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Microsoft’s Babylon Enters Beta 1

Microsoft Corp. today announced availability of the beta 1 version of Host Integration Server 2000, code-named Babylon.

Host Integration Server 2000 enables access to existing mainframe applications and data. Built on the gateway technology of Microsoft SNA Server, Host Integration Server 2000 provides SNA network integration, data integration and application integration technology.

Chris Olson, group product manager at Microsoft, said in a statement that Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) focused Babylon on a wide range of integration technologies.

Host Integration Server 2000 boasts increased performance and ease of configuration for DB2 access, COM+ support for integrated CICS/IMS transactions, and support for Microsoft Message Queue Server 2.0 and IBM's MQSeries 5.1 for messaging-oriented middleware integration. These features, coupled with SNA scalability and reliability enhancements such as load balancing and hot backup for LU6.2 applications, allow users to build more scalable and reliable integrated solutions while maintaining transactional integrity.

In addition, Babylon has been updated to take advantage of features inherent to the Windows 2000 platform. Host Integration Server 2000, for instance, provides managed host access.

Olson says that Babylon is part of Microsoft’s bigger developer strategy. "[Babylon] extends the Windows DNA 2000 platform to embrace host systems and allows our customers to choose the technology appropriate for their unique integration needs."

A beta 2 version, which Microsoft says will be feature complete, is scheduled for availability in mid spring, and will be broadly available mid-year.

A complete list of the current features and functionality, or download of the beta 1 version of Host Integration Server 2000, is available at www.microsoft.com/sna/. – Thomas Sullivan

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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