Host Connectivity News and Articles (10/28)
Here we look at some of the most important events and inventions in the history of computing, from the humble abacus to mainframes, terminal emulation software, the internet and social media. It's a brief and information-packed timeline of computer history.
For decades now, many in the computing industry have been sounding the death knell of the mainframe. The emergence of cloud computing has been seen as a reason that mainframes won't survive much further into the 21st century. But just like email hasn't spelt the death of snail mail, cloud computing most certainly hasn't meant the death of the mainframe. Terminal emulation software continues to be made in order to access mainframes from modern computers. And so, in this article, we look at six reasons why the mainframe is here to stay.
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) refers to a type of system that uses radio waves to wirelessly transmit data. It falls into the same "automatic identification technology" category as the bar codes you'll find on supermarket products and the magnetic strips you'll find on the back of credit cards. Just like a bar code or magnetic strip needs to be scanned in order to get the required information, an RFID device must be scanned to retrieve information as well. With the help of terminal emulation software, RFID systems are able to access powerful host computers while "out in the field".
A thin client is a type of computer or piece of software that relies on another more powerful computer to do most of its work. Connected to a network, the thin client computer or software provides an interface through which the user communicates with a network server computer. Because the thin computer is not powerful, it is virtually useless on its own; however, when connected to a centralised network server computer, it is capable of displaying all the information that a user requires. Powerful mainframe computers, for example, can be accessed through thin client terminal emulation.