Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Is BlueZone Terminal Emulator Windows® Vista™ Certified?
Yes, BlueZone has undergone the Windows Vista certification program and has been granted full certification status by Microsoft.

The 32-bit terminal emulator solution was designed specifically for Windows and Internet Explorer, which makes the C++ application extremely fast and completely Windows-compliant for features such as the Cut, Copy, and Paste short-cut keys, as well as use of the full PC keyboard.

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Is BlueZone Terminal Emulator Windows® XP and Windows 2003 Server compliant?
BlueZone is ideal for use on a Windows 2003 Server or with Windows XP desktops. BlueZone has achieved certification for the Designed for Windows XP Gold program from Microsoft, which requires testing through an independent third party, Veritest.

The 32-bit terminal emulator solution was designed specifically for Windows and Internet Explorer, which makes the C++ application extremely fast and completely Windows-compliant for features such as the Cut, Copy, and Paste short-cut keys, as well as use of the full PC keyboard.

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How does BlueZone terminal emulator differ from IBM® Host On-Demand?
BlueZone and Host On-Demand (HOD) from IBM both include an extensive list of features normally found only in desktop-based emulation. Yet the two solutions are very different.

Since the majority of terminal emulation run on a Windows platform, BlueZone was designed specifically for Windows. Companies that use Windows XP and 2000 as their primary desktop platform will find the 32-bit architecture of BlueZone to be significantly faster and more usable than the 8-bit interpretive Java? design of HOD. Experts claim that a C++ application like BlueZone terminal emulator can be up to 70% faster than a Java-based solution such as HOD.

And what's more, the 32-bit design gives more features to users.

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How do users, developers and network administrators benefit from BlueZone?
BlueZone terminal emulator allows users to use Windows functions like Cut, Copy and Paste. They can also have use of the full PC keyboard, just as they had with desktop emulation.

Users will also find the 3270, 5250, VT100/VT220, SCO ANSI and Wyse 60 host session independent of the framework of the Internet Explorer browser. The browser can be viewed as a delivery mechanism for the BlueZone files. Once an emulation session is launched, the role of the browser is complete and it can be closed.

For developers, new and existing Visual Basic and HLLAPI applications and macros can be deployed and used just as they were with desktop emulation. Most 32-bit Visual Basic HLLAPI applications can be used as-is, including Attachmate® HLLAPI and EXTRA!® Objects API applications. Older 16-bit HLLAPI applications developed for IBM? PC/3270 can also be used with BlueZone.

Since lower total cost of ownership (TCO) is one of the top reasons to switch to a Web-deployed terminal emulator, network administrators have the most to gain by migrating to a solution like BlueZone Web-to-Host. The server-based code is easy to install and easy to configure with the use of the BlueZone Web-to-Host Wizard.

What's more, BlueZone terminal emulator offers a reliable and secure method of centralizing the administration of host access for your enterprise. Features like session profiles, scripts, HLLAPI application support, the ability to create and lock standard configurations and more will help lower your cost of host access ownership by at least 25%. And since most organizations license BlueZone as their standard for enterprise host access, you can consolidate the use of multiple emulators to a single host access solution.

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Can IBM Host On-Demand macros be easily converted to BlueZone?
Yes. To ease the transition from HOD to BlueZone, BlueZone features the Host On-Demand script conversion tool to automatically convert proprietary HOD macros to be compatible with BlueZone terminal emulator.

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Can Attachmate EXTRA!® macros be easily converted to BlueZone?
Yes. To ease the transition from Attachmate EXTRA! to BlueZone, BlueZone features the Attachmate Macro Conversion Tool to automatically convert proprietary recorded Attachmate macros. Those developed using EXTRA! Objects can easily be converted into standard Visual Basic for use with BlueZone terminal emulator.

Macro conversion is an exercise that can be typically addressed with an organization's existing resources. If preferred, Seagull Software's Professional Services team is available to be contracted to perform the macro conversion.

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What is the difference between BlueZone Desktop and BlueZone Web-to-Host?
The executable installed for BlueZone Desktop and the executable deployed from the Web server in a Web-to-Host deployment are virtually identical. The main difference is how the software is installed on the user's PC. This offers great flexibility. Since the applications are the same, users can use the Desktop version while at the office, and use a Web-to-Host implementation if they need to access your systems from home without any loss of functionality or learning curve.

Both deployment methods provide 3270, 5250, VT100/VT220, SCO ANSI and Wyse 60 host access, as well as FTP file transfer, and are fully compatible with Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, NT, 98 and 95. Though BlueZone terminal emulator is feature-rich and is used to replace much larger and older host access solutions, BlueZone has a very small footprint once it resides on a local PC. Depending on what components are loaded, footprint size ranges between 5MB and 8MB.

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What are the advantages of BlueZone Web-to-Host terminal emulator?
The primary advantages of using a Web-based terminal emulator for host access over a desktop-based client are centralized administration, lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and, for some organizations, portal integration (the ability to launch host sessions from a corporate or organizational intranet).

With centralized administration, all configuration and management of the application is performed on the Web server. There is no need to install and configure the client software on every client PC. When a new release of the software becomes available, only the Web server needs to be upgraded. The new software will be detected and automatically downloaded to the client PC, eliminating the need to manually install an update on each desktop. This model can render significant savings for network administrators and is especially helpful if you have lots of remote users. Experts estimate that a 25% savings can be realized for host access simply by migrating to this model.

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How does BlueZone Web-to-Host work?
BlueZone is a Win32 application that provides connectivity for 3270, 5250, VT100/VT220, SCO ANSI and Wyse 60 terminal emulation within a Web browser or as a desktop application. It also includes FTP file transfer.

One scenario under which BlueZone can be used is as follows:

  1. The BlueZone terminal emulator session is launched from the BlueZone launch page site. The URL http://yourservername/bluezone/launchpagename is the Administrator-defined URL used to launch a BlueZone session.
  2. When the session is launched, an ActiveX control or Java applet component is downloaded to the end user's PC from the Web server. (The ActiveX control or Java applet is only downloaded the first time a session is launched, or whenever the server version of the ActiveX control or Java applet changes to a later version).
  3. Once the necessary files are downloaded, the user simply accesses the host by launching a browser session. This is to ensure there are no required updates. Otherwise, using the local files a connection is made directly to the host and the browser is no longer required.

BlueZone terminal emulator is truly a two-tier solution since the host connection does not go through the Web server. Learn more about how BlueZone works.

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How does BlueZone use ActiveX?
BlueZone is a Win32 application that can be configured to use either an ActiveX control or a Java applet to download the applications and configuration files to the user's PC.

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1 Trademark Statement

Attachmate EXTRA!®, WRQ®, IBM®, Reflection and NetManage® RUMBA® are trademarks of their respective owners. Rocket Software has no affiliation with these third parties. BlueZone and BlueZone Software are trademarks of Rocket Software, Inc. All other trademarks, trade names or company names mentioned here are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification purposes only.

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Rocket Software (www.rocketsoftware.com) is a global software development firm that builds and services Enterprise Infrastructure products for the world's leading OEMs, networks and software companies and enterprises. The company's products complement and extend strategic infrastructure in the areas of: application modernization, business intelligence, compliance and security, consumer productivity, database servers, database tools, file transfer, mainframe productivity, network management, publishing and search, SOA and integration, storage management, terminal emulation, and text mining.

BlueZone, a Rocket Software brand, provides state-of-the-art, secure, cost effective solutions for the enterprise. The BlueZone product line extends from basic terminal emulation to legacy web enablement and web services integration. BlueZone is committed to advancing this technology to meet the changing and growing needs of its customers. BlueZone is the expert in emulator replacement and makes the transition of emulator settings, macros, scripts, and integrated applications as easy as possible.