Screensurfer - Charleston County Court: Public Information Access

BURLINGTON, Mass. - June 7, 1999 -- Intelligent Environments, a leading provider of Web development tools and services, today announced that using Intelligent Environments' Screensurfer, the Charleston County Clerk of Court, Julie Armstrong, has created a new mainframe-to-Web application giving the public Web access to court documents. According to Charleston County MIS Department executives, the new application at www3.charlestoncounty.org took just eight weeks to develop and deploy and has been so successful that the site is averaging 2,800 hits to mainframe screens daily.

Leveraging the company's proven track record in legacy-to-Web connectivity, Intelligent Environments' Screensurfer provides developers with a high-performance, secure, low-cost, and easy-to-use Web gateway which leverages non-proprietary HTML and JavaScript to deliver 3270-based applications and information to clients via any standard Web browser. According to one of the Charleston County Web programmer analysts, "Screensurfer's HTML programming and data tags are incredibly easy to use, and the user interface with its wizards, templates and drag-and-drop development environment made it a clear choice over the several other solutions we evaluated."

Prior to the new Web system, paralegals and citizens had to go to one of two County offices to access Charleston County Court legal documents. With the new Web access, people can look up and print documents from anywhere, anytime with just a point and click. "We have had people accessing the new Web system from all over the country," says Bobby Beard, MIS Director for Charleston County. "It was so easy and cost-effective to set up that we are planning to create public Web access to tax and business license information."

The business benefits of converting 3270 screens into Web-based applications are numerous. By using Screensurfer to deliver 3270 information via any standard Web browser, applications and information can be accessed from any client, thus reducing workstation support costs in addition to overall ROI from increased productivity.

Screensurfer provides enhanced 3270-to-HTML protocol conversion with both SNA and TN3270 support. The product's HTML templates are easy to learn and intuitive wizards and scripts enable quick screen formatting and standardization. End-users benefit from the standard HTTP Web server port access and can maintain connection and re-connection to a host system at any time from a unique bookmarkable URL generated by Screensurfer. Browser-based administration and customization give systems administrators the ability to view any active session, interact with user screens if necessary, and create password/ID security protection. For developers, Screensurfer offers robust functionality including:

- A DevCenter on an administration HTTP port

- Compiled HTML templates for high speed performance

• Extensible JavaScript wizards
• Active Server Page support
• Seamless ColdFusion integration

Screensurfer is a general purpose Web gateway for screen-based host applications that allows developers to quickly and easily re-package 3270-based screens and information as enhanced HTML pages. The server-based solution provides direct management of hundreds to thousands of concurrent 3270/5250 transactions with very small memory requirements. Performing as an NT service, Screensurfer is integrated with Microsoft Windows NT for compatibility with systems management products. A free developer download of Screensurfer is available at www.inventu.com.

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NOTE TO EDITORS: Screensurfer is a trademark of Inventu Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are properties of their respective holders.