9th February 2004
A completely new version of Distributed Transaction System middleware is now available
for IBM eServer iSeries (formerly AS/400) platforms running OS/400 operating system.
This release is also the first DTS/OS400 version solely engineered by Tascomm and
includes all the latest features and enhancements shipping in the version 5 product range.
Major functional enhancements already introduced in DTS/Windows 5.0 are now fully available for
IBM midrange gear.
The most important enhancement is the support for long DTS messages.
Since the dawn of the DTS architecture, a common limit of 32000 bytes for the size of an individual
DTS transaction message has existed. Originally inherited from the IBM SNA world, this constant
maximum size has covered all DTS platforms and protocols supported. And it still does when
unlimited and seamless platform interaction and application portability is desired. However, since
version level 5 new DTS implementations will be equipped with a completely new kernel, allowing
transaction message sizes up to two gigabytes. The practical maximum of the size of an individual
message then depends on the amount of system memory available in the communicating computers.
The long message support is an optional feature accessible for new applications when interacting
with remote parties who also support DTS messages exceeding 32000 bytes. Thus both the front-end
(client) and back-end (server) side of the application must be implemented using the new long
message conventions, and both sides should be running DTS version level 5.0 or higher.
Whenever the message sizes do not exceed the traditional 32000-byte barrier, all DTS applications
will interact without any problems, regardless the programming interfaces being used.
The completely rewritten DTS kernel provides significantly raised transaction performance. Speed
enhancements of up to 10x are possible when compared to previous implementations.
All the existing applications written for previous releases of DTS/OS400 are directly compatible
with DTS/OS400 V5.0. Both OS/400 ILE and OPM application interfaces are supported. New back-end
application Handlers may be implemented as Service Program functions for better portability and
faster access.
DTS/OS400 V5.0 contains support for TCP/IP communications, layered directly on the OS/400 TCP/IP
stack. SNA/LU6.2 support is dropped as obsolete in this version.
Via DTS an OS/400 system can access application services on and
exchange messages with other DTS environments like different UNIXes, VMS, MPE, CICS,
Windows...
The DTSCRYPT strong data encryption support provides DTS transactions
and intersystem communication a very secure environment where business critical data may be transferred
as DTS messages over insecure communication lines safely.
DTS/OS400 V5.0 uses the DTS License Authorization Key mechanism. It allows more flexible
distribution of evaluation kits and software upgrades. For a temporary DTS/OS400 evaluation license, please contact
Tascomm Engineering.
Further information about the Distributed Transaction
System product family is available.
