This is another exemplary case study, yet again from the insurance sector à la Lafayette Life [7/25/98] and The Chickering Group [2/25/98], that persuasively highlights the lure and cost-effectiveness of using the Internet for host access - in this instance to access an AS/400.

The Farmers Mutual Protective Association of Texas (RVOS), based in Temple, TX, is a successful mutual insurance company that provides farmers in Texas with property coverage protection against fire, theft, vandalism, etc. If you are a farmer in Texas and you need fire insurance for all that hay that you just bailed in from the sweltering heat - then RVOS is the company to call. RVOS' forte is handling farm property related insurance needs that the big, national companies are unwilling or unable to handle.

RVOS was established in 1901 by a group of nine people of Czech heritage, in Bell County, Texas for the purpose of mutual assistance to each other in the event of loss by fire, lightning and windstorms. The acronym RVOS refers to the company's name in Czech. RVOS has grown steadily over the years and now has 300 sales representatives spread over all of Texas. This case study is all about providing these 300 sales reps with on-line AS/400 access across the Internet using ResQNet's tn5250 Java applet - with its built-in AutoGUI.

The New ResQNet!

We have talked about ResQNet a lot in this Newsletter starting with its AutoGUI role for IBM's Host On-Demand in the 8/21/98 issue. In the past, ResQ!Net (with that pesky exclamation mark) was the Java product - and the company was AT2. Now the company and the product have both been renamed ResQNet - sans the exclamation mark. The ResQNet AutoGUI is still a vital feature of HOD - albeit now under a new IBM moniker along the lines of SecureWays Screen Customizer.

In addition to the AutoGUI applet that works in conjunction with HOD, ResQNet, as we showed in Part 2 of the 'Applet Based SNA Access Solutions' matrix on Page 13 of the 5/25/1999 Newsletter, has its own tn3270(E) and tn5250 applets - replete with screen customization capability, AutoGUI and SSL encryption. Thus, ResQNet's tn3270(E)/tn5250 applets can be used, on their own, without HOD. This is what RVOS opted for. RVOS thus uses the total ResQNet solution - rather than IBM's HOD with ResQNet. Until March of this year, RVOS' 300 Sales Reps did not have any type of direct on-line access to the policy, claim and financial applications that were being run on an AS/400 Model 510.

Policy and claim information, in the past, was sent to the Sales Reps via mail and fax. In addition, the Sales Reps would call, by telephone, the corporate HQ in Temple when they needed online information. As with so many of the companies we have seen in previous Case Studies, RVOS realized a couple of years ago that the Internet was the optimum, most expeditious, and highly cost-effective way for them to provide their 300 (and growing) Sales Reps with direct on-line access.

Picking the Winner

In September of last year, Mr. Lewis Wolfe, RVOS' Computer Services Manager, saw ResQNet technology at an IBM e-Business show in Las Vegas. He was impressed and initially thought that ResQNet was indeed IBM developed technology since it was being demonstrated at an IBM booth. After the show, Mr. Wolfe visited the ResQNet Web site and down-loaded an evaluation copy.

Mr. Wolfe also evaluated Internet (inet) AG's 5250-to-HTML converting Webulator/400 and Seagull Software's Java applet based JWALK 5250 emulator. The former did not offer the powerful, automatic pattern detection based conversion [e.g. automatically detecting "PF3 = EXIT" strings and converting them to 'action buttons'] capabilities of ResQNet, while the latter required more resources than RVOS was willing to expend on this project.

RVOS' decision to go with ResQNet was finally swayed by the following two important criteria:

1. Ease of installation, implementation and maintenance. RVOS did not have too many resources to devote to this project. So it was imperative that they found an easy to deploy, low-overhead, low-maintenance solution. ResQNet fitted this bill perfectly - and to the delight of Mr. Wolfe, it has not let him down in any way. In the past RVOS had opted not to pursue traditional, non-Web based client-server solution for remote access given the amount of resources that would be required to implement and maintain such a solution.

ResQNet sent an SE to RVOS in March and the whole project, including the design of some 20 customized screens, was successfully realized in three days! That is mighty impressive - particularly given that the big 'Consulting Houses' talk about 7 months or more to develop a pilot for 100 users! Since going on-line in mid-March, RVOS has experienced no problems with this solution and Mr. Wolfe, understandably, is very happy with the decision to go with ResQNet. [With a URL supplied by Mr. Wolfe I masqueraded as a RVOS Sales Rep earlier this week to see the applet in action. Downloading the applet and caching it on my drive was achieved across a shared 56Kbps line in a few minutes using Netscape Navigator 4.61 - and I had a logon screen up on my PC while I was still talking to Mr. Wolfe. I was impressed.]

Consistent with one of ResQNet's fundamental precepts, RVOS did not have to make any changes to their applications to achieve the new, rejuvenated user interface. The only changes that RVOS did make to their applications were related to security and privacy - in effect to ensure that Sales Reps were precluded from accessing unauthorized data.

2. ResQNet's 'trademark' auto-customization based on their patented pattern recognition technology. As mentioned above, ResQNet automatically detects PF key assignment strings, such as PF3 for exit, and automatically converts these strings to action buttons. ResQNet also recognizes numbered menus and automatically converts them into button driven menus. Given that RVOS had many menu type screens, this was of particular interest and value. Given that this AS/400 access scheme was being implemented explicitly for their dispersed sales force, RVOS wanted to deliver a welcoming, user-friendly interface that would not intimidate, frustrate or hamper the Sales Reps. They also wanted to minimize, if not eliminate, 'help desk' calls from users confused about how to 'drive' the system. The ResQNet user interface rejuvenation technology compellingly addressed all of these requirements.

A Clean Architecture

The architecture of RVOS' ResQNet solution is shown in the Figure on Page 2. It is a classic '2-tier', client-to-host architecture - for the time being without SSL. The ResQNet applet and the IBM AS/400 tn5250 Server used by RVOS both support SSL. Thus activating SSL is not an issue - and there are plans to activate it shortly. Right now printing, which is not a major issue, is restricted to screen prints.

In contrast to the HOD implementation, ResQNet uses just one applet for both the 'tn' host connectivity and user interface rejuvenation. This applet is typically around 500KBytes - though it is possible to configure even smaller applets. In general RVOS uses ResQNet's caching feature, where the applet is cached in the Browser's cache after the initial download. This, as we know, greatly expedites applet invocation (without sacrificing the dynamic and automatic applet version checking) and precludes the need for continual applet downloads across the net.

Though they use IBM's much respected SecureWays Firewall technology within the AS/400 to restrict access to the Web server, RVOS was not comfortable with the potential security risk of having their production AS/400 system directly accessible over the Web. Their primary and justifiable fear was that of a hacker disrupting their mission-critical, production host. To get around this, RVOS acquired a new AS/400 Model 170 earlier this year - for the explicit purpose of acting as an Internet server for Web based access. This was a great choice on the part of Mr. Wolfe. The low-profile, low-cost 170s, referred to by IBM as "e-Servers", are positioned as scalable alternatives to NT and Unix boxes for e-Commerce, Java and Internet applications.

As shown in the Figure on Page 2, all of the Web server, tn5250 Server and Firewall software used by RVOS is a part of OS/400 and resides on the Model 170. This is another factor that simplified the overall implementation and kept costs to a minimum.

At present there is no direct connection between the production Model 510 and the Model 170. Data between the two systems are updated every night using tapes. This guarantees the isolation and security sought by RVOS. Later this year, Mr. Wolfe does plan to integrate the two systems to eliminate the need for data replication.

Claim to Fame

Web based AS/400 access using the ResQNet tn5250 applet, replete with user interface rejuvenation, consummately satisfied all of RVOS' demanding requirements:

1. simple, straightforward, low-effort installation
2. easy user interface rejuvenation with many automated features
3. trouble-free, low-maintenance operation
4. cost-compelling, Web-based access with no toll-call charges or the need for Remote Access Server equipment
5. ready extensibility in the future to support SSL security, etc.
6. scalable, very-clean 2-tier architecture that utilizes standard, highly proven, built-in components in OS/400

RVOS, like TWA [11/25/98] and the other case studies we looked at last year, is extremely happy with their Web-to-Host solution. Mr. Wolfe in particular is delighted with his highly positive experience with ResQNet. Yet another resounding win-win for Web-to-Host technology.