IBM® 5250 Terminal Emulation

PASSPORT is extremely cost effective for IBM 5250 terminal emulation. Zephyr provides a subscription based licensing program that can reduce your 5250 emulator acquisition cost and maintenance costs significantly. This makes upgrading from an older terminal emulator a very attractive proposition.

Download PASSPORT for IBM 5250 Terminal Emulation Now

PASSPORT Terminal Emulator Highlights

• Provides access to IBM mainframe, AS/400 and UNIX host applications
• TN3270, TN3270E, TN5250, TN5250E, VT420, VT220, VT100, SCO ANSI and Wyse 60 terminal emulation
• Standalone FTP client and integrated FTP file transfer within terminal emulation session
• Windows 7 compatible
• PASSPORT PC to Host® is Certified for Windows Vista® and PASSPORT Web to Host® has received the "Works with Vista" designation from Microsoft
• Advanced SSL security available for each host session
• Advanced SSH security available for each UNIX host session
• Secure FTP file transfer using SSL and SSH security
• IND$FILE file transfer to IBM mainframe
• Supports Citrix Password Manager
• HLLAPI available to reuse existing screen scraping applications
• Attachmate-compatible Object API that lets you reuse existing screen-scraping applications written for Attachmate EXTRA!®
• VB Script to record, edit and run productivity enhancing macros
• Host printing supported through the TN3270E or TN5250E client
• Pass-through printing available for VT or SCO ANSI client
• Ability to open multiple host sessions, uniquely configure each session
• Customizable keyboard layout, mouse buttons, keypads, toolbars, hotspots, colors, fonts, cursor and more

Deploying PASSPORT for IBM 5250 Terminal Emulation

There are actually two IBM 5250 terminal emulation client suites. Each product uses a different method of deployment.

PASSPORT PC to Host® is desktop based IBM 5250 terminal emulation. This product is similar to other desktop Windows programs. PASSPORT is installed with a Windows setup program. It can also be deployed using SMS, MSI, Citrix or Microsoft Terminal Server. PASSPORT PC to Host® and IBM AS/400 Client Access are both desktop based products.

PASSPORT Web to Host® is web-based IBM 5250 terminal emulation deployed from a web server. PASSPORT is installed on a web server and provides an administrator program for centralized configuration and administration. All software and configuration files reside on the web server. When the software is run, an ActiveX applet is downloaded from the web server to the client desktop and run inside Internet Explorer. The ActiveX IBM 5250 terminal emulation running inside Internet Explorer makes a direct TN5250 or TN5250E connection to the IBM AS/400 (iSeries) host system.

IBM 5250 Terminal Emulation Host Connections

PASSPORT 5250 terminal emulation supports all telnet host access features defined in the IETF 1205 ( 5250 Telnet Interface) and IETF 2877 ( 5250 Telnet Enhancements) specifications. Telnet is terminal emulation that uses the TCP/IP Internet protocol for communication between a telnet client and a telnet server. PASSPORT is compatible with all TN5250 and TN5250E telnet servers that support these IETF specifications.

These TN5250 telnet servers include the IBM AS/400 Communication Server that is provided with the OS/400 operating system and the IBM Communication Server for NT.

PASSPORT 5250 terminal emulation provides connection to generic, dedicated and specific LU pools. Auto-reconnect is configured to automatically re-establish the 5250 emulator session after a telnet logoff is performed. Hot back up for connection to alternate IP host names is also provided.

IBM 5250 Terminal Emulation Host Sessions

PASSPORT supports TN5250 display and TN5250E host printer sessions. Up to 26 sessions can be active at one time on one workstation. New sessions can be easily created, opened and saved. A layout of multiple sessions can be saved as a desktop icon. When this icon is activated, multiple 5250 emulator sessions are started at one time. A menu security feature allows an administrator to decide what features are allowed and which are not.

TN5250E SSL Support

PASSPORT implements advanced security features using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Version 3 server authentication and encryption providing secure data access across TCP/IP networks. With the built-in security of SSL, your 5250 host sessions are now protected from eavesdropping, tampering, or message forgery over TCP/IP. This feature can be critical for those organizations that use 5250 host access remotely across the Internet to access sensitive data on AS/400 midrange systems.

File Transfer

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) file transfer is the method used to transfer files between a PC and an IBM AS/400 5250 host system. This protocol does not use the host session. Instead, an FTP server must be present on the AS/400 host system. The FTP file transfer is actually a separate PC program and can be launched from the menu command or from the Windows Start->Programs menu. Transferring of files can be initiated in multiple ways, including drag and drop and cut/copy/paste. The FTP client has the look and feel of Windows Explorer with a menu bar, toolbar, status bar, three window panes (PC directory structure and file list, host directory structure and file list, connection log and error messages) that can be interactively resized and displayed as icons, details or list. The PASSPORT FTP client program adheres to full compliance with the IETF RFC 959 (File Transfer Protocol) specifications.

Macro Scripting and API Programming

To ease the transition from the use of the Attachmate EXTRA!® terminal emulation software to the alternative Zephyr PASSPORT terminal emulation software, Zephyr created an Attachmate® Macro Conversion Tool that automatically converts the Attachmate® macros, developed using EXTRA! Objects, into a format that can be used with the Zephyr PASSPORT terminal emulation.

The Attachmate EXTRA!® Macro Conversion Tool is not sold, but is offered as a free service for Zephyr clients that have at least 500 units of software licensed under an annual Subscription License Agreement (SLA). For more information, please contact us.

Zephyr is also pleased to offer the PASSPORT Object Toolkit, a time-saving development tool designed to help application and web programmers reuse applications written for Attachmate® EXTRA!® Personal Client to Zephyr PASSPORT PC to Host® terminal emulation software. Since the PASSPORT Object Interface is compatible with the Attachmate EXTRA!® OLE automation support interface, in most cases your Attachmate application can be easily re-linked and used with PASSPORT 'as-is'.

The PASSPORT Object Toolkit is available free of charge to customers who license at least 500 units of PASSPORT via an annual subscription license.

Quicktrial or Download Options

There are two ways to evaluate PASSPORT for IBM 5250 terminal emulation: either download a copy of the software or do a Quicktrial of the PASSPORT Web to Host® application. With Quicktrial, there is no server installation, you simply download the client from our web server. This is a fast and easy way to look at the PASSPORT Web to Host® software. For those that want to install the PASSPORT Web to Host® software on their own web server, you can download the full working copy of the software and complete a full evaluation.

Founded in 1985, Zephyr has a long history of developing IBM terminal emulation software and innovative host access solutions. Zephyr is a Microsoft Certified Solution Partner, Citrix Premier Alliance Partner member, a member of IBM PartnerWorld for Developers, Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), Cisco Enterprise Associates Program (EAP), and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) TN3270/TN5250 Working Group.