News
Feb 2008
NORCOM Announces RM/COBOL support
GUI ScreenIO now supports Liant's RM/COBOL compiler for Windows platforms. This allows a large number of legacy applications that exist in the RM/COBOL universe to use GUI ScreenIO to take advantage of the transaction oriented development model used by GUI ScreenIO.
RM/COBOL is one of the oldest and well respected names in the PC COBOL arena. There are thousands of applications written with this compiler which represent a legacy code base second to none. By enabling the use of GUI ScreenIO, Liant and NORCOM provide a clear upgrade path to modernize and preserve the distilled knowledge embodied in these systems, and extend their useful life into the Windows world.
The transaction based programming model used by GUI ScreenIO allows a single CALL statement to manage all aspect of screen display, eliminating thousands of lines of Accept/Display logic making programs smaller and more efficient. The effort involved in maintaining and extending Accept/Display logic is often easily eliminated by converting to GUI ScreenIO.
Applications written with GUI ScreenIO can be deployed (often with no changes) over the network, to the far corners of the globe using our Client Server layer. We've tested RM/COBOL applications under the Client Server Layer and found that they work perfectly. This allows you to centralize your application, data files, or expensive database licenses to one location, and only install our Free Client on remote machines. Upgrades are easier to install, they are only needed at the server. For-Sale applications are never at risk of being pirated if you market them as a service from your own computer farms.
Tested with Version 11, support may also be operable with versions 9 and 10.
May 2005
NORCOM announces LARGE Servers
The Client/Server Layer which allows GUI ScreenIO Applications to run over any TCP/IP network has been enhanced to support Large numbers of connections.
The server has proven so reliable that many users requested larger sized servers capable of handling vastly larger numbers of connected clients. It has been found, that even modest hardware can service large numbers of users by the simple expedient of adding 2 to 4 meg of memory. Therefore, we have server sizes up to 200 users, and licenses can be combined to a maximum of over 600 concurrent connections. With our Server Farm support it is easy to construct Farms of servers with a larger number of seats. (6000 theoretical maximum as of this writing).
We have customers with 1000 seat farms in operation today.
August 23 2005
NORCOM announces fully encrypted data streams in GUI ScreenIO Client/Server Layer
The Client/Server Layer which allows GUI ScreenIO Applications to run over any TCP/IP network has been enhanced to provide end-to-end encrypted data security for mission critical or confidential information.
Now, when a licensed Client connects to a licensed Server, they use a technique similar to that used to establish a SSL (secure socket layer) encrypted connection. That is, a unique public/private key pair is used to allow the two machines to securely exchange a randomly-generated session key for handling the sign on as well as the session data. All data exchanged between the client and server, with the exception of the client's public key (which is implicitly secure because of how public-key cryptography works), is encrypted using 128 bit RC2 encryption before it is passed across the network.
Because a new, random key is used for every Client/Server connection (as well as every job run by a client), and because the key is 128 bits in length, the security is as good as it is possible to attain using the RC2 encryption algorithm. We selected this algorithm after evaluating a number of proven, accepted algorithms, and determined that RC2 is best suited for our Client/Server traffic.
The encryption feature requires no additional effort on the developer, it is automatic for all licensed Clients and Servers.
Encryption is not available for unlicensed (free) clients.
The Client Server layer allows virtually any GUI ScreenIO application to be run over the internet without the need for costly and complex web servers.
RC2 encryption is approved for export by the US government.
January 2, 2004
Norcom announces the release of the GUI ScreenIO Client/Server Layer.
The Client/Server Layer allows GUI ScreenIO applications to run across a TCP/IP network (including the Internet) without the need to change your application software. This makes it easy to Internet-enable your GUI ScreenIO applications.
Client/Server computing has many advantages, including simplified version control. Because your applications run on your server, it's only necessary to update the server's copy of your software when you make changes. You no longer need to distribute new versions to all of your users.
Client/Server computing is also scalable; you can add more servers and communications bandwidth as your user base grows. The GUI ScreenIO Server software could also be ported to any hardware platform that supports COBOL and TCP/IP; contact Norcom if you are interested in this option.
GUI ScreenIO works with the most popular 32-bit PC COBOL compilers, including AcuCOBOL, CA-Realia COBOL, Fujitsu COBOL, IBM Visual Age COBOL, and Micro Focus COBOL.
Norcom, based in Juneau, Alaska, has been marketing screen managers and other COBOL programming tools since 1985.
For more information, visit Norcom's website: http://www.screenio.com
September 30, 2003
Norcom announces the release of GUI ScreenIO 2.1. GUI ScreenIO is a powerful (and remarkably easy-to-use) screen manager used to develop Microsoft® Windows® applications with COBOL.
You do not need a Windows SDK (Software Developer's Kit), nor do you need any knowledge of Windows programming. GUI ScreenIO handles all of the complexity of working with Windows.
GUI ScreenIO's simple programming interface uses COBOL 88-level items to set options and to evaluate various conditions; the extensive use of 88-level items nearly eliminates the need for a manual.
This release of GUI ScreenIO also includes a new program generator, which produces programs that will compile and run for each of your panels. All you need to do is to insert your business logic. The program generator is template-driven, so it's easy to modify it to produce COBOL code that conforms to your site standards or preferences.
GUI ScreenIO works with the most popular 32-bit PC COBOL compilers, including AcuCOBOL, CA-Realia COBOL, Fujitsu COBOL, IBM Visual Age COBOL, and Micro Focus COBOL. GUI ScreenIO 1.0 was released in 1999.
Norcom, based in Juneau, Alaska, has been marketing screen managers and other COBOL programming tools since 1985.
For more information, visit Norcom's website: http://www.screenio.com
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