Host Connectivity News and Articles (8/28)
Today we are happy to announce that our flagship terminal emulator for Windows, TTWin 4, has been certified for Windows 10 compatibility.
In the 1960s, IBM designed a large scale computer system architecture which would forever change the world of big business. This mainframe was called System/360 and it allowed for the type of real-time processing and computational power that enabled the kinds of online features we take for granted today, such as credit card authorizations, airline bookings, grocery scanning and so forth. System/360 also helped power the US space program, enabling NASA to put a man on the moon. And while IBM's mainframes, accessed with user-friendly terminal emulation software, remain a crucial part of big business today, what many don't realize is that the Soviet Union also created its own clones of System/360, known as ES EVM.
There are certain enterprises in our society that have become so heavily relied upon by the masses that, should something go wrong, the effects would be enormous. We're talking about enterprises such as banks, hospitals, airlines and telecoms. All of these entities rely heavily on computer systems to store crucial information and ensure their systems remain fluent and effective right around the world. When something goes wrong with these systems - even the slightest thing - it's a big deal. It could be because of poor terminal emulation or any number of other reasons but, in the end, that entity is going to end up in the news for all the wrong reasons as millions of their customers are affected.
When you hear somebody use the term 'Big Iron', they're probably referring to the IBM mainframes that rose to prominence in the 1960s. These computers are large, expensive and powerful, often taking up entire rooms with their own cooling systems. In the '60s, large corporations in key industries such as banking, telecommunications and airlines began using the large scale computer system architectures commonly referred to as Big Iron, and these architectures continue to play an important role today. In this article we'll look at the history of Big Iron, as well as how the traditional "green screen" terminals used to access them became obsolete, being replaced with user-friendly terminal emulation software.