ResQNet.com
33 Maiden Lane, Eighth Floor
New York, NY 10038
212-482-8080 Ext. 4816
www.resqnet.com

ResQNet.com Goes Live with Powerful Line-Up
of Products and Endorsements

Preface

AS/400 and mainframe systems represent valuable assets that can be extended and enhanced to support additional revenue streams. However, the training costs associated with learning how to navigate through green screens and function keys are so prohibitive that business managers need to rejuvenate these legacy applications to support new users cost effectively.

Organizations need to integrate current business applications with the Internet and mobile devices for the following reasons:

• Current business applications contain enormous amounts of business-critical information relating to products, customers, purchases, and payment history;
• These systems are designed to reliably handle heavy transaction loads sustained over long time periods;
• These systems execute according to the organization's commercial business rules regarding serving and supporting customers;
• The ubiquitous Internet as well as intranets, extranets, and handheld devices make direct access to these systems a practical reality for low-cost delivery and supply chain automation; and
• Direct access facilitates increased usage by employees, partners, suppliers, and customers, which necessitates ease-of-use and navigation from a single data integration point, browser, or mobile device.

This Aberdeen Profile presents ResQNet's easy-to-use yet powerful graphical user interface (GUI) solutions for extending mainframe and AS/400 environments to desktops, the Internet, and mobile devices. The company is targeting line-of-business (LOB) decision-makers who are charged with the task of extending these environments to new users and expanding utilization through their user communities. ResQNet's 3270/5250-to-HTML Java-based conversion solutions are scalable, secure, easy-to-use, economical, and guaranteed to work right out of the box. In fact, the company guarantees that a legacy application can be "Web-ified" in a day and in production in another.

Aberdeen spoke with a number of ResQNet customers, all of whom vouched for the ease, power, flexibility, and affordability of the company's Web-to-host solution. One customer pointed out specifically that every other product that was evaluated would have taken longer to deploy, had a large footprint that would have severely affected remote users, or was not as functional as ResQNet's offerings. This Profile helps readers understand the market issues facing organizations with legacy assets, the challenges that have hindered Web-to-host adoption, and how ResQNet can address these challenges.

Market Issues

Legacy systems contain valuable assets that are sometimes mission-critical and almost always business-critical. And there are a lot of them. According to industry estimates, more than 20,000 mainframes and over 700,000 AS/400s exist in organizations today - actively supporting more than 100 million users accessing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), best-in-class, and home-grown report program generator (RPG), Programming Language 1 (PL/1), and Common Business-Oriented Language (Cobol) applications. Approximately 70% of all critical business logic and data resides in these applications. The investments made in these applications represent trillions of dollars. Organizations must protect these investments. But the Internet introduces an even more compelling opportunity to not only protect those investments but also to leverage the environments to provide greater flexibility and attract new users.

Legacy applications share something unique with the Internet: they are both business-enabling platforms that do exactly what they were designed to do. One processes high volumes of data quickly, consistently, and reliably in 24×7 environments utilizing a dedicated, session-oriented access methodology. The other enables self-service portals as well as do-it-yourself gateways via a Web browser at home, in the office, or on the road. The challenges facing organizations today include how to bring these very separate environments together so they can co-exist, and how to leverage the strengths each brings to an organization's infrastructure. Increasing the flexibility of an organization's infrastructure while leveraging the existing installed base provides a critical competitive advantage. Web-enabling core applications provides a cost-effective solution and time-to-market advantage over the alternative of building from scratch.

Web-to-host technologies that solve this problem, however, are still in their infancy. Until they are more prolific, few Information Technology (IT) organizations will have successful deployment experience that others can leverage.

Adoption Challenges

Deploying a host-based application across the Internet that addresses the needs of end-users, LOB managers, and Information Systems (IS) organizations has traditionally been a difficult proposition. Each participant is likely to have different requirements, including ease-of-use, user interface design, supported desktops, deployment methods, degree of access, security levels, and bandwidth. These differences originate from participants' varying job functions, backgrounds, experiences, and expectations.

Understanding the needs of the organization and matching these needs with technology solutions is not an easy task, particularly with Web-to-host technologies. Multiple business needs in this technology make choosing a single supplier difficult. That is often the case with emerging technologies that are not mature enough to scale from soup to nuts.

Most of the traditional host extension suppliers have migrated from emulation of product business models to products augmented by service-oriented models, which are expensive, to compensate for the erosion in product margins. Many of these suppliers use no- or low-cost pilot offers to get products into organizations, which often address a particular problem with which the organization is faced. Aberdeen research has identified that a surprising number of these projects never get beyond pilot implementation because of high cost, scalability, lack of resources available in-house to learn the tools required for deployment, or simply because they do not meet expectations. Deployment obstacles are typically the result of a mismatch between an offering and an organization's expectations.

Web-to-host technology acquisitions decisions are also a moving target. With the advent of the Internet and the drive to "Web-ify" front-office applications, the power has shifted to the business organizations themselves to drive front-office enhancements. This paradoxical shift has fortified LOB managers with the experience, discretionary budgets, and business requirements to drive deeper into their organizations to provide face-lifts for the back-end systems.

This decision-making evolution has created a significant chasm between Management Information Systems (MIS) - where traditional technology decisions resided in the past - and business managers. This gap has been developing for more than a decade, causing increasingly disparate and separate organizational skill sets and deployment priorities to flourish. Although Web-to-host technologies promise to marry the old with the new, and although the healthy pulse of an organization and the well-being of the industry at large depend on these two organizations working together closely, the reality is that this union is a new one. The Internet is the first computing platform that has provided these two groups with the incentive to close this chasm - and Web-to-host technologies form the enabling glue.

This chasm, however, has presented a branding challenge for traditional host integration suppliers: Their success and branding recognition reside in the hands of the MIS organization, which has traditionally served as the gatekeeper to back-end systems. Suppliers have a brand-new customer base with which they have very little experience in terms of installed base and business requirements.

Another problem that has plagued Web-to-host adoption has been the difficulty of deploying solutions in a timely fashion. Most suppliers' products require quite a bit of programming work using tools that developers have to learn, representing a time-to-market impediment. MIS has traditionally been a bottleneck. The extreme pressures on MIS force it to prioritize on technology adoptions, pilots, and deployments that may not support the priority of the LOB manager. Technology that must be deployed by MIS must indeed be selected and piloted by MIS. Unless a product can be tested, selected, piloted, and deployed by the business organization itself, it cannot be under the jurisdiction of this organization, which is where the discretionary funds remain today.

ResQNet

ResQNet's product line is based on its proprietary, patented technology - ResQ! - an algorithm that automatically translates S/390 and AS/400 green screens into a data stream that identifies each field and hash key, loading the snapshot or unique "fingerprint" of a particular screen into an easy-to-use GUI. This "AutoGUI," for example, automatically detects all of the PF-key assignments that appear on a host screen and converts them into clickable action buttons. The new screen brings flexibility, enhanced functionality, and access to other data sources to users right out of the box.

This technology was invented by ResQNet, but it is also licensed to IBM and is integral to IBM's Host On-Demand product (which will be bundled with WebSphere in 2000) as well as Hummingbird's host access products including HostExplorer Web and HostExplorer. With the blessings of IBM (which influenced the blessings of Hummingbird), ResQNet has tiptoed out from under its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) umbrella to begin a direct sales effort that has already demonstrated promise and success.

The company's OEM focus has established it on tens of thousands of desktops with a rock-solid product that has kept up with the offerings of established international suppliers such as IBM. In fact, IBM considers ResQNet's product so strategic to its product offering that it has translated versions of the product into more than 27 languages for worldwide distribution.

Background

ResQNet's ResQ! technology was developed in the early 1990s by President and Chief Technology Officer Todres Yampel to meet user demands to incorporate a modern GUI into legacy applications. Yampel had been spearheading the technical development in Complex Systems Group (CSG) for companies for more than 20 years. One of CSG's subsidiaries, Complex Systems Inc. (CSI), had a software application that required too much support for its customers to maintain, so CSG charged Yampel with the task of building a friendlier interface for this Cobol-based application.

CSI was the first customer to incorporate ResQ! into its trade finance software, BankTrade. This Cobol-based application, which previously required five MIS programmers a month to maintain, can now be managed by BankTrade's business unit. Today, ResQ! is used in banks across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Recognizing the broad-based appeal of the ResQ! product - the ability to disengage MIS with easier-to-use GUIs and empower the business departments - ResQNet.com (then known as Advanced Transitions Technologies or AT2) was formed to further develop the product and promote the brand. ResQNet has been operating behind the scenes since this inception.

In 1997, ResQNet became an IBM Business Partner. In April 1998, the company signed two agreements with IBM. The first agreement led to the integration of ResQNet's default GUI into IBM's Host On-Demand connectivity package (beginning with v.3.0). In the second agreement, IBM became a global reseller and service provider of ResQNet for Host On-Demand.

In November 1999, ResQNet signed an OEM licensing agreement with Hummingbird. ResQNet has also announced partnerships with Tradepaq and Computer Generated Solutions Inc.

Having proven its technology with IBM and the market reception with Hummingbird, ResQNet has moved from an OEM sales model into a direct and channel model to increase margins and decrease the sales cycle (from six months or longer to four months or less). ResQNet.com currently markets and sells its products directly, and through value-added resellers (VARs) and international representatives worldwide.

Product Portfolio

The company's product line revolves around three 100% pure Java graphical emulator-enabling products: ResQNet, ResQPortal, and ResQ/ME. These products provide on-the-fly graphical connectivity to host applications on the Internet and intranets through the use of Java-enabled browsers like Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator. Because the products are Java-based, users can integrate them with popular industry applications and Web servers.

ResQNet is a thin Java applet (500 Kbps), suited for intranet usage, that provides Windows functionalities within a browser, such as mouse capability, macro buttons, customizable fonts and colors, and drag-and-drop fields with re-sequencing of tab order and context-sensitive help. Screens can be customized while they are live using the intuitive drag-and-drop Customization Studio - objects such as radio buttons, check boxes, and lists can be used in place of numerical menu choices and plain text fields. Arithmetic operations and table look-ups to support if/then logic parameters for additional functionality can enhance an older application's breadth and reach. Information from multiple screens as well as other applications can be combined into a single screen (screens as well as fields can also be suppressed), creating new, more efficient applications based on user needs. Comprehensive database access and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) support further extend the capability of the ResQNet technology. Additionally, the product can export host data into Windows server and desktop applications such as MS Word, Excel, Access, and Lotus Notes.

ResQPortal complements ResQNet, providing all of the features in a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) interface and delivering customized HTML screens to users. Users can navigate customized host screens as if they were any other HTML pages on the Web, clicking buttons and choosing options from pick lists to move from one screen to the next. Function keys can be displayed as clickable hot spots, presenting users with self-help capabilities and eliminating training costs and support center calls. ResQPortal is network- and firewall-friendly and needs only one Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) port. It is best suited for providing host access over extranets or the Internet. The fact that no applet download is required provides a key benefit for mobile access to host information.

ResQ/ME is ResQNet's emulator designed for wireless devices such as Palm, Pocket PC, Windows CE, or any Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-enabled device. Organizations will find this capability critical as they look to improve efficiencies in their mobile operations and reach out to new users. Having mobile access to business transactions, such as inventory status and shipping information, and being able to engage in purchasing transactions on the road will be critical for companies seeking to support these operations; extend them to their distributors, suppliers, and vendors; and generate revenue streams from this emerging market opportunity. Financial organizations will be able to generate new revenue opportunities by providing secure balance as well as quotes and trading information. Insurance agencies can extend secure quotes and status and claim information to remote agents. Government agencies can provide citizens and homeowners with tax and other public information. Health professionals can access patient records and billing information from remote locations as well as from home. Providing access to legacy applications remotely increases the flexibility of these legacy environments to meet the changing and diverse needs of users and introduces new business opportunities in the process.

Figure 1 illustrates the three ResQNet products. All products install on mainframes (MVS, CICS, and IMS environments), AS/400s, NT, Linux, Unix, Sun, and HP servers; run in all operating environments; and are capable of supporting tens of thousands of concurrent users depending on the number of processors. In addition, they provide Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption as well as LDAP services and work with existing host security.

Figure 1: ResQNet.com Complete Web-to-Host and Rejuvenation Solutions

Source: Aberdeen Group, August 2000

The company has captured its products' functionality in three value propositions:

1. Rejuvenation: All ResQNet products leverage the AutoGUI emulator feature, which automatically transforms a green-on-black screen to a Windows look-and-feel;
2. Customization: The products have the ability to add new drag-and-drop functionality to existing applications without making any changes to the underlying host code; and
3. Integration: The products also have the ability to integrate business information with other applications into a single interface for new e-Business usages, increasing accuracy and productivity.

Training takes an average of two days and enables users to customize approximately 10 screens per day. Benchmarks at customer sites have illustrated ResQNet's rapid deployment ability: Legacy applications have been brought into a production environment in one day, and desktop productivity has been provided in less than 30 minutes.

Target Partners, Users, and Customers

ResQNet targets midrange to high-end Fortune 1000 organizations that have secure, reliable, 24×7 e-Business processing requirements that need to move to a point-and-click GUI for employees, suppliers, field agents, and partners. Target verticals include the following:

• Banking and brokerage;
• Insurance companies;
• Transportation and hospitality;
• Business-to-business;
• Call centers/telecommunications;
• Application, Internet, and wireless service providers;
• Government;
• Manufacturing;
• Universities and libraries; and
• Healthcare.

ResQNet is targeting business-oriented customers who have not embraced Web-to-host products because of deployment costs, training and time-to-market issues, lack of technical resources, and other concerns that have contributed to the slow adoption associated with this technology. Traditional verticals that have managed to maintain fairly centralized architectures in spite of the client/server era are ideal candidates for ResQNet's products wherever resource issues have influenced IT deployment decisions significantly. In these environments, resource restraints have been the primary pain factor in not re-facing legacy environments with a GUI. Now, a GUI can become just "nice to have," and in many cases business-critical, because this pain factor of cost no longer outweighs the benefits.

By rejuvenating user interfaces and extending the reach and functionality of host applications, and by integrating those applications with traditional Windows PCs, intranets, the Internet, and wireless devices, companies are able to extend access to these back-end environments instantly and cost-effectively. With a significant percentage of all business data still residing on mainframe and AS/400 computers, ResQNet.com foresees a bright future facilitating Web-integrated e-Business solutions through the integration of legacy with desktop and browser-based applications.

Aberdeen Conclusions

Aberdeen highly recommends that organizations respond to the Internet business challenge quickly by acquiring technology that lets them re-deploy critical business systems and data quickly and easily. "Web-ifying" host systems has traditionally been a difficult task to undertake organizationally for a variety of reasons. ResQNet accomplishes the task without requiring any scripting or programming, and it does so cost-effectively. With more than 70% of all operational applications and data resident on legacy systems, it is clear that these systems are essential organizational resources. They took decades to create and deploy, and a cost-effective Internet initiative that leverages these assets, as well as their current client/server infrastructures, is imperative.

Technical talent within an enterprise as well as industrywide is an exceedingly precious commodity that is fragmenting and diminishing rather than proliferating. Web-to-host suppliers are taking advantage of this opportunity by beefing up their services and offering to lend an expensive hand. LOB managers are increasingly being called on to solve the problem of providing intranet, extranet, and Internet flexibility to back-end systems and, today, have the discretionary funds to support these endeavors. ResQNet steps up to the plate with an alternative to expensive service business models - safe, secure, and easy-to-use solutions that require minimal services and training to address and empower customers.

Licensing ResQNet's products can help organizations save considerable money just by moving away from the margins associated with a service model and adopting ResQNet's product model. Mainframe-class systems were upgraded to facilitate the demands of the new millennium for a reason: They are valuable assets that support organizations' business. IT departments managed to make these systems Y2K-compliant; now it is time for the business units to take the next step to enable Web compliancy for self-service (portals) as well as mobile access. ResQNet's portfolio of solutions speaks to - and, in fact, should impress - any business professional, and is a compelling opportunity that should be considered seriously.

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