* Granite Cables Are The Best Because They're Engineered Right. Grande Cables were designed by SCSI Engineers to be th« Best Cables On The Market. Everything about them means better performance and higher reliability. 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SCSI Cable Tester - LED Readout This Digital SCSI Cable Tester can test all the popu lar cable styles for opens, shorts, and unreliable operation Battery powered for easy use any where you need it. Three models to choose from: _ • SO ,wn IOC from • 50 pin Centronics $49 ycin, Mium, kj urirrii powered for easy use ai 8* • 68 pin MicroO 3101 Whipple Rd. Union City, CA. 94587 Ph: 510-471-6442 Fax 510-471-6267 1 50 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Ode 180 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 181). Introducing How does f(|L W W\, 64-bit Alpha 21164 ja # 7 running at 500Mhz... i for under $3995! * sound to you?! jSfSSr JBft CAD/CAM- ANIMATION • VIDEO EDITING • INTERNET/INTRANET • SQL SERVERS Polywell offers Alpha based systems designed to BLAST through the heaviest, most intense tasks you can throw at them!! (SOOMhz DIGITAL Alpha System with 64MB ECC RAM, 5.1GB Ultra Fast Hard Drive, Open GL Accelerator Graphics Card & NT 3D Workstations) AlphaPowered So what are you waiting for? Call today... if you feel the need for SPEED! Alphopowered ts a trademark of Digital Eqi irwtywdipt Syeor infioini hbor, ? ytc* ttyttord pom 24-teh vppofi cfional on unite | 10ywr*lfrt«w;ri T , , 4ir . . 3tffcy *wey kedi gwwi»# TBi! (415). Circle 177 on Inquiry Card. POL.YWELL ST b'M S Polywell Computers • 1461 Son Moleo Avenue South Son Francisco • CA 94080 USA 583 7222 Fox: (415) 583 1974 Email: lnfo<®polywell.com Web Site www polywell.torn HARDWARE SHOWCASE Communications • Data Acquisition Data Acquisition RS-232/RS-422/RS- Yes, Single Card Does It Alt! • Uses standard RS-232 commands no special drivers needed ► Automatic data flow control • 16C550 UART with 16-byte FIFO buffe^ ► Transmission speeds up to 115K bps • Complete RS-232 modem control sm • Supports 2-wire or 4-wire operatioir for RS-422/485 ► Both DB-9 and DB-25 connectors inclul ► PC-ComUB software included, but not necesi ► Multi-port cards also available erf ace - S110.°° A 7 * • msm mis* Part » PCL-740 Advaktech 750 East Arquos Ave . Sunnyvale. CA 04086 Tol 400-245-6678 • Fox 408-245-8268 Homo pngo http www.advantok.com • o-moii intoOadvontok com Circle 86 on Inquiry Card. DOS-IN^OWI] www.kila^.conl | ■ I Run DOS from ROM. Stand alone 386 CPU has 7 Serial, Ethernet & PCMCIA S 28 $H’ KS-67 CPU with AMD 386 25MHz. Up to 6MS DRAM, FLASH, SRAM. 7 std. Serial ports with FIFO (RS48! 2 Par., PCMCIA. Ethernet & AT Bus. ' V At §T Kalesekila.com F 303444-7737 ax 303-786-9983 Distributor & OEM inquiries welcome www.contecusa.com CONTEC MICROELECTRONICS USA INC. 2190 Benng Drive. San Jose, CA 95131 1 - 800-888-8884 World’s Fastest A/D Cards 500 MSPS A/D Card for PCI Bus !!! • 100 MSPS, 12 Bit A/D Card • 250 MSPS, 2 GS/s A/D Card • Up to 16 Meg Memory • Extensive Software Drivers 1-800-567-GAGE GciGg Gage Applied Sciences Inc. t?33 ShMum* No*d. Suto 400. South BurXnglon VT 0V4O3 T«t 1 «0PM7 4743F*« 1 *» 7*0*411 • mj * |»cHr*iOo»g» com mpttwwmw OuiuMtifUS coMtct OogootMIO Bom Franc. MmWmJ. OC Conoda. H4S IA» Circle 99 on Inquiry Card. IEEE 488 Controllers ■ ■ Boards for PC/AT, PCMCIA", PCI, parallel, serial, Sun" workstations & DEC ~ workstations ■ Drivers for DOS", Windows’"3.x, Windows' 95, Windows’ NT, LabVIEW', UNIX", & more 216 439 4091 ■ Fax: 216 4394093 sales@iotech.com ■http://www.lotech.com : _ IQ’ech 0^ Circle tOO on Inquiry Card. Run DOS from ROM. Portable System has 386 CPU, graphics LCD, PCMCIA S499*«’ Complete with 2SMHz Elan 386, CGA controller, LCD and keypad. Up to 6MB DRAM, FLASH, PCMCIA, 3 Serial, 2 Parallel, battery operated. Fax 303-786-9983 sales@kila.com KILA DOS-IN-ROM www.kila.com INTELLIGENT DATA ACQUISITION DAP 32000™ with on boon! intelligence • High-Speed I/O • External Expansion • Real-Time Processing • Network Access from LaboraIxmues^P the onboard intelligence comptmy • DSP Commands • Control Loops < I ms • 19-inch Industrial Racks • Standard PC GUIs 888-678-2752 0 425-453-2345 0 425-453-3199 fax 888-MSTARLABS 0 info@mstarlabs.com 0 www.mstarlabs.com 1 5 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Circle 98 on Inquiry Card. Data Acquisition Desktops • Industrial Computers DAQ Designer 97 DAQ Designer 97 is a free system configuration tool for Windows that takes you through your data a< quisition application step-by-step, asking you questions, and recommending all the right equipment, inc hiding: plug-in DAQ boards, signal conditioning, cabling, and software. New products in DAQ Designer 97 iru lude \K I DAQ boards, more PCMCIA cards, remote data a< quisition, image acquisition, and VXI DAQ modules National Instruments Phone: (512) 794-0100 Fax: (512) 794 11411 (800) 433-3488 (U.S. and Canada) E-mail: lnfo@nalinsl.com WWW: htlp^/www.n.ilmsl.. Industrial Rackmount Computers ACI SYSTEMS Industrial PC systems Solution: • Single Board Computers 486 - Pentium Pro • Passive Backplane 3-slot - 20-slot • Wall Mount/19" Rackmount Chassis • 4/8/16 Ports Switch Box (PC/KB/Mouse) • AC PS 90 - 260V. DC PS +12V/+24V/-48V Western Region: 1 -800-983-1177 Fax: 1 -415-428-0866 Eastern Region: 1 -800-886-2243 Fax: 1 -617-938-8037 Circle 87 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 88). industrial PC Power Supply ■ 85-265VAC, -48VDC, +24VDC, +12VDC input ■ 70W-350W output ■ 60KHz PWM control 1C ■ 0~55 C operating ■ MTBF > 20 years ICP ACQUIRE INC, CALL: 1-415-967-7168 FAX: 415-428-1172 i Circle 101 on Inquiry Curd. Circle 89 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 90). (-irclo 85 on Inquiry Card. Cirdn 100 on Inquiry Card. AUGUST 199 7 BYTE 1 5 3 HARDWARE SHOWCASE HARDWARE SHOWCASE Industrial Computers Industrial Computers Industrial PC Solutions Call 800-800-6889 to receive a FREE 100- page Solution Guide for your OEM or system integration needs . Advantech 750 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale. CA 94086 408-245-6678. Fax 408-245-8268 Circle 105 on Inquiry Card. Circle 108 on Inquiry Card. RACK MOUNT PC PRODUCTS SINGLE BOARD COMPUTERS •486 to Pentium Pro SBCs •Up to 200MHz Pentium Processors •Integrated video and SCSI models • ISA and PCI passive backplanes ENCLOSURES • 10” color or 9” mono SVGA monitors •8 and 14 slot ISA/PCI backplane models •Systems built to customer s specifications • AC and DC input power supply options MONITORS AND KEYBOARDS •9" to 17" rack mount monitors • Mono SVGA to Multi-frequency models • Rack Mount keyboards with integrated mice •Rack Mount monitor and keyboard enclosures I? PRINTERS •Inkjet printers and printer enclosures • IBM graphics dot matrix printers • Parallel or Serial Interface MMggg^j^our free Rack Mount PC Product catalog 1-888-RECORTEC Or visit our web page http://www.recortec.com RECORTEC, INC. 1290 Lawrence Station Road Sunnyvale, CA 94089-2220 Tel: (408) 734-1290 Fax: (408) 734-2140 E-mail: info@recortec.com PROTECT Your Customers iv/t/i APPRO Fault Tolerant Industrial Computers Granite __ ™ • Full Line of Rack Mount Products • Systems Configured To Your Specification • Custom Chassis Manufactured When You need It Catalog On Line! PTOMOa aim ao? www.appro.com E-Mail: infoftappro.com 800-927-5464 International, Inc. 446 South Abbott Avr . MMpiuv CA 95035 Tel (408) 941 8100 • Ui (408) 941 81II Circle 110 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 111). w . 1 Technoland... Makes Industrial PCs Affordable Call for Free Resource Guide ° 10 • Single-board Computer from Dual Pentium" Pro to 486 • Fault-tolerant Systems • PS/2 Redundant Power Supply • PCI/ISA Backplane Series i! O • Full Line of Rack-Mount PCs • Flat Panel PCs • Industrial Workstation & Chassis Technoland Inc 1050 Stewart Dr., Sunnyvale. CA 94086 1 - 800 - 292-4500 Tel. 408-992-0888 • Fax. 408-992-0808 e-mail: info@technoland.com Homepage: www.technoland.com Pentium is a registered trademark of # » Intel Corp. » rv Circle 1 1 4 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 15). Need Down-to-Earth Solutions with Today's Space-Age Rack Mount Equipment? Then select the best and most complete line of computer rack mount equipment in the universe. Tri-MAP International, Inc. (Her 40 nxxlcis of chassis designed to lo meet your specific rack mount requirements. Customized configurations include complete systems with keyboard drawers, monitors, switches, power supplies and PC components. At Tri-MAP International, Inc. we specialize in meeting the needs of our customers with modem design, engineering and technology. Voice (510) 447-2030 Fox (510) 447-4559 4569-A Las Positas Road, Livermore, CA 94550 www.rackco.com Circle 107 on Inquiry Card. Industrial Computers • Laptops ft Notebooks • Multimedia/CD-ROM Memory/Chips/Upgrades • Networking Circle 1 12 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 13) Let your "true colors shine through" when you advertise your computer products in the BYTE HARDWARIi/SOf IWARE SHOWCASE our popular, affordable, 4-color advertising section! For more information call your BYTE sales represent a live (sit listing, page 161) or lax 603 924-2683 l>irect Prices to the Public We will Heat any Advertised Price Ml Mcmor) I** Brand IWw & Como* \N ill* \ Lifetime Warranty Memory 72 pin EDO 1x32-60 819 2x32-60 831 4x32-60 $53 8x32-60 8119 CPU’s Intel Only!!! P-lOOMhz 889 lM20Mhz 899 P-133Mhz 8119 PlaOMhz 8149 PI66Mhz 8179 P200Mhz 8199 P IVo 180 8299 I*-Pro 200 8389 P 200mmx 8299 Hard Driven 850 Mil 8139 1.2GI1 8149 2.0GI1 8169 2.5GI1 8189 3.2(;il 8209 \Io1Iht Hoards 586-75-200 Mhz 887 Intel VX 430Chi| iset, 256kp!» cache, 2s2p on bnl IDK/IO Sound (lards VI HR A 16 Pop 849 Sll 32 Pup 878 AWE 64 Pnp $159 Video (lards Matrox 8127 Mystique S88 Dia3d2Mll 877 Modems 33.6 int fuv/datu voice 865 33.6 int. voice/fax upgradable to 56K 868 CD-ROMS 8x int. $79 12x int. 885 I6x int. 895 Over IOOO items in stork, rlirrk our rool website www.memory-online.com 800 - 801-0087 714-488-0477 Fax 714-488-04% Memory On-Line Office Hours M-F 7-5 PST • Sal 8-12 PST I’rirn* uml Mvailaltilily Milijrrt to i-liaitgr «* it hunt notirr Circle 91 on Inquiry Card. Introducin The Most rds Series. Is in the Market! •Spood up to 921.6Kbps •Full range I/O addr /IRQ selectable •Surge protection up to 2000V •RS-232C or RS-422 interfaces •Supports Windows 3.1/95/NT. DOS. OS2, SCO UNIX. Linux. FreeBSD and much more.... •API-232 programming library for DOS, Windows 95 and Windows NT •Available in 2, 4 or 8 ports •Low cost and great performance 1-800-699-MOXA I Call or write for descriptive brochures, prices or applications assistance. http://www.moxa.com Moxa Technologies, Inc. 524 Weddell Dr. Ste. 1 Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Tel: (408)734-2224 Fax: (408)734-4442 Email: info_byte@moxa.com 30-DAY Money Back Guarantee Life-Time Warranty Circle 102 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 103). AUGUST 199 7 BYTE 1 5 5 HARDWARE SHOWCASE HARDWARE SHOWCASE Networking • Programmable Hardware Programmable Hardware Who Says?? .. Network Monitors are confusing and hard to use.. Network Protocol Analyzer Unlocking the complexity of Network Analysis |nc Five Central Street. Topsficld. M A 01983 (SOX) 887-6570 (phone) http: www.gucsswork.com (50X) XX7-6552 (fax) L mail: inhvw gucsswork.com Circle 104 on Inquiry Card. EON 100 Hot NewPtoducls of 1995 ces Embedded DOS Controllers at 8051 Flashlite Use your PC development tools! No more crash and burn eprom! ' ■ 2 Serial Ports ■ 8/10 MHz V-2S ■ 24 Parallel I/O lines ■ 512K RAM ■ 2 Timers ■ 256K/512K flash ■ 4 Interrupt Lines ■ X-ModemTransfer ■ 8 Analog Inputs ■ includes DOS and utilities JK microsystems ta (:,,sl effective controller^ industry www dsp com/ikmicro Circle 95 on Inquiry Card. 773 Fax salesOkila. 303-444- 303-786-9983 nS-in-ROM Run DOS from ROM. Stand alone CPU has PCMCIA, A/D, 3Ser.,2Par. KS-1 CPU card with NEC V40. Up to 2MB DRAM. FLASH, SRAM. 3 Serial. RS48S, 2 Par., PCMCIA. 10 bit A/D, Modem and XT Bus. DOS-lN-ROM www.kila.com A-CoreT& A-Engine aomhi! ’ M PRICES START AT $79 Oty 1 • $28 OEM •High Performance, Compact, Reliable •Easy to program in Borland/ Microsoft C/C++ We have 20♦ Low Cost 16-bit Controllers with ADC. OAC. solenoid drivers, relay. PC- 104. PCMCIA. LCO. DSP motion control. 10 UARTs. 100 I/Os. Customer boards design Save time and money • 2 . 3 *x 2 . 2 * A-Core", • 3.6*x2.3* A-Engine * • AMD188ES.50* I/Os. 11 12-bit ADC • 3 UARTs, 3 timers, 2 PWM, BaURTC • C library. Development kits TERN INC 216 F Street, Sle. 104, Davis, CA 95616, USA Tel: 916758-0180 Fox: 916 758-0181 temGnetcom. com http://www.iem.com Circle 94 on Inquiry Card. No Problem! Z-World’s versatile PK2300 programmable controller adapts to your application. You can configure I/O as digital inputs, high current outputs, RS-485, or a resistance measurement input. • 19 total I/O • DIN rail mounting • 11 user-configurable 0 Rugged ABS enclosure digital I/O lines * RS-232 and RS-485 Z-World offers cost-effective solutions for your control applications. Call today for a free catalog and more information on the new PK2300! INNOVATION IN CONTROL TECHNOLOGY /.-World, 172 * Picasso Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 USA Phone +916-757-3737 • FAX +916-753-5141 For imim-dialc infonnalion. use our 2-1 hour Aulofcix Circle 93 on Inquiry Card. BYT Breaks the 4-Color Price Barrier with the Hardware/Software Showcase See how affordable it is to advertise to BYTE's 500,000 computer professionals in this section! ■ For more information call your BYTE sales representative (see listing, page 161) or fax 603-924-2683 1 5 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Storage • Internet Services Internet Services • On-Line Services (800) 339*NWAY www.hway.net % uptime guaranteed! * Umntemiptible |K>wor ^ ?4 x 7 network operation center iT ilBAna* The world leader m ftonifhge' eafmuom v 40 terrabyte tape archive system * 24 x 7 multilingual support v Accounts set up within a few hours v Domains registered within 24 hours v 30 day money back guarantee v Serving over 30.000 domains Reseller Opportunities Available 3C _ . ^ GUARANTEE Don’t Settle For Less! 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Patent protected * jS, -Perfect lor RAID & removable storoge application ^ } »*’ ivr«, i i •*. i MS 1620 ^ DUAL M/B (Wp //www Aanslooa ’ You own (Git You own t IP om auxi AEH CORP. 254 S. 5th Ave., La Puente, ( A 91746 Tel: (818) 369-2608 • Fax (HIM) 961 0468 Circle 96 on Inquiry Card (RE M I LERS: 97). Surprised at your web hosting rates?! Then cod VolucWeb todoy, the world \ most offordoWe web hosting seevne! MO Confrodl • ?S Mb of dnl H*xe v iv: ■ " • Son* dor vdup • rOP3 fmof ocxMih 30 Dey Money Bock Guoronfee! j\ /\/f ‘ ] \ 0VT maUei program! l »M-W.f,-H < 0.S,T.-U, "I (Rl SEILERS: 119). Circle I 16 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 1 17). AUGUST 1997 BYTE 1 5 7 HARDWARE/SOFTWAR 1 r H LU B U 1 ( E R 1 S 1 M 1 A R 1 r A DIRECTORY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THE BUYER’S MART is a unique classified section organized by product category to help readers locate suppliers. Ads may have inquiry numbers to aid readers requesting information from advertisers. AD FORMAT: Each ad will be designed and typeset by BYTE. Do NOT send logos or camera-ready artwork. Advertisers should furnish typewritten copy. 2"x1 Vis" ad can include headline (23 characters maximum), descriptive text (300 characters is the maximum recom¬ mended) plus company name, address, telephone and fax number. 2”x2 •/•" ad has more space for descriptive text (850 characters is the maximum recommended). DEADLINE: Ad copy is due approximately 2 months prior to issue date. For example: November issue closes on September 15. Send your copy and payment to: THE BUYER’S MART, BYTE Magazine, 1 Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. For more information please call Mark Stone in BYTE sales at 603-924-2533 or FAX: 603 924 2683. RATES (January 1997) 36 MUUJOS 6 11 12 1 ad $820 $790 $690 2M%- 2ads/issuo " • 660 3 ads/issue " " 620 lad $1,640 $1,580 $1,380 2"x2»A" 2 ads/issuo " • 1,320 3 ads/issue " " 1,250 •COLOR - Add $100 BARCODE Bar Code Headquarters • Complete Bar Code Readers from $299 • Portable Bar Code Readers from $759 • Laser Gun Readers from $549 • Cordless Scanners from $595 • Two way RF Terminal - $1095 • Bar Code Labeling Software for Windows - $295 DOS Version - $279 • Bar Code Fonts for Windows/Mac - $199 • Direct from Manufacturer Worthington Data Solutions 800-345-4220 Phone: 408-458-9938 • Fax: 408-458-9964 In UK call 0800 293 213 In France call 0800 90 65 47 In Germany call 0130 8150 84 Rest of Europe call 353 1 6614 566 CAD/CAM CONTOURING MOTION CONTROL FROM A PRINTER PORT! Indonof LPT- software §249 VERSION 3 visa/wc • Controls up to six slop motors sjmuftanoously • Unoar and Circular Interpotebon • Now features to accommodate machine control • Easy-to-use device driver Super Manual • CAD CAM interface avadnbte a a • a • • . LCrpOfiltMl, 1A/rwO W Ability Systems (215)6574331 httpy/www abilitysyslems com FAX (215) 857-78,5 Inquiry 381. CD-ROM CD-R Media $3.99 Recorders, DVD, Towers 303-384-3922 FAX 303-384-3926 http://www.cdrominc.com Inquiry 384. CD-ROMS $3500 - ^_«oum J7-M siunware tacfton LINUX Developers Resource f> CO trf $2750 ItaJfut Detain. Stadnwe. MrtioX Server. On lxw Docs LINUX Toottm $4500 Indudn 6 CO Set witb 600 Page Manual' -1-•-1 Q0 Moduli 3 (pit buM taunts) SdMmftJad . $30 00 Domestic and Mtetrutonai mtworfcmo standuds W sb ma star Tools Volume 1 $35 00 (wrytang needed to profile and promote wet) pifts Webmaster Toole Volume 2 $3500 (very!tang you need to run and admmnJer a wet server ‘3 $3500 Workgroup Server Now Vontoo Prta and fW Shirwg tor DOS WIN. MAC. OS/2 ted NT u $7510 LINUX MOO TIF tor LINUX • 100% MoM Compatt* GUI lor UNUX $99 00 Visual Bask Toole $3500 lJlnl shareware took and uMftes DaUbare mtemrdu & rrfrad WX cxvftcft Wlnslto CO-ROM Set $3510 Shareware lor WMowi 3 I. NT ted 95 Pawn to Kina 4 $3000 ^ Owt 2000fl nfeol dtamcJ Htntae. gwwrwwM butogr kxh & tarv tan Programmers Heaven . $30 00 uonUrn over 8501 Mb and more Run 630 packed megabytes ol ■tarnation about every aspect ol progumrang that you can snagne* Phone Odes 1 800 800 €613 We accept Fn Orders *1 5HFS26 9573 MC. VISA A AMEX bdlPhotK »I-520-526 9505 Web Orders: wwv inlomaglc.com I and ordersttutaropc com IllfoMagiC 11950 N. Hwy 09. Flagstaff. AZ 86001 Inquiry 385. DATA RECOVERY T he Leader in Data Recove ry • Expertise m virtually every operating system & media storage device. • Emergency sorvices with calls answered 24 hours a day. Call tor a FREE consultation! ONTRACK DATA RECOVERY Mpls • LA • DC • London • Tokyo • Stuttgart 1-800-872-2599 • www.ontrack.com Inquiry 388. Don't pay thousands of Dollars! Download our DO-IT-YOURSELF Data Recovery Software TIRAMISU. Wo support DOS. WINDOWS. NOVELL and NTFS Mo systems http //www rocovory do Emad data rocovoryOcompusorvo.com The Virtual Data Recovery Company Inquiry 389. DATA/DISK CONVERSION CONVERSION/DUPLICATION Tape 4mm. QIC. 8mm. DLT. 9-trk. 3480/90/90E Disk: 3". 3V,*. 574-. 8" CD-ROM 1 - 800 - 357-6250 Shaftstall Corporation 317-842-2077 7901 East 88th Street Fax 317-842-8294 Indianapolis IN 46256 salesOshaffstall.com Since 1973 http://www.shaffs1all.com TG-CAD Professional v.6.0 CAD Solutions Software A16 & 32 bit C/C.* Windows 95. Win NT & Win 3.1 CAD Developers Kit The best in CAD/CAM software kits Free Demo and Technical Paper Call 800 635-7760 or Fax 972-423-7288 or http//www disksoft com or E-mail disksolWtx.nelcom com or BBS 972-881-9322 Disk Software, Inc. 109 s Mutpfty ltd. Plano. TX USA 75094 Inquiry 382. Inquiry 383. COMPUTER TELEPHONY Award Winning Computer • Unified Messaging Telephony • Web Integration •Source Code Solutions • Developers Toolkits • Application Developers Voice 714-449-8700 www.ttminc.com Fax 714-449-8705 Inquiry 386. DATA RECOVERY We Can Save It! All Platforms - All Storage Devices Proprietary techniques so advanced we rescue data others simply abandon. DriveSavers Restoring data since 1985 1 - 800 - 440-1904 _ 415-883-4232 _ Inquiry 387. EDUCATION EARN B.S. AND M.S. IN COMPUTER SCIENCE THROUGH DISTANCE EDUCATION • Object oriented B.S program • Now courses in Java. Networking. HTML. MIS • Approved by more than 275 companies • Follows ACM/IEEE guidelines Free catalog 1-800-767- AICS or http://www.aics.edu. Accreditod World Association oI Umvorsitws & CoNogos HARDWARE HEWLETT-PACKARD Buy - Sell - Trade LaserJet ColorPro DeskJet DraftPro RuggedWriler DrattMastor Electrostatic Plotters DesignJet We specialize in Demo & Refurbished Equipment HP 9000 Workstations and Vectras also available Ted Dasher & Associates 4117 Socond Avw . S Hmiwxjlwim AL 35222 Phone: (205) 591-4747 Fax: (205) 591-1108 (800) 638-4833 E-mail: sales 0 dasher.com Inquiry 390. 1 5 8 BYTE AUGUST 1997 THE BUYER'S MART A DIRECTORY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES INTERNET PRESENCE SECURITY 1 SIMULATION SOFTWARE Virtual Web Hosting • 3- T3 Connections! THE ULTIMATE SOFTWARE SECURITY HIOfCOPY Unify - UNCOP1AIU1 cop, |Huktclion Analog/Digital Simulation!! www.YburName.com $ 19.97/ mo. (800) 808-9241 / FREE "web" Page http://PICK.NET RESELLERS Welcome MOI’VH W software encryption Nl IIIMIT network kconso metering 1 h > Window* <3 X. 95. NT). Mac. OS/?, support Me. Mm Tto. Inlmnot Protection. CO ROM Prolocton. 'lerlakcaMon. Drto 8 Execution Umitation. Regislrabon. l u mu. AotlMirticaton. Concurrent Usor LmnUbon (Kw |MiMkicts destroy ALl o1 our compofcton BBI Computer Systems, Inc. 14106 Honirtgo Lano. Srtver Spring. MO 20906 •M inVAMI 186/1/9-2224 381/171 1M4 FAX 381/488 7545 1 wail Mr.rubles com W«8: Mtp J/mm bbret cam • Windows, NT. DOS • Model Libraries. RF. Power • Power Mac. Macintosh • More Than 5000 parts • IsSnci 4 Real Time SPICE • Waveform Analysis • Mixed Mode Simulation • Full SPICE programs • Schematic Entry starting at $95. Complete • New AHDL Modeling Kltll systems. $595-$2595 PO Bo* 710San Radro. CA 90733^)710 * A* . (310)833-0710. FAX (310)833-9658 1If TUbUiT CM tor your Free Demo and mlormaton kit Inquiry 391. Inquiry 396. Inquiry 400. LASERJET PCL VIEWER LaserJet PCL Conversion and Viewing Tools View your PCL5e print files in Windows with 100% accuracy using Visual PCL. PCL to TIF/Fax/rastor command lino conversion tods. Convert PCL print files to Acrobat POF in DOS. Windows. UNIX lor viewing and distribution over the net. Evaluations and full details available on our Web site. Libraries available for OEM developer integration Visual Software http://www. visual.co.uk Far *44 1306 742 425 geddes«vttunl < o >* Inquiry 392. PROGRAMMERS’TOOLS EASIER! HIGHER QUALITY! FASTER! LOWER COST! Tools For VB & Access Developers • Impress your clients with the unique visual cues and enhanced navigation and input interlaces ol our Sense "* custom controls! Be more productive than ever with the Sense graphical design tool! • With VBRender ' and DBRender ". you have a point-and-click interlace for designing, developing, managing, sharing and reusing source code and schema efficiently and safely 1 You've never been more productive! • Let Serve ” turn an Access file server database into a scalable, distributed etient/server system without the CXJHM1M? .111(1 luv.lrot i.Ml ii|)M/m<)i llr.t lit .III. it!.' end result is still based on VB / Access! • With Inform it will lie easy and inexpensive lor your clients fo tram and support then workers! Inform is an easy-to-use. multimedia, interactive EPSS supplement to or replacement for tiaditmuil Help • Bring it all together with Piolll" ' I {.lunate, analyze, design, model, develop, test, document, .* < :ount lor, manage and report on a devekipmeut pinpN t with ease. Au Prooucts Unoir $50! Vomimi Dm mum Avar mu! Sourci Coot Avar am 1 1 K i n e t i S y s (800) 799-7115 (847) Vlb ?11b www.kspot.com saletufkipel coni Inquiry 393. High-Speed xBASE Engine... For C. 0*. VB. Doiphi and Java progrmniiMM>, i hi I multi user compatibility with FoxPro. Clipper nnrf dBASE lilos CodoBaso is |>ortable between DOtl Wirnkiws, UNIX. Mac and OS/2! Includes unNmtitO client/server. ActiveX controls 8 visual report willin' FREE 30 day test drive! Coll Soquitor Software Inc. for details or vml ut on live wet) ol v/ww sequiler.com Phono 40 1 437 2410 F AX 403 436-29911 Inquiry 394 YEAR 2000 War lie* I nl i ZCOBOL will help. ZCOIIOI (iiiul, i OHOL programs. Indlldtn nun*y 1 • ly utilities with soun «•' ..A omhiy i .mrjuage Sot oft Uni 1 .. M.inual $10 ZIPIAtil M... i .in U lon KY 40581-2238 Mill* wwv . MIS NET/ZIPFAST immnM npUilOmls net Inquiry I*•*• CRYPKEY SOFTWARE LICENSING SYSTEM Vi NO CiypKry '*• eiltwarr copy protection that is: ■ comptelaly me from any disk copy program peil«< I lor Cl) ROM r* IN 11 HNf I distribution' * cost altar five. iiv«i tiwndy. and 140% guaranteed lo satisfy' CrypKey ran Unreal* your Mftware sales: * upsell uplniiu and levels ol your software * lease or dome youi software by urns or lime * eeable or uy«i«8* yn U r customers instantly by phone lei or I mall' New! unique Ready lo Ity lealure upon MtMail allows 1 trial period only per custom*» Newl umqoe Add On lealure add more options, level*, runs or time lo costing licenses New! CrypKey Instant prrttN Is tn prst 5 mmoles with no source code changes. CrypKey is completely r nmiMltbie wdti MS 00S. MS Windows 3 x. Win32s. Wm95 Wm-iMi/IAI 32 Win Nl. and manages network licenses on ail Novell and IWcrosott operating system based networks CrypKey kistanl is Ready To-Tty FREE loi 30 clay, cmi our web s»le httpi/Avww.kenonic.com/crypkey.htm Kenonic Controls Ltd. Calgary,Canada (403) 250-6200 • fii (403) 250 6201 INTERNET: crypkeyttfkenonic.com Inquiry 397. KEY-LOK II™ SECURITY Sollwaro Piracy Prevention - Sorvrv.il 14 yours proves oftoctrvonoss Active algonthm, prorp.trnmablo memory, counlors. dale control, remote update No ID on dovico Low pricing (o g $16 50 each lor 5). No startup costs Also. ACCESS CONTROL systems and rfok dnvWsyilom LOCKS MICROCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS, INC. 3167 E Otero Cirdo. Littleton. CO 80122 http://www.keylok.com 1800 453 9565 (303)770-1917 FAX: (303) 770-1863 Inquiry 398. VT Protect SECURE PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION OVER THE WEB! VT Protect n a secure rotobio sodwruo sotutwn tor I " taig your products from piracy ll« an tw oruuty embeddod wdtvn your product to provide levels ot cuntroRod uso " i( < art now utter tmn kmaod tu> ovrtuatons or domos ol Y"rt |mi.K iel over Km» web Whon your customor decides to •«»V v*mi uMMireln n password and tho sate w comptoto 1 Ptuvclas fufl product and sub product bconsmg Art*.< «•** n.aiitte (ModucU, not ono at a timo. usmg just UNI fc- ii.m *N Wirvtiiws mnI UNIX ptattorms VI Pter... t *« a In*, iron Ol Itw coel ot olhor Hardware la «NM*rng %* A4*.m»« lluy VI Mrotact and make aurc that all copies of your eoflwara are purchased copies! vtaM us on tw «vet> at WWW VIATECM INC.COM Vlatech, Inc (vaiMr o4S4/(aaa|VlATec-3 Inquiry 399. SOFTWARE PACKAGING MANUALS ON DEMAND 600 dpi in 4 days — Ae low et 2e/page BUY JUST WHAT YOU NEEO CONSERVE CASH •••FREE CATALOG*•• Software boxes Laser labols 15c Mailers Everything you noed to seN your software Hice & Associates 8586 Mont*ce«o Or. West Chester. OH 45069 Phone/Fax: 513-779-7977 Inquiry 401. STOCK CONTROL Stock Control Software STOCK!T PROFESSIONAL provides con^rohonsivo capabWty and tortures Includes Ful Financial Wormrtton. Assigns Stock lo Production. Providos Stores Picking Lists. Ban Locatorts. Tort Kitting. Mntnum Pack Ounnfttos. Sub Assombtos. slows Schoduted and Random Orders. Noslod Products, and Automakc Re-ordonng Low Cos! - High Performance Price Only $630 Runs on Low Cost 386sx 4M6 PC Number One Systems Tot/Fax (408) 395-0249 Download demo from httpZ/www numberooe com Inquiry 402. BYTE DECK There Are 275,000 Good Reasons to Advertise in the BYTE Deck! Call Brian Higgins today at (603) 924-2596 or fax your order to (603) 924-2683 bhiggins@mcgraw-hill.com Inquiry 403. YOUR AD HERE ADD COLOR IMPACT TO YOUR AD IN THE Buyer's Mart For rates and details to start or upgrade your advertising Call Mark Stone today at 603-924-2533 Fax: 603-924-2683 stonem @ mcgraw-hill.com Inquiry 405. AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 5 9 ADVERTISER CONTACT INFORMATION To order products or request free information, call advertisers directly or send in the Direct Link Card by mail or fax! Let them know you saw it in BYTE! INQUIRY NO. PAGE NO. PHONE NO. INQUIRY NO. PAGE NO. PHONE NO. A D 87-88 AO SYSTEMS 153 800-983-1177 • DATA COMMUNICATIONS 18-19 212-512-4733 96-97 AE HOME CORPORATION 157 818-961-2499 162 DISTINCT CORPORATION 16 408-3668933 122-123 ALADCMN KNOWLEDGE 83 212-564-5678 161 DISTINCT CORPORATION 84 4063668933 SYS LTD 435-436 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING 32IS17 407-830-5522 451-452 ALADOIN KNOWLEDGE 321$ 20 +972-3-636-2222 TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS UD r 86 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 152 800-800-6889 t 106 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 153 800-800-6889 437-436 EUTRON 11 +3935201003 105 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 154 800-800-6889 c • AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS 84 r • AMERICAN POWER 16A-B 401-788-2797 132 FAJRCOM CORPORATION 74 573-4466833 CONVERSION 439-440 FAST SECURITY AG 321S 9 -4983-894221-20 124 AMERICAN POWER 17 888-289-APCC 445-446 RRST INTERNATIONAL 321S 2 +8862-7162782“ CONVERSION i8199 COMPUTER • AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION 48A-B 401-788-2797 179 FOREFRONT DIRECT INC 147 8064765831 125 AMERICAN POWER 49 888-289-APCC G CONVERSION 18173 99 GAGE APPLIED SCIENCES INC 152 806567-GAGE • APEX PC SOLUTIONS 149 800-861-5858 167 GLOBETROTTER SOFTWARE INC 63 4063762800 * APPLE COMPUTER INC 25 408-996-1010 180-181 GRANITE DIGITAL 150 516471-6442 110-111 APPRO •ITERNATIONAL INC 154 8CO-927-5464 441 GREY MATTER CD 32IS15 ; *364-5542 192 ARTECON 92 8O0-USAARTE 8069866578 190-191 GRIFFIN TECHNOLOGIES 108 160 ATS-A.T. SCHINDLER COMMUNICATIONS 12 613-723-1103 H B 116-117 HIWAY TECH NOLOGlES 157 806339-HWAY BYTE BACK ISSUES 32IS5 603-924-9281 | BYTE BACK ISSUES 131 603-924-9281 89-90 1 ICP ACQUIRE 153 8065064138 BYTE CARD DECK 115 603-924-2596 133-134 INTERGRAPH COMPUTER 28-29 806254-5325 BYTEEUROOECK 116 603-924-2533 SYSTEMS BYTE JOB NET 132 800-632-7946 100 IOTECH 152 216-439-4091 BYTE ON CO ROM 143 800-924-6621 1 BYTE SUB MESSAGE 144 J BYTE SUB PROBLEMS 32IS14 95 JK MICROSYSTEMS 156 5162361151 c K . CALIFORNIA TRADE 4 75 +44-171-336-6710 • NLA 152 303-444-7737 COMMERCE AG • NLA 156 3C3-444-7737 158 CENTRAL DATA 102 800-482-0397 135-136 KINGSTON STORAGE 27 714-4361847** 170-171 CMD TECHNOLOGY 36 714-454-0800 M 431-432 COMPEXINC 42 714-630-7302 126 COMPUTER DISCOUNT 40-41 800-959-4239 91 MEMORY ON-LINE 155 714-4860477 WAREHOUSE 188 MICRO 2000 100-101 816547-0397“ • COMPUTER PROFESSIONAL BK SOCIETY 65 614-7563749“ 174-175 MICRO MACRO TECHNOLOGIES 140 303-3261628 +27-11-886-3734 • MICROS NTERNATIONAL INC 155 8069676667 • COMPUTERFAJREA 32JS14 BEXACAPE 195 MICRON ELECTRONICS an 806362-7306 • COMPUTEX-97 321S 20 +27-31-*-25-4991 159 MICRON ELECTRON,CS 8-9 8064862059 • COMPUTING MCGRAW-HILL 117 212-512-4100 • MICROSOFT CORPORATION 7 98 CONTEC MICROELECTRONICS 152 800-888-8884 • MICROSTAR LABORATORIES 152 425-453-2345 127 COREL 50 613-728-0826 443-444 MFTAC CV -885-3-328-9000 ext 3080 • MOTOROLA CD (EUR) 32IS5 +44-6*1354 68804C 178 CORPORATE SYSTEMS 146 408-743-8732 102-103 MOXA TECHNOLOGIES 155 806699-MOXA CENTER/CSC N 128-129 CSS LABS 111 714-852-0410“ 433-434 CYBEX COMPUTER CV 205-430-4000 442 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 32IS19 8C6433-3488 PRODUCTS CORP 205-430-4000 153 8CO-433-3488 101 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 130-131 CYBEX COMPUTER 55 PRODUCTS CORP • NETWORLD+INTEROP 88 8CO-4862883 INQUIRY NO PAGE NO. PHONE NO- 447 NOKIA MOBILE PHONES 95 -358105065862“ 137 NSTL 90 806226NSTL r 448-449 PANDA SOFTWARE 32IS12 +34-1-332-0064 INTERNATIONAL 168-169 PHILIPS BUSINESS 73 8068363506 ELECTRONICS 136139 PKWAREINC 142 414-354-8699 177 POLYWELL SYSTEMS 151 8063067659 166164 POWERQUEST 35 806379-2566 104 PRECISION GUESSWORK INC 156 508-887-6570 166166 PRINCETON GRAPHIC SYSTEMS 16 806747-6249 ext 165 Q 140 QNX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS CD 31 8066760566 ext 1045 141-142 QUATECH INC n 76 806553-1170 n 184-185 RAIDTEC CORPORATION 148 776664-6066 143 RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES 5 714-4567300 182-183 RARITAN COMPUTER INC 150 732-764-8886 108 RECORTECINC 154 888-RECORTEC 144-145 ROSE ELECTRONICS 15 806333-9343 146147 ROSS TECHNOLOGY INC 87 806ROSS-YES 148-149 ROSS TECHNOLOGY INC 89 806ROSS-YES 156151 ROSS TECHNOLOGY INC 91 806ROSS-YES 3 450 SIEMENS 32IS11 ^495251-811418“ NIXDORFINFOSYS AG 112-113 SUGER DESIGNS 155 702-3565595 152 STATSOFT T 67 9167461119 1 116115 TECHNOLAND 154 806292-4500 94 TERN INC 156 9167560180 173 TRACEPaNT TECHNOLOGIES 81 8866862504 107 TRI-MAP INTERNATIONAL INC 154 510-447-2030 V 118-119 VALUE WEB 157 886934-6788 186187 ^COMMUNICATIONS 148 80C-6468266 85 VIDEXINC 153 541-7560521 156154 VIEWSONIC MONITORS 61 909-8667958 156156 VIEWSONIC OFT1 UPS 79 806THEOPT1 W 196191 WlBU SYSTEMS AG 108 +49721-93172-22“ 126121 WORLDWIDE INTERNET 157 80-67866170 PUBLISHING L 93 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 156 916757-3737 193-194 ZYXELCOMMUNICATIONS 108 714-693-0808 1 60 BYTE AUGUST 1997 BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF Michael P. Walsh, Associate Publisher, 24 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington, MA 02173, Tel: 617-860-6714, Fax: 617-860-6179, mike_walsh@mcgraw-hill.com Lori Silverstein, Eastern Regional Sales Director, 921 Eastwind Drive, Suite 118, Westerville, OH 43081, Tel: 614-899-4908, Fax:614-899-4999, lorisf@mcgraw-hill.com Jim Hussey. Western Regional Sales Director, 1900 O’Farrell Street, Suite 200, San Mateo, CA 94403, Tel: 415-860-6861, Fax:415-513-6867, jim_hussey@mcgraw-hill.com PETERBOROUGH. NH OFFICE One Phoenix Mil! Lane Peterborough. NH 03458 Sales FAX: 603-924-2683 Advertising FAX: 603-924-7507 BUYERS MART ft EURO-DECK Mark Stone 603-924-2533 stonem @ megraw-hil l.com BYTE Deck Brian Higgins 603-924-2596 bhiggin$@ mcgraw-hill.com NORTH PACIFIC AK. Northern CA. HI. ID. MT, OR. Silicon Valley. WA.WY. Western Canada Lisa Farrell 415-513-6862 lfarreli@ mcgraw-hill.com The McGraw-Hill Companies 1900 O'Farrell Street, Suite 200 San Mateo. CA 94403 FAX: 415-513-6867 SOUTH PACIFIC AZ. Southern CA. CO. NM. NV, UT Beth Dudas 714-443-9314 bdudas@ mcgraw-hill.com Geanette Perez g perez @ mcgraw-hill.com The McGraw-Hill Companies 635 Camino de los Mares, Suite 212 San Clemente. CA 92672 FAX: 714-443-9602 MIDWEST-SOUTHEAST NEW MEDIA/ONLINE PRODUCTS FL 6A. IA. IL, IN. KS. ICY, Ml. MN. MO. NC.ND.NE.OH.SCSD.WI Neil Helms 404-843-4777 nhelms@ mcgraw-hill.com Kirstin Pihl 404-843-4765 kpihl@ mcgraw-hill.com The McGraw-Hill Companies 4170 Ashford-Dun woody Road Suite 520 Atlanta. 6A 30319-1465 FAX: 404-256-5962 Paul Franchak 614-899-4912 franchak@mcgraw-hill.com The McGraw-Hill Companies 921 Eastwind Drive. Suite 118 Westerville. OH 43081 FAX: 614-899-4999 NEW ENGLAND CT.MA.ME.NH.NY.RI.Vr. Onta+o. Canada. Eastern Canada Edward Marecki 401-351-0274 617-860-6221 ed_marecki @ mcgraw-hilLcom BYTE Magazine One Richmond Square Providence. Rl 02906 FAX: 401-351-0276 MID ATLANTIC NJ. DC. DE. MD. Metro NY. PA.VA.WV Don Calamaro 212-512-4811 doncalamaro @ mcgraw-hilLcom John Ferraro 212-512-2555 jferraro@ mcgraw-hill.com Jill Poliak 212-512-3585 jpollak@mcgraw-hill.com The McGraw-Hill Companies 1221 Avenue of Americas. 28th Floor New York. NY 10020 FAX: 212-512-2075 SOUTHWEST. ROCKY MOUNTAIN ALAR.lAMS.OK.TN.TX Chrissy Copple 214-688-5171 ccopple@ mcgraw-hill.com The McGraw-Hill Companies Mockingbird Towers. Suite 1104E 1341 W. Mockingbird Lane Dallas. TX 75247-6913 FAX: 214-688-5167 INTERNATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES STAFF Lori Silverstein, International Sales Director, 921 Eastwind Drive, Suite 118, Westerville, OH 43081 U.SA. Tel: + 614-899-4908, Fax: + 614-899-4999, lorisf@mcgraw-hill.com BYTE ASIA-PACIFIC AUSTRALIA. HONG KONG. INDIA INDONESIA KOREA MALAYSIA. PAKISTAN. PHILIPPINES, OTHER ASIA AND PACIFIC COUNTRIES. SINGAPORE. TAIWAN Weiyee In weiin@mcgraw-hill.com Jennifer Chen jcnnchen@mcgraw-hill.com #305 Nanking East Road. Section 3.10th floor Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. Tel:-886-2-715-2205 FAX: +886-2-715-2342 KOREA Young-Seoh Chinn JES Media International 6th FL. Donghye Bldg. 47-16, Myungil-Dong Kangdong-Gu Seoul 134-070, Korea Tel:+82-2-4813411 FAX:+82-2-4813414 GERMANY, SWITZERLAND. AUSTRIA Jurgen Heise jhetse@mcgraw-hill.com The McGraw-Hill Companies Adam-Berg-Str. 115a D-81735 Munich. Germany Tel: +49 -89-680701-16 FAX:+49-89-680701-18 ISRAEL Dan Aronovic rhodanrry @ actcom.co.il DARA International 41 Ravutski Ra anana 43220. Israel Tel:+972-9-7419544 FAX:+972-9-7481934 ITALY. FRANCE. SPAIN. PORTUGAL SCANDINAVIA Zena Coupe, Amanda Blaskett 101645.17l0@compuserve.com A-Z International Sales Ltd. 70 Chalk Farm Road London NWl 8AN. England Tel:+44171 2843171 FAX:+44171 2843174 JAPAN Hirokazu Morita Japanese Advertising Communications, Inc. Three Star Building 3-10-3 Kanda Jimbocho Chiyoda-ku. Tokyo 101 Japan Tel:+81 3 3261 4591 FAX:+81 3 3261 6126 UNITED KINGDOM. BENELUX Jonathan McGowan jonmcgow@mcgraw-hill.com Tel: +44 171 495 6781 Marc Green Tel:+44 171495 6780 The McGraw-Hill Companies 34 Dover SL London W1X4BR England r> FAX:+44 171 4956734 ADVERTISING PRODUCTION Advertising/Production FAX: 603-924-7507 Advert s rg Production Manager: Linda Run' 603-924-2540 !f1uhr@ mcgraw-hilLcom Senior Advertising Production Coordinator Lyda Dark 603-924-2545 ldark@ mcgraw-hilLcom Advertising Production Coordinators: Karen Cilley 603-924-2557 kcilley@mcgraw-hill.com Rod Holden 603-924-2675 rholden@ mcgraw-hilLcom Senior Opemtions Coordinator Lisa Jo Steiner 603-924-2540 lisajo@mcgraw-hill.com Advertising Graphics Manager Susan Kingsbury 603-924-2507 suekings@ mcgraw-hill.com MARKETING AND PLANNING Market Information Manager Edward Fielding 617-860-6344 FAX: 617-860-6822 fieWing@mcgraw-hill.com Market Information Coordinator Dylan DiGregorio 617-860-6267 FAX: 617-860-6822 d ig regor @ meg ra w-hil l.com Marketing Communications Manager: Carol Sanchioni 603-924-2505 FAX: 603-924-2683 csanch@mcgraw-hill.com Assistant Manager, Trade Shows and Special Events: Arja Neukam 617-860-6378 FAX. 617-860-6307 aneukam@ mcgraw-hilLcom Marketing Services Coordinator: Kate Woodhouse 617-860-6361 FAX: 617-860-6307 woodhous@ mcgraw-hilLcom SUBSCRIPTIONS Customer Service US 1-800-232-2983 Outside US +1 -609-426-7676 For a New Subscription US 1-800-257-9402 Outside US +1-609-426-5526 www.byte.com AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 6 1 EDITORIAL INDEX For more information on any of the companies covered in articles, columns, or news stories in this issue, enter the appropriate inquiry number on the response card. Each page number refers to the first page of the article or section in which the company name appears. INQUIRY NO. INQUIRY NO. A Folio 84NA1 Active Voice 116C ForeFront Group 84NA1 actra 1161 1045 Formida 163 1055 AMD 32IS6 FreeLoader 84NA1 Amdahl 32IS13 1036 Fuji 163 1037 993 American Power Conversion 38 977 Fujitsu Computer 139.32IS 13 1021 AnswerSoft 116C Products of America 1048 AnySoft 20 6 980 Apple Computer 118.32IS6 Gateway 2000 20 1038 Artecon 163 GE Information Services 1161 Asian Communications 32IS3 1027 Gemstone 163 Aspect Telecommunications 116C Genesys 116C 1054 AST 163 Telecommunications Labs Asustek 32IS6 1046 Geo-Interactive Media 163 1017 B 1009 Gerich 32IS18 BEA Systems 56,77 H 985 BTG 1161 Harbinger 1161 Bull/Zenith 32IS13 983, Hewlett-Packard 85.103,118, 1024 163.32IS13 C / 984 Hitachi 20.103.118.32IS 13 979 Caligari 139 CallWare Technologies 116C 1 Cardiff Software 20 IBM 20,56,77,126,133,138. 998 32IS13 981 Casio Centaur Technologies 118 20.32IS6 1 Fusion Com 1018 84NA1 1047 inCommon 84NA1 982, Compaq Computer 85.103.118. 1019 126,32IS 6.32IS 13 Individual 84NA1 1029 Computhink 163 1007 in-integnerte 1040 Corel 163 information ssysteme 32IS18 1006 C2C Systems 32IS18 Intel 85.32IS6 Cyrix 20.32IS6 1043 Intergraph 163.32IS13 Computer Systems 1032 D 1042 Intergraph Software Solutions 163 DataChannel 84NA1 Intermind 84NA1 986 Data General 32IS13 976 Interplay Productions 139 Dell Computer 85.32IS13 1000 Intertex Data 32IS18 1033 DeskStation 32IS6 1016 Isis Distributed Systems 126 Dialogic 116C IXOS 32IS13 1044 1013, Digital Equipment 126,163, K 1025 32IS6.32IS13 995 Dragon Systems 20,33 Kiva Software 77 987 1003 dts Computer 32IS18 L E Lexmark 20 1049 ECorp. 163 999 Lightning Instrumentation 32IS18 Excite Live 84NA1 LogOn Technologies 20 1034 EXP Computer 163 Lotus Development 69 F M First Floor 84NA1 Marimba 84NA1 988 1004 fit Software Publishing 32IS18 1039 Math soft 163 1008 Matrox McAfee Associates Metz Software 20 84NA1 20,163 84NA1 163 103.126.32IS 6.32IS 13.84NA1 163 20 84NA1 32IS13 69 Minolta MIT Media Lab Mitsubishi Mortice Kern Systems N R 126.32IS13 NEC 103.32IS13 NEC Computer Systems 118 NETdelrvery 84NA1 NetFrame 85 Netscape Communications 45. 69.84NA1 Novel! 85 o Object Design 34 >logies 126 163 32IS6 20.56,77 32IS3 Opti Oracle Otek International PeopleSoft 163 20 986 Philips Consumer Electronics 118 103 163 84NA1 163 20 1161 118 Physix Ptustek PointCast Polaroid Power Computing Premenos Psion R RadioMa:! Red Hat s SAP Sequent Sharp 103 47 20.32IS13 32IS13 118 1005 997 1026 978 1041 1002 1050 1001 1035 1052 1030 1031 1053 1058 Siemens Nixdorf 32IS13.32IS18 135 989, 1028 1020 Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Sigma Designs Silicon Graphics Softimage Softway Source Development Speed ware Sterling Commerce StoBmann E+V Sun Microsystems Surflogic LLC T Tandberg Tandem Technically Bite 3Com Toshiba Trade Point Triteal Tumbleweed Software Tyan Computer u Unisys U.S. Robotics v Veritas Software Verity Vinca Vrsioflics w Wall Data Watcom 163 113 139 163 32IS18 163 1161 32IS18 45.32IS6 84NA1 163 56.32IS13 163 163 20.163 1161 163 137 32IS6 32IS13 118.163. 1014 126 84NA1 126 20 20 20 Wayfarer Communications 84 NA1 1051 996 X XcelleNet Xerox Xpoint Technologies Y Yahoo 163 37 85 84NA1 1008 Siemens Antagentechnik 32IS 18 IS pages appear only in the International edition. NA pages appear only m the North Amenca edition. C and I pages appear only in the Reseller edition. 1 6 2 BYTE AUGUST 1997 ZD Net Personal View 84NA1 www.byte.com PHOTOGRAPH: LIGHTWORKS PHOTOGRAPHIC O 1097 a h " This month, our previews look at a quieter-than-average PC from AST and a package to make image editing more accessible. Bravo MS $I255"$22IO Enter 1054 on Inquiry Card. AST Irvine. CA 800-876-4278 714-727-4141 http://www.ast.com Pentium Power with Less Rattle and Hum I n 1994. Silent Systems introduced the FE 4. a system that was for I all practical purposes inaudible. The original FE 4. which cost up to $4000. had intricate thermal-conducting technology and plas¬ tic acoustic-dampening shields that were too expensive and cum¬ bersome to implement for mass production. To make quieter sys¬ tems practical. Silent Systems is now selling sound-dampening PC internals based on the FE 4. but which are not as fully noise- retardant. to PC manufacturers. One of the first systems using this technology is the AST Bravo MS. which comes with a 133-, 166-, or 200-MHz Pentium pro¬ cessor or a 166- or 200-MHz Pentium with MMX technology, up to 256 MB of SDRAM, a 512-KB L2 pipeline burst cache, and a 2- or 3-G B hard drive. The AST machine I previewed had a Silent Systems Eldorado silent fan and SilentDrive hard drive, which is encased in an acousti¬ cal shield. Unlike the FE 4, which eliminated all internal fans, the Bravo needs the quiet Eldorado fan to cool the processor and the other internals. Thermal-conducting plates cool the hard drive. The power supply is not silent, although Silent Systems does market a silent one. The power supply is the main source of noise that the machine makes. The CD-ROM drive and hard drive are not silent components, either. Compared to the average noisy desktop system, the Bravo MS is a marked improvement, but it’s not perfect. The preview system’s power supply emitted a faint high-pitched whine, and I could hear a quiet hum from the fan and the occasional churning of the hard drive. This machine was quieter than the average PC but not quiet enough for those who demand monastic seclusion and silence. -Jason Krause Programming Java Applications Server Use the Gemstone/J ($4995) Java applications server to build Java applications involving several hun¬ dred million Java objects and thou¬ sands of users in transaction-inten¬ sive environments. The server has a transactional JVM, a shared object manager, and an integrated repos¬ itory for enabling Java applications. The Gemstone/J is fuIly Java-com¬ pliant and is engineered for server- centric, multiuser applications with heavy computational demands and disk-based object access. Included with this development tool is Gem- stone’s GemBuilder/J for Beans. Therefore, developers can easily manage JavaBeans applications from a GUI environment. Contact: Gemstone Beaverton , OR 503-533-3577 http:Hwww.gemst one. com Enter 1027 on Inquiry Card. Systems Java Netstations Java’s cross-platform capability allows single-desktop access to all network resources through Hewlett-Packard's Java-capable Entria II and Envizex II netstations (starting at $700 without moni¬ tor). Netstations provide thin- client access to Internet/intranet applications, Unix systems, Win¬ dows NT, and legacy systems. Cur¬ rently, HP netstations support server-based Internet browsers and the JVM, and are slated to sup¬ port Netscape’s Navio Navigator for integrated thin-client Web access and local Java VM. Contact: Hewlett-Packard Palo Alto, CA 415-857-1501 http:Ilwww.hp.com Enter 1024 on Inquiry Card. New Windows-Based PCs from Digital Digual Equipment's new une of PCs and workstations offer options for early adopters of the Pentium II with MMX technology. The Work¬ station 266 ($5200) offers single or dual Pentium II processors, and the Celebris GL-2 is a dual Pentium II PC for enhanced Windows NT performance. The Celebris FX-2 ($ 1500) models come with 166- or 200-MHz Pentium processors with optional MMX technology. The Celebris GL-2 ($2500) features a 233- or 266-MHz Pentium II pro¬ cessor with MMX and is dual-pro¬ cessor-capable for computation¬ intensive applications. Contact: Digital Equipment Corp. Maynard , MA http :!/ www.digital. com Enter 1025 on Inquiry Card. Add-ins DVD for Your PC or TV The Sigma Designs Realmagic DVD/ MPEG-2 playback card ($500) plays DVD video, CD-ROMs, CD AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 63 What’s New audio, Video CD, and DVD-ROM. It has the Sigma DVD-Station soft¬ ware for navigation and control. You can display images on TV or VGA monitors, simultaneously, if need be. The card works with 133- MHz and higher systems. It has no audio decoder. Instead, audio decoding is handled by the CPU. It has 1280- by 1024-pixel desktop resolution. Contact: Sigma Designs Fremont, CA 800-845-8086 510-770-0100 http:/i www. sigmadesigns. com Enter 1026 on Inquiry Card. Peripherals Road Warrior's Digital Camera The PDR-2A has no flash, and the LCD is tiny. However, this digital cam¬ era offers a new imaging technol¬ ogy, a tiny form factor, and a weight of 5.3 ounces. With a built-in PC Card, it will dock with a notebook’s PC Card slot for maximum mobil¬ ity. The camera features CMOS imaging, rather than traditional CCD imaging technology. CMOS is less expensive than CCD sensors and, Toshiba claims, now offers nearly the same quality as CCD. Toshiba's SmartMedia card can save 48 images on a 2-MB card or 96 images on a 4-MB card and allows for easy loading and transfer of data. All files are saved as JPEG and are compliant with any OLE soft¬ ware. You also get Sierra Imaging’s Image Expert software, which gives drag-and-drop capabilities to pho¬ to-imaging software. Contact: Toshiba Irvine, CA 714-583-3000 http: I I www, toshiba.com Enter 1031 on Inquiry Card. The EggCam Coo-Coo Ca-Choo The Panasonic EggCam ($ 199) is a 3.2- inch-high by 1.6-inch-wide by 1.8-inch-deep desktop video cam¬ era for 24-bit color e-mail video. Hardware The camera can capture images as close as 3.9 inches away and out to infinity, and produces images with up to 542 by 496 pixels and 330 TV lines of horizontal resolution.There is a built-in microphone for cap¬ turing audio. EggCam is designed for personal video messages that you can capture and compress with bundled SmithMicro VideoLink Mail software for e-mail attach¬ ments. The bundled CU-SeeMe software makes real-time video- conferencing possible. Contact: Panasonic Secaucus, NJ 201-348-7000 http:llwww.panasonic.com Enter 1032 on Inquiry Card. Scanners SOHO Scanner PluSTEk'S OpticPro 9630P'S (S299) 600 dpi, 30-bit color depth, and image-editing software bring high- resolution scanning capabilities to entry-level scanners. Bundled soft¬ ware makes faxing, copying, and scanning easier by automating any function into a single touchbutton utility. You install the scanner through a parallel-port interface. Contact: Plustek Sunnyvale, CA 408-745-7111 http:/1www.plustekusa.com Enter 1033 on Inquiry Card. Networking Router for SOHO The LAN Linker dual analog router (priced under $795), from U.S. Robotics, integrates two x2 mo¬ dems into one unit, giving you twice the speed of V.34 modems and greater routing functionality over analog phone lines. The LAN- Linker facilitates download speeds of up to 112 Kbps over phone lines and up to 450 Kbps with com¬ pression. The LANLinker gives near-ISDN speeds without the cost of digital phone lines. Contact: U.S. Robotics Skokie, IL 847-982-5001 http:/1 www.usr.com Enter 1028 on Inquiry Card. Storage New Life for Microfilm Archives For those who think microfilm is a storage-and-retrieval method for musty libraries, Fuji introduces M Drive ($20,000), a PC-based micro¬ film system. You connect M Drive directly to a PC through a standard SCSI connection. It has the foot¬ print of a traditional tower PC. M Drive scans 16mm microfilm for display on a PC or digitizes it for storage on a CD-ROM, disk, or other format where you can view, edit, store, and print the data. The sys¬ tem runs on Windows 3 x or higher and is compatible with existing PCs and printers. Contact: Fuji Elmsford, NY 800-755-3854 http://www. fujifilm.com Enter 1036 on Inquiry Card. Tough New Disk Arrays The Artecon LynxArray RAID ($ 18,995-$44,995) can extinguish itself in case of fire, withstand 8000 V of electricity or tempera¬ tures as extreme as -4 to 140°F, and sustain a major earthquake. It also has up to 82 GB of backup storage space. The LynxArray eon- troller is based on an Intel 486 microprocessor. It also has Ultra- Wide SCSI channels for 40-MBps burst and 33-MBps sustained transfer rates. Multihosted con¬ trollers support any combination of 3'A-inch or half-height 5 A-inch devices such as tape drives for in¬ line backup options.The high-end configurations have failover hot- swap removable controllers, disk drives, and power supplies. This makes serviceability possible with zero downtime. Contact: Artecon Carlsbad, CA 760-931-5500 http://www.artecon.com Enter 1038 on Inquiry Card. Hard Drive with Legs The EXP HD Traveler (S499 to S679) is a pocket-size external hard drive for notebooks. The HD Traveler fits into a Type I PC Card slot and com¬ plements the existing hard drive with 1,1.4, or 2.1 GB of extra stor¬ age capacity. The HD Traveler hard drive weighs 12 ounces and is 2.8 inches tall by 6 inches wide by 1.1 inches high. It can be powered by a notebook's internal power supply. You can use an external 5-VDC power supply to bolster the internal battery supply. The HD Traveler is ready to use with Windows 95 and includes a built-in port adapter for gaming joystick use. Contact: EXP Computer Irvine, CA 714-453-1020 sales(a expinc. com http: I/www. expnet. com Enter 1034 on Inquiry Card. 1 64 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Software What’s New Hard Drives for PCs and Workstations For ALL Of US CRAVING more disk space, Micropol is introduces two new lines of hard drives for performance PCs, entry-level servers, and worksta¬ tions. The Stinger ($550) is a 3 h- inch 4.3-GB UltraSCSI hard drive designed for entry-level servers and workstations. It has a 512-KB buffer and 5400-rpm rotational speed for low noise and heat production, and low power consumption without performance loss.The Mustang 3 : A- inch drive, for high-end PCs and workstations, offers 5200 rpm and 2.5, 4, or 5 GB ($250, $300, and $400, respectively). Contact: Micropolis Chatsworth, CA 818-709-3300 http:!/www.micropolis.com Enter 1037 on Inquiry Card. New Tape Storage Technology The MLR1 is a data-storage solution using multichannel recording, a 574-inch tape technology that is designed for better reliability and lower cost with the same or bet¬ ter capacities as DLTand other tape types. Tandberg's MLR tape drive has a data transfer rate of 3 MBps and employs "servo tracking," which prevents accidental over¬ writing of older files. MLR im¬ proves robustness over other stor¬ age types because it has two reels and does not need to be unspooled like other storage types with one reel. Tandberg's first MLR product is the MLR 1 ($2749), starting at 26 GB. Future versions will increase capacities. Contact: TandbergData Simi Valley , CA 800-826-3237 805-S79-1000 http:/I www. tandberg. com Enter 1035 on Inquiry Card. Business Paperless Office The Paperless Office, an omc£ infor- mation manager files, stores, re¬ trieves, annotates, and distributes more than 100,000 electronically created or paper-based documents for whole departments. The Paper¬ less Office ($199.95) works in the NT or Windows 95 environment and uses a SQL relational database to store e-mail, faxes, PC files, or scanned documents for download¬ ing. The software offers auto¬ search, export and backup capa¬ bilities and password options for security. Contact: Computhink Chicago, IL 312-357-9100 Enter 1029 on Inquiry Card. Servers Remote LAN Access The OfficeConnect Remote Access Server 1000 ($1195), from 3Com, gives mobile workers access to office LANs OfficeConnect has I P/IPX dial- in for remote access and IPXdial-out for Internet access and fax/modem pooling. The server automatically detectsand configures your PC Card analog modem. It includes a man¬ agement featu re that mon itors net¬ work conditions and makes appro¬ priate configuration adjustments This server provides two ports for ISDN and/or analog PC Cards. It includes four-, eight-, and 16-port Fast Ethernet hubs; a lOBase- T/IOOBase-T switch; remote-access routers; enterprise routers; an Inter¬ net gateway; and network print fax, and CD-ROM servers Contact: 3Com Santa Clara, CA 408-764-5000 http:/iwww.3Com.com Enter 1030 on Inquiry Card. SOFTWARE CAD Smarter, Quicker 2-D CAD Ima&neer Technical 2.0 (S495), a CAD tool from Intergraph Software Solutions, is a Web-enabled native Windows seat that reads and writes AutoCAD and MicroStation files. Imagineer Technical features include the ability to resize draw- >gs automatically. That is, when you adjust one line, the rest of the design will make corresponding adjustments You can animate dia¬ grams to simulate mechanical motions The product is OLE 2.0- compliant, can cut and paste to any Office 97 program, is designed for Windows 95 or NT 4.0, and can be modified to work with different work-flow environments Contact: Intergraph Software Solutions Huntsville, AL 800-692-8069 http:// www. intergraph. com Enter 1042 on Inquiry Card. Video Video Postproduction Tools Intergraph's ViZfx ($299) is a plug-in that expands the capabilities of Adobe Premier and imsync Speed Razor, two popular video-editing applications The product has more than 50 multithreaded special effects that fall into the following six categories: geometric transfor¬ mations, color transformations, masks, composites, transitions, and shines. The effects are Open-GL- accelerated and resolution-inde¬ pendent. meaning editors can use them for broadcasting, as well as lower-resolution applications such as the Internet Contact: Intergraph Computer Systems Huntsville, AL 800-692-8069 http: /l www. intergraph. com Enter 1043 on Inquiry Card. Programming Create Universal Applications For vi da’s Universal Development Environment ($5000 per develop¬ ment seat) is a tool to create new classes of applications or to extend existing ones using Universal Serv¬ er-based enterprise-computing environments. This application intends to integrate information resources from heterogeneous or legacy systems by migrating them to next-generation systems. It inte¬ grates various databases (RDBMS, GIS, CAD) and applications into newer databases and management systems. The Universal Develop¬ ment Environment is an object-ori¬ ented 4GL development with a C API. Contact: Formida San Jose, CA 888-736-7643 408-558-3200 http://www. formida. com Enter 1045 on Inquiry Card. The Web Web Data Mining OnDispiaYs CenterStage accesses data from multiple Web sites and ex¬ tracts data and categorizes it by data type for integration with busi¬ ness applications for analysis and processing. CenterStage uses pars¬ ing algorithms to overcome the te.o AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 65 What’s New Software limitations of HTML, which is a read-only language and otherwise ill-suited for data extraction. The software supports ODBC, ActiveX LiveWire, CGI interfaces, and Microsoft's ASP, as well as HTML OnDisplay offers these producrs: a CenterStage Developer kit ($995 per developer) for programming desktop applications, a Server ($9995 for 100 users; $39,995 for unlimited users), the CenterStage Desktop ($295) tool for personal¬ ized applications, and the Center- Stage WebAnalyst ($39.95 per user) for data manipulation. Contact: OnDisplay San Ramon , CA 510-355-3200 http: II www. ondisplay. com Enter 1047 on Inquiry Card. Internet Multimedia Authoring Tool Emblaze Creator from Geo-Interac- tive is an authoring environment built for the Internet offering data compression and continuously streaming video and animation.The product has two environments, one for novice designers with drag- and-drop capabilities and another with JavaScript capabilities for more advanced programming. A bandwidth/data stream monitor lets you adjust bandwidth bottle¬ necks. Emblaze supports BMP, PICT, JPEG, GIF, AVI, and QuickTime file formats. It is 100 percent Java- compatible, so that animations and video creations are available through any Java-enabled browser. Contact: Geo-Interactive Media Givataim , Israel 888-436-4999 818-993-9696 http:llwww.emblaze.com Enter 1046 on Inquiry Card. Business Sell Your Wares on the Web Speedware's Order Point ($20,000 for NT, $30,000 for Unix) is an appli¬ cation that handles business-to- business ordering over the Web. A tool set called Speedware Auto¬ bahn facilitates the creation of hyperlinks and the deployment of commercial applications. The prod¬ uct is designed to be installed by a nontechnical staff. It provides search options and point-and-click icons for merchandise selection. It records transactions and tracks and calculates payments. The program can be deployed from Windows 95 or NT, HP-UX and Sun and AIX plat¬ forms. It works with Oracle, In¬ formix, Sybase, SQL/Server, Allbase, and ISAM databases. Contact: Speedware Toronto , Ontario , Canada 416-408-2880 http://www.speedware.com Enter 1050 on Inquiry Card. Talk to Your PC Millennia Software’s E-Mail Reader Plus ($89.95) lets you access and respond to e-mail messages over the phone with simple voice com¬ mands. The software uses AT&T's Watson voice-processing technol¬ ogy and Millennia's own VoiceLink engine to convert spoken words into commands a computer can understand. You can call a PC from any telephone and have the PC respond with requested informa¬ tion. The software can read any POP3-compliant e-mail account or any account that can be accessed through Microsoft Exchange, as well as any Microsoft Word Attach¬ ment. The software requires a Pen¬ tium PC running at or above 75 MHz, Windows95, and aTAPI-com- pliant voice modem. A comple¬ mentary product is Millennia’s Fax Sender software ($49.95), which uses the same technology to locate and send files from a PC hard drive as faxes. Contact: Millennia Software Saratoga , CA 408-867-8900 http: 11 www.msw.com Enter 1048 on Inquiry Card. PREVIEW Kai’s Photo Soap Enter 1055 on Inquiry Card. MetaCreations Corp. Carpinteria. CA 800-472-9025 805-566-6200 http://www.metacreations.com Clean Up Pictures with Photo Soap K ai’s Photo Soap combines a unique interface and intuitive oper¬ ation to make image editing more accessible, especially for those of us who aren’t Photoshop wizards. Where Photoshop, PhotoDeluxe. and others of that ilk let you slice and dice and oth¬ erwise manipulate photos, the raison d’etre for Photo Soap is clean¬ ing up poor-quality photos (hence the moniker). I previewed the Win 95/NT 4.0 version of the program, which requires a Pentium processor, but the program is also available for the Mac OS on PowerPC hardware. At press time, MetaCreations was tracking down a bug that prevented the program from running on a Cyrix processor. Like other programs from MetaCreations, Photo Soap has a non- traditional Windows look, with all sorts of buttons, sliders, and even a TV-like remote control to executive functions, instead of the clas¬ sic Windows pull-down menus. Photo Soap does a fine job at making photos look better, and it includes all the classic fix-up operations: removing scratches, enhancing poor color, removing red-eye, and so on. As you work on photos, you move them from room to room: the in room, the detail room, the finish room, and so on. Though it isn't a substitute for print-shop programs, it does include plenty of backgrounds and clip art to let you make calendars, cards, and invitations. Photo Soap did a great job at making mediocre photos look bet¬ ter and helped good photos sparkle, but it still has room for improve¬ ment. Because it works in real time, it runs a lot faster if you don’t have other Windows applications loaded. And, if you are used to looking for everything in a Windows menu, it may take a bit of play¬ ing around to understand how F’hoto Soap is organized. Otherwise, this is top-notch software. And at $49, it is a bargain, too. -Jon Pepper 1 6 6 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Software What’s New More Powerful E-Mail eMail 97($29.95) is a new native Windows 95 interface with a 32- bit e-mail program designed to handle 3.2-Mb and larger files with a number of enhanced features. The program builds address books automatically on installation with files from other e-mail programs and can search remote address directories- It has two-way pager support meaning it can print,* ie, and compress messages, but also send a reduced message to your pager in real time. Ot r e'Actons are multiple account Support; drag-and-drop attachment cre¬ ation; two-way, six-language international translation; and a preview function for viewing mes¬ sages while still on the server. Contact: E Corp. Pittsburgh, PA 412-921-2900 http: li www. e-corp. com Enter 1049 on Inquiry Card. Networking Easier Remote Access SESSIONXPRESS ($5000) IS THE FIRST product in a planned suite of soft¬ ware called XcelleNet Essentials that will automate remote-access functions. SessionXpress includes a class I server and automates the delivery, retrieval, and update of enterprise information and appli¬ cations. It is a browser-based appli¬ cation for session management. Through scripting executed on both the client and server sides, a net¬ work administrator can use stan¬ dard Internet technology to pro¬ vide incremental content updates to users SessionXpress runs on Win¬ dows NT 4.0 or Windows 95 and Windows NT clients. Contact: XcelleNet Atlanta, GA 770-804-8100 http: Ilwww.xcellenet.com Enter 1051 on Inquiry Card. Hey! You've Got Unix in My Windows! WinTed 2.0 ($1 49.99 PER cuent) uses an X server to provide native access to Unix. Windows 95 and NT, and network resources on a single PC for improved enterprise network interoperability.The program auto¬ matically places applications icons from different environments into the WindowsStart Menu so you can click to launch any application. WinTed uses the PCX server to transparently launch Unix in the Windows environment and has an integrated ICA client, which pro¬ vides access to remote NT servers. Contact: Triteal Corp. Carlsbad, CA 760-930-2077 http:!I www.triteal.com Enter 1053 on Inquiry Card. Keep an Eye on Your Network Technically Elite offers DomainMeter 7000 ($6995). an RMON-based network monitoring and trou¬ bleshooting tool for Web-based network management The system automatically generates summary reports to its own Web page for a variety of data on network perfor¬ mance and traffic. DomainMeter 7000 is installed on an individual network domain and can monitor a single remote LAN or worldwide enterprise network. Contact: Technically Elite San Jose, CA 408-574-2300 http://www. tecelite.com Enter 1052 on Inquiry Card. Peripherals Retouch Your Personal Photos Polaroid's Before and After ($29.95) software sharpens, brightens, and enhances digitized photos on a home PC. Scanned photos and images from digital cameras can be manipulated and tweaked to im¬ prove image quality. The product does not tie into proprietary solu¬ tions but works with standard JPEG, TIFF, and BMP file formats. The package is available on CD-ROM for Windows 95. Contact: Polaroid Cambridge, MA 800-533-9680 http:// www.polaroid. com Enter 1044 on Inquiry Card. Software Update Mathsoft’s S-Plus 4.0 ($1790) is an enhanced version of the czdu- lar statistical data-mining tool. The program features a re a GU’ara iscustomizableandextensiblewithscriptinglr :heca:a-~ - re an- guage,S.Thereisa base library of 2000 statistics: * : ur;t :ns Ah eh you can add to. You can access information from SAS a^c S^SS cata tools as well as Excel and any OLE 2.0-eompatibie azz ication. ~he graphics generated by the program can be exportec as EPS, GIF. and WMF files for export to presentation applications. Mathsoft, Cambridge, MA, 800-569-0123 or61~-5 -1017, http://www. mathsoft.com. Enter 1039 on Inquiry Card. Corel's WordPerfect Suite 8 ($395 or $179 for upgraae st^e lat¬ est version of the desktop suite of applications for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. The same core applications are included as oast ver- sions; WordPerfect 8, Corel Quattro Pro 8, and Corel Presentation 8. Other applications include Netscape Navigator; Core; Photo -: „se 1.1, for photo editing; Corel Barista, a Java tool for Web program¬ ming and publishing; and Corel Versions, which tracks document revisions. Improvements include the PerfectExpert for help func¬ tions, consistent menus and toolbars across the core app cations, and the core applications now all write to HTML for creating Web pages. The Desktop Application Director gives one-click access to a applications through the Windows 95 task bar, and, according to the manufacturer, these improvements make for better integration between applications. Corel Corp., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 613-728-8200, http://www. Corel, com. Enter 1040 on Inquiry Card. Softway’s OpenNT 2.0 upgrades version 1.0, which licensed Microsoft’s source code for NT to create a native Unix system envi¬ ronment for Windows NT. OpenNT provides integration between Unix and Windows environments on a single machine in NT, giving simul¬ taneous access to Unix programs and utilities and Windows appli¬ cations. OpenNT sits alongside the Win32 structure and works with the NT kernel, meaning it is notan emulation product Unfortunately, version 1 .Osupported no Unix networking or graphical information, which version 2.0 now supports. Version 2.0 is geared for Internet designers who need Unix tools and scripting-Apache, Perl, and Unix shells are all supported—as well as if you simply want to open Unix and Windows applications on the same machine. So ft way, San Francisco, CA, 415-896-0708, http://www. OpenNT.com. Enter 1041 on Inquiry Card. AUGUST 1 997 BYTE 1 6 7 m r I M Teclmology comes to the rescue for parents and programmers alike. Advances and Retreats in Computing P rogrammers work night and day. Programmers forget to eat. Pro¬ grammers forget to sleep. More important, there's the matter of social graces. Some programmers forget about them entirely. For all these prob¬ lems there is now a single, happy solution. The savior is a package, from Dionne Di¬ uretic Workflow Systems, called the Dionne Programmer's Friend. It's named in homage to a device, called the "police¬ man's friend,” that's fa- The Program miliar to generations of traffic cops. (It lets police officers do things such as direct traffic for 8 hours straight without CYBER BABEWATCH Cyber Babewatch (CB) is a new product for imminent parents. CB lets you watch your child develop and grow in the womb. This nifty package includes an ultrasound device that you hook up to your PC to watch the baby. We could say that CB is endlessly useful, except that its usefulness ends at the time of birth. However, CB makes the whole process so fascinating that many parents will race to conceive another baby. The most obvious thing to do with CB is to take ultrasound photographs of the coming kiddo and send them to friends over the Internet. Even better, you can take several photos each day and compile them into a QuickTime time-lapse movie. So, it’s now a snap to document junior’s first-and let us assure you, cutest- gestures. The manufacturer, Cyber Belly Products, touts CB as a safety and health product, and surely it is. The wireless modem has three options: sends ultrasound pictures of the developing fetus to the parents’ health-care provider, thus reducing the number of costly visits to the doctor’s office. It takes the idea of having a sound monitor in baby’s room and extends it both visually and aurally to mommy’s womb. Daddy can go about his daily activities and watch baby develop merely by glancing at a little video device. The tiniest model even builds the viewscreen into a wristwatch, a la Dick Tracy. In practice, most people turn the sound off, as it tends to be dominated by maternal stomach rumblings. ^ | will thrill fathers and delight mothers throughout the pregnancy’s final months. Tiny tactile transducers attach to both the mother’s and the father’s stomachs. Every time baby kicks mommy, the CB parental transducer kicks daddy. The sensation is fun, at least for the first few times. For mothers, it can be profoundly satisfying. This is technology at its best, enabling a couple to truly share the sensations of pregnancy. 1 68 BYTE AUGUST 1997 Option 2 having to take a break—and with¬ out having to suffer distress.) The Programmer’s Friend is a program for your PDA/seheduler. est Friend It monitors your intake of food and drink and beeps when it's time for you to go to the bathroom. When it’s time for you to go to sleep, the Pro¬ grammer’s Friend tells you so. When a nonprogrammer ap¬ proaches you and makes a so¬ cial sound, the Programmer’s Friend tells you to say hello. This facility is what makes the package invaluable. Speech recognition, despite all its lim¬ itations, can reliably identify a stranger's hello. It’s also a sim¬ ple matter to detect the long silences characteristic of pro¬ grammers’ speech. When a si¬ lence extends beyond 20 min¬ utes, the Programmer's Friend tells you to say, "How ya doin'?" Thus, the device successfully turns the most taciturn coder into a social animal. A lower- order social animal, perhaps, but well up from the bottom of the social food chain. In sum, the Programmer's Friend will improve your me¬ tabolism, your bladder, and your social life. Best of all, it occupies well under a mega¬ byte of disk space. Who could ask for anything more? Marc Abrahams is the editor of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can contact him by sending e-mail to marca @improb.com. www.byte.com ILLUSTRATIONS: VICTOR GAD C1007 pentium Hear what one expert says: "We pick products by their impact in the industry, their innovation and excitement... MITAC's 5027 stands out because it has all the bells and whistles. The battery design, for Not only is the systems 14.2” LCD in a class of its own. MITAC’s 5027 also offers the best CPU performance on the notebook platform, ideal for today’s executive. Supporting Intel MMX™ microprocessor speeds of up to 233MHz. as well as up to 128 MB of DRAM, a high-speed CD-ROM drive. IrDA and other speed-charged specs, the system lets the user zap through multimedia applications like never before. What's more, its multipurpose bay and second batten provide top modularity and operating longevity. "It's a product we’d love to have ourselves.” That’s what BYTE’s man says. What about you? Try a MITAC 5027 for yourself and experience the taste of innovation, firsthand. example, is unparalleled. So is its port replicator and its large LCD. The sleek machine just felt nice typing using its full-sized keyboard." Rich Friedman, BYTE magazine’s Executive Editor International * The Intel Inside Logo anc Pentium are •Ecistered trademarks and MMX is a trademark of Intel Corporator * S o e ctat cns are subject to change without nobce. AJTX4C 9 Global Resources Serving Individual Needs MITAC INTERNATIONAL CORP. (TAIWAN) TeC886< 3 <3289000 Fa* 8*5-3 3280925 MITAC USA INC. Tat 1(5lC-5563333 Far 1(510*52653: MITAC EUROPE LTD. (UK) Tet ** 1952 *07200207300 Far ** * 95**01216200703 MS HARDWARE- SERVICE GmbH (GERMANY) > *9<211 >471970 Far *9<2ll >*7197125 MITAC JAPAN CORP. T* 01,3 5o88-2**6 Far 81(30688-2380 MITAC BENELUX N.V.(BELGIUM) Tel 32120610799 Far 32 2*610665 MITAC DE MEXICO. SA DE CV Te(: 52'5-2603399 Fa* 52 5*600616 MITAC NEW ZEALAND LTD. Tel: 6* 9 *76512* Fa* 6 *-9 *766752 MITAC AUSTRALASIA PTY. LTD. Tel: 61 (3'95*00555 Fa* 61 3 95*00588 MITAC COMPUTER (SHUNDE) LTD. (CHINA) T«t 86 765 7753168 Fa* 86 765 77592*6 MITAC PACIFIC (H.K.) LTD. > 552 25286782 Far 652*861375* SYNNEX INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES INC (U.SJL) Tel: 1i5lC-6563333 Far H 5100*03777 SYNNEX AUSTRALASIA PTY. LTD. Tefc 61 1 3195*00555 Far 61 3 96*00588 SYNNEX UK Tel: **<1952*07200207300 Far **, 1952 *01216200703 SYNNEX KJC (JAPAN) Teh 81-3-5688-23*0 Far 81-3-5688-23*5 E-ma*: -ame? e sm!DtrKrmc.ajm.t» (URL): he© . ~4»C^C com r* Orc-e 443 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 444). Across the Office... Across the Building... Across the Worid! \ OK. Your boss (and his boss and her boss) are crowded around your computer, looking your new product concept. You need to show them the idea Becky is working on, but her computer is all the way across the lab. You start to herd everyone over there, knowing you only have 5 minutes before your budget meeting. Oh / if only you could go over those figures one more time! But Bob has them on his computer six floors down and is probably editing them again RIGHT NOW. But, you can still make it... until you get the call (you know you shouldn 't have answered it) telling you that your server has gone down at the Atlanta office. You could fix it - if you weren't in Frankfurt. I f you had been using a Cybex Solution, you could have done all that and more right from your desk. No matter how far your work takes you from your computers, Cybex keeps you in the driver's seat. With our hardware, you can access and operate most any computer, anywhere, just as if you were sitting in front of it. One company. One solution. Cybex. Cybex Computer Products Corporation 4912 Research Drive Huntsville Alabama 35805 USA (800) 93 CYBEX (29239) • (205) 430-4030 fax http://www.cybex.com In Europe, Cybex Ltd. Tel. 353-61-471877 • FAX 353-61-471871 E-mail inquiry@cybex.ie •-v Yes banyan* LANtastic Cybex is a registered trademark of Cybex Computer Products Corporation. Lantastic is a registered trademark of Artisoft Inc.. Banyan is a trademark of Banyan Systems Inc Netware is a registered trademark of Novell Inc. Circle 433 on Inquiry Card (RESELLERS: 434).