The Right Answer for Today's Technology Questions
As more and more users work in and out of the office on a variety of devices, old approaches to delivering terminal emulation have become obsolete. Working from home and "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) is here today and users need mainframe application access from multiple devices using simplified web access.
Many Web-delivered Terminal Emulators designed in the 90's utilized Java or ActiveX Plug-Ins. Perhaps the most popular in the IBM Mainframe environment is IBM Host-On-Demand. Security, Web Technologies and restrictions by Oracle make these emulators increasingly difficult to support.
The Answer? Inventu Viewer+ has the functionality to replace both Java and Desktop Terminal emulators. This enables support for modern web authentication and identity frameworks including SAML 2.0, Active Directory, Azure AD and Google Sign-In.
A Viewer+ Session Starts with a Click - In Any Browser, On Any Device
The Inventu Viewer+ FVTerm application is pure HTML and Javascript with no plug-ins. It has also been finely tuned to run on all popular browsers and devices, including touch-based environments.
With the Inventu Viewer+ Terminal Emulator, customers can get rid of their long setup and diagnostic pages devoted to helping web users connect with their problem-riddled Java and ActiveX solutions.
FAST
Minimal Network Impact with AJAX and WebSockets
Unlike other web-based emulators, Inventu Viewer+ utilizes keyboard buffering, both AJAX and Web Sockets and the exclusive Inventu Emulation DataStream - a fully HTTP-compatible, compressed emulation data stream. As a result, the network traffic is significantly less than with other HTML-based emulators - in fact only marginally larger than when using traditional emulators, and in some cases smaller.
Not a Fake Web Terminal Emulator
Inventu builds real web applications, not fake virtual sessions: FVTerm does NOT Require the HTML5 Canvas and HTML5 Websockets. But, we use Websockets if they are available.
Many newer offerings in the web terminal emulator market have taken existing solutions and run them on the server and turn the web browser into a virtual device--keystrokes and mouse movements are then sent flying around your network, ruining performance for both emulator users and other applications!
SECURE
Multiple Web Client Authentication and Identity Options
Administrators can select between Oauth2 OpenID Connect (Okta, SalesForce, AzureAD and others), SAML 2.0 (Okta, SalesForce SSO, ADFS and others), Integrated Windows Security, Microsoft Azure Active Directory, Google Sign-In, Custom Web Security or open access
When one of the security options is configured for the FVTerm application, when a user connects, the user's User Name/Email Address will be displayed in the Inventu Viewer Management Console session list. Other benefits of utilizing a Security option include grouping WebFlow Macros by Active Directory Groups so that users can have Viewer+ Macros specific to their work group.
While Security makes User Identity easily integrated, users can also be identified as they logon to the host system for use with the Viewer+ Session Logging Facility.
Host Connections with latest TLS (up to 1.3) and SSH Connections
Our current version uses the latest implementation of SCHANNEL which is Microsoft's high-performance secure access API. This includes TLS 1.3 directly from the Inventu Viewer Emulation Service.
For SSH Connections, the latest libraries including up-to-date security fixes as well as needed features such as built-in Password Change Support
COMPLETE
Highly Functional and Easy-to-Use Administration
The Administrators of our server-based product are our real customers! We have a number of applications that run on the server designed to assist in configuring and managing the active emulation sessions
Introduced in 2019, the Profiles-based configuration Administrator's framework enables high ease-of-use for finding and modifying settings
With Wizards to define new Host connections and user Profiles for accessing hosts, the Profiles Configurator supports the most simple single-host environment right up to an extensive IBM Host-on-Demand conversion involving multiple Views and custom access profiles
Customer-Driven Popular Features
As we have converted many customers from a variety of terminal emulators, users have requested support for features they really liked in their old emulator--here are a few examples:
- Print Screen Grouping: The ability to queue multiple screen prints into one print job so that each page has two screens and so that all the screen prints are together in a shared printer environment
- Clipboard Copy Column Detection: When copying a block of text from a screen that covers more than one row, detect where columns are and replace the blanks with a TAB so when pasting into Excel the data is in separate cells instead of grouped in one
- Repeatable Block Clipboard Copies: When copying rows from multiple screens, a double-click on the Clipboard Copy icon will repeat the previous screens selection and automatically copy the same block to the clipboard
- Cross-Hair Cursor Support: Vertical and Horizontal thin lines to mark where the cursor is (looks weird to some, loved by others!)
- Support for Local Languages: Many users do not speak English as their primary language and are better able to understand prompts, tips and messages when in their local language.
Exclusive InventuSSO Framework
Using the Viewer+ Server-Side Logging Extensions, Inventu has provided a comprehensive but easily configured single-signon solution. No changes or additional components are required on the host system as the InventuSSO approach uses screen recognition, reads and writes along with secure credential storage based on user identity.
Strong support for VT / ANSI / ADDS-VP Character Mode Protocols
When a user is keying into UNIX/VMS/Pick systems, each keystroke must travel to the host with updates immediately traveling back to the user's display. Most of the time the user is simply keying text requiring only an "echo" of each character as it is keyed. The FVTerm application will only update the smallest portion of the browser display necessary which provides the best responsiveness and performance, even on slow connections.
Powerful and Extensible WebFlow Macros
Inventu Viewer+ includes a 100% Javascript client-side Macro recording, playback and scripting solution: Inventu WebFlow Macros. Webflow Macros are unique in the industry, as they can be instantly shareable across all users, as they are stored at the server. WebFlow Macros are superior to desktop solutions as they include extensions for Microsoft Office applications and can be extended with plug-ins for Cloud services such as Google Apps for Business and Government, SharePoint, Microsoft Office 365 and others.
Client-Side Javascript Library Now with Messaging
Also provided for customer use is a Viewer+ FVTerm integration library that plugs-in to existing customer web applications to provide easy integration of one or more Viewer+ FVTerm emulation sessions. New sessions can be launched and then events can be registered to capture new screen entries, displays and field contents both displayed and as they are entered by the user.
New in September, 2023 is support for a Message-based API to support the latest security changes in modern Web browsers
Responsive Design with Extensive Touch Support
The FVTerm Web Terminal Emulator will adapt to users devices and orientation. Desktop mode works just like a desktop terminal emulator while tablet and phone modes introduce tighter alignments and touch-based widgets.
Provided popular fonts scale to fit the available window size and additional fonts can be configured at the server.
Native Virtual Keyboards are used for most keying, as users are accustomed to using their device and the Inventu designers chose not try to replace this vital function. For those keys, such as the Function Keys and other unique terminal-style keys, a special keys virtual keypad is available and can be pinned to appropriate locations with a visual configurator.