As your enterprise grows, the demands on your IT team to work more efficiently increase dramatically. To help you access data and use your IT investments quickly and simply, you can use the IBM CICS Universal Client as a low-cost way to integrate single users or administrators at individual workstations with existing IBM CICS Transaction Server and IBM TXSeries™ systems and applications.
IBM CICS Universal Client, Version 7 provides desktop-based application integration functions. It can facilitate communication between single-user workstation applications and multiple CICS servers in a two-tier environment. Each client can be independently configured to support a workstation's existing interfaces without changing the back-end application.
CICS Universal Client provides programming interfaces in C/C++, Microsoft® Visual Basic and COBOL. Remote communication can be either Internet Protocol (IP)-based or Systems Network Architecture (SNA)-based, providing flexibility in deployment options. CICS Universal Client can support multiple concurrent connections with a CICS server, meaning that single users can work on multiple sessions concurrently.
Drive CICS applications from your workstation
With IBM CICS Universal Client for Multiplatforms, Version 7, you can interact with your CICS communications area (COMMAREA)-based and 3270-terminal based applications, directly from your workstation. CICS Universal Client utilizes the External Call Interface (ECI) to access COMMAREA programs, and the External Presentation Interface (EPI) to access 3270-terminal based applications.
The ECI helps improve client side programmer flexibility by enabling existing, unchanged business logic running in CICS Transaction Server and TXSeries, to programmatically link to client side applications. This enables the presentation logic of a user application to be written and hosted on a variety of operating systems, whilst driving business applications hosted on a physically distributed CICS servers.
In addition, you can use the EPI to improve access to traditional CICS 3270 applications. CICS Universal Client enables the client to capture 3270 data streams, like a 3270 terminal, and then present them on the client's user interface or software, without changing the original application. CICS Universal Client also features CICS 3270 emulation capabilities. This means a workstation can also function as a 3270 display or printer for CICS applications, without the need for a separate 3270 emulator.
Securing your single user CICS access
The CICS Universal Client also offers a third interface, called the External Security Interface (ESI). This helps protect your sensitive business applications by ensuring that a password corresponds to an existing user ID before granting access. The ESI also allows passwords to be changed to facilitate better ID and password management.
The CICS Universal Client is for single users only, either for desktop application access or as a single user administrative client. It must not be installed in a server or multi-user environment. There is a restriction in the CICS Universal Client V7.0 that restricts the maximum number of concurrent tasks.
Customers wishing to deploy a server configuration must licence the CICS Transaction Gateway. CICS Transaction Gateway Version 7.0 contains a superset of the functions offered in CICS Universal Client Version 7.0, and may be used to support multi-user integration applications written in C, C++, Visual Basic, and as Component Object Model (COM) objects.
