PAGE PO WEEKNAPPLICATION DEVELOPMENT HEMETETI gi — > a JULY 31, 1989 SAA Has otrengths, Limits in Integrated Environments This is part 4 of a series of articles om IBM s Systems Application Ar- chitecture (SAA). The in- troduction of in- tegrated comput- ing environ- ments such as SAA will have a major impact on the software technologies of the 905. A major strategic objective for organi: zations in the '90s will be to replace cen- tralized computer facilities with distrib- uted computing systems made up of multiple cooperating processors. in a distributed-processing environ- ment, each element of the computing network is interconnected and optimized to do what it. does best. User interfaces and local processing are supported on desktop workstations. Mainframes and midrange computers are used to store central data files and share processing functions. integrated computing environments such as IBMs SAA are designed to sup- port the distributed computer architec- tures needed for the '90s. As | said in Ai hi Ohenje. - . " i Curi | (s U V meš earlier articles in this series, it's vital for Omm Mi System Tannoy,, managers to weigh the strategic strength of these architectures and lay the groundwork for their introduction. [1 discuss here some of SAA's major strengths and limitations to illustrate the issues that, need to be addressed in evaluating integrated environments. The primary strength of SAA is relat- ed to its goal of delivering cooperative applications. Cooperative processing will prow more important in any organiza- tion that is using more than a single: PC What is now an extremely . Bramming task will become much more straightforward as SAA matures, Applications will be easier to port to different. platforms in SAA-compliant environments. A pricing module can run AS/400 or PS/2 and of a distributed ap- on the System/370, Can be used as part, difficult pro- ers to move easily from one application to another since they will all use the same interface conventions. The user in- terfaces will be easy to use and will take advantage of the programmable workstations' graphical features. New user-interface technology will soon be incorporated into SAA with the next release of CUA. The use of more graphic interfaces on the programmable workstations will be encouraged. Using the highest-level Dialog Interface of SAA, advanced user-interface features can be implemented automatically. For example, the programmer might specify that, the user select one item from a list. The Dialog Manager compo- ANO Uitations Of SAA ced. Onehje "eposito, Applina POL uli Z. i Co cal onenablst Potted. | plato, Še" Interja, S SKA: A Promise Only Partly Fulfilleti El, kera cations purchased from third-parfy ven- dors will follow the same comiunica: tion, database and user-interface stan- dards of in-house applicatlotis, SAA will push IBM Into provldlng su- perior systems-software proxducia. The old piecemeal products will give way to a well-integrated set of applicatlon-en: abling and system-support tools. One of the major limitatlons of Inte- grated environments is thelr proprietary | nature. SAA is a proprietary product from IBM, not the restilt of n tonsor. tium, Managers need to a8Hess how open. SAA really is, SAA is open in that |t spocifiva a com: mon set of software Interfuces nerosa li ""Oberative | h ' Hi OC6 gstibuteg dia sijal jh ka Porabili, Orms I disbarath Mon USe | COmmunjna? P OSran H a sara o boga sirena too ls | | ' Su KU Mer 4, ih comimi era duty oJArds Hlowever, SAA locks In IBM as a ven- dlor. IE SAA becomes the standard for an organizatlon, then IBM or IBM compati- ble hardware nud software will be pre- ferred (n that, environment. Conipeting vendorsa are forced either to necept. the SAA standard or develop their own. Customers are forced either to accept SAA as the standard or forgo s benefits. IBM Is responsilve to the demands of the marketplace for an open architec- ture, ag enn be scen In the case of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) com- muntentlona standards. SAA had origi- nally used IBMa proprietary Systems Notwork Areliitecture (SNA) for com- tmunicatlons, hu, many customers asked for pupport of tho Internatlonal OSI mlnielnired, "ha gupport has been an- Hounced and partlally Implemeontecd. li ndedlllon, mueh of tho marketplnee prefera Unix nas (he onvironment. for programinable workstatjons, IBM is re- pponding to this demand with its ver- slon of Unix, AIX, which is evolving to malntaln compllance with the communi: cutlon and programming interf(aces of BAA. "his will allow IBM customers to use elther Unlx or OS/2, | Diificulties in Choosing SLIl, difficultles remain, because the programmer niust choose between using the SNA or OS! communications inter- [nce, ''he SAA Common Communication Serviceg Interface will resolve this issue by providing common communication programming services that allow users to network both SAA and non-SAA tnachineg, The same problems will exist with the programining Interfaces, database ser- Vices and user interface, IBM Is Sensilive to language standards and will most likely continue to Support international language standards. The database stan- | [| dards will be driven by its own prod- ' ttets, as will the user-interface | standarda, An important eurrent limitatlon is the lek of SAA.e mplinnt. components, gi Muuy of SAA's Konls are not, renlized don Avaklan—wltih current produets. plication on any of those platforms. ee Ee soke —E | o aa a | ProBrammer prodiuctivliy will be dra. SAA playys a critical role in IBM's strategy to increase itg a vili, ane A mplement coonera: dominance in hardware and software Systems. But this stra. "£Allons on all of the platf OU snt nece nn fi 4 | lata kra tion, tne a --94 doesn't necessarily conflict with IBM customers' needs. SAA Application Development. Environ- | A o. vi zora: za make it easier to develop and | sa ntain large suites of applications JA darilna ka | SAM provkao na Preja njena la nent of CUA decides how to present the multiple hardware platforins. 11. sup- Data can reside on any machine in the network, Corporate »ersonal data can be o neti workstatjons, Distributed data is only partially im plemented today and h ea data can be stored list to the user, Today it presents the user with a menu. In the future it may present iconic radio buttons instead. [n either case, the Program does not, need to change, č The SAA Common Communication Services interface will allow for easy regulres the pro: gnane pa peewcen the machines in incorporated in the will Access (CUA) interface ži oa era grarmmer lo ae doka ma čen] pli pcuding non-SAA ma- 'klresa, | "-£essive relenses of SAA will v bne aa to be located anywhere in ityo ports both proprietary servicex nud Iro- tocols such as Systems Network Arehi. t tecture and LU 6.2 as well as Interna. tional standards, including adherence to | Systems Interconneet, refer- 1 " £ommunicatlonu. tem/370. oped uslug SAA For example, the Cross System Product, development. envi: ronmetnit. has been kentiflecd by IBM asa strategic nppllentlon enabling tool, but it loesti't, enforee CUA Interface slan- lnrda, and it exists only on the Sys- Relnted to Product, availability ig iultatlon of y is the štope. SAA can be viewed (4 clusters of technology. Some clusters have been htnounced, but only pa dollverecgd for BAA. v ODIY partially Next. week, Pl deseribe how Coopera- | Ive processing, applications are deve]. functions, Bl ei a he James Martin Productivity Series, w (nu information service undat dd guar- ra pay a a ke lo sale ia available th rog AA, pa h kamine NETCRne svate Guetivity Software Inc. of Marhle | 0 Me re ee Ayatemna head, Mass, (. '00) 2421200, Po laor- onfilet with IBM customega čo Medo! on seminars, pleaso contact (in however, IBM custome w'ra the United »Sterteg and Canada) Tech - expresslng di growlng ti pov Pologv Tranafi Institona za 10th St. r connectivity and diskriinten, RJO, Monica, Calif. 90402 (213) 394: pabili desne to S Ga o Contact Savani, 2 2 eaigned to New St., Carn forth Lancs., LA5 9Bx DE United Kingdom (0524) 734 505.