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Alliance
XML/400
Alliance XML/400
provides a complete web services solution for your IBM System i,
IBM iSeries, or IBM AS/400 system to help you implement a
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). With Alliance XML/400 you
can receive XML documents and automatically translate the web
data directly to your AS/400 and iSeries standard DB2 database
files. When you want to create XML documents to send to a remote
web server, Alliance reads your DB2 database files and builds an
XML document for you. You can then use a variety of
communications protocols to deliver your XML data including HTTP
or HTTPS web communications, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and
Websphere MQ (MQSeries).
Alliance
XML/400 does not require Java or C/C++ programming
skills. Your AS/400 and iSeries developers use the
skills they already have. The combination of XML parsing
and translation, XML to DB2 mapping, rich communications
options, application integration, and security makes the
Alliance XML/400 product the best solution for the IBM
iSeries and AS/400 user. It is affordable, easy to
deploy, and easy to manage. You can deploy a web
services solution without disrupting your legacy
applications and using the technical expertise you
already have.
Translating
XML to DB2 database
Alliance
XML/400 provides all of the applications you need to
receive an XML document, convert the data to AS/400 and
iSeries format, and write the data to standard AS/400
and iSeries database files. The Alliance solution uses a
translation map that you’ve created that defines how
you want to store the XML data in your database files.
You can map both attribute data and XML tag data to the
DB2 database file. Alliance also supports user exit
points so that you can do dynamic mapping of table
values or dynamic replacement of data. The Alliance XML
mapping application is easy to use and walks you through
the XML-to-database mapping one element at a time. The
end result is a flexible map that is resilient in the
face of changes to your XML document.
Translating
DB2 database to XML
You
have a large investment in your AS/400 and iSeries
applications that store your business data in DB2
database files. With the Alliance XML mapper and
translator you can maximize this investment by turning
DB2 database information into XML documents for web
delivery. You create a map of the DB2 data and tell
Alliance how you want the XML document created. Database
information can be turned into XML attribute and XML
element data with an easy-to-use mapping application.
When you are finished Alliance will create the XML
document ready for delivery by one of the supported
communications methods. Converting your database
information into XML is easy to do and your existing
AS/400 and iSeries skills are all that you need.
Memory
resident translation
Alliance
XML/400 is tuned for performance. If you have very high
transaction volumes you can use the Memory Resident
Translation capabilities of Alliance XML/400. When
Memory Resident Translation is enabled Alliance uses
high speed shared memory and data queues to process
inbound and outbound XML documents. Using the Alliance
Memory Resident Translation interface brings you the
best possible performance.
HTTP
and HTTPS servers and clients
The
Alliance XML/400 solution includes HTTP and HTTPS
servers designed specifically to receive and process XML
web data. You won’t need to configure and use the
Apache or IBM web server or expose web server security
issues. The Alliance servers are designed only to
process XML documents with careful security controls.
To
send an XML document to a remote web server you can use
the Alliance HTTP and HTTPS client commands. These
commands emulate a web browser like Internet Explorer to
communicate with a web server. You can send an XML
document to a remote server and get an XML response back
with data to process. The Alliance HTTP and HTTPS
commands support intelligent proxy negotiation, SOAP
headers, and are compatible with Microsoft .NET servers.
Application
integration
All
web service applications need to talk to your back end
ERP applications on the AS/400 and iSeries platform.
Alliance XML/400 provides a rich set of interfaces to
make this easy to do. When XML data is received and
translated to your DB2 database files Alliance can call
your RPG or Cobol applications to process the data. This
lets you code and develop in the language that you use
every day. Many exit points and commands are provided to
make application integration very easy.
Automation
A
service oriented architecture is ultimately about
automating the sending and receiving of XML web data.
Alliance gives you lots ways to automate processing. XML
documents can be scanned from an IFS or Windows
Networking folder and processed into your AS/400 and
iSeries applications. If you use IBM Websphere MQ
(MQSeries) Alliance can receive XML documents and use MQ
routing entries to process the XML data into your
application databases. For sending XML documents
Alliance can scan one or more libraries, pick up DB2
database files, convert them to XML, and deliver the XML
document to a remote web server. Responses can be
automatically processed back into your applications. The
automation features are rich and extensible for maximum
flexibility.
Customer
relationship management (CRM) solutions
The
Alliance CRM Integration Solution for Microsoft Dynamics
CRM and for SalesForce.com provide a bundle of web
service software and services to get your AS/400 and
iSeries ERP systems fully integrated with your CRM
solution. Taking a solution approach, the Alliance
technical team will assess your integration needs,
install and configure software, develop interface
applications for your CRM platform, and help you go
live. By addressing all aspects of the CRM integration
project the Alliance team insures your success. You can
learn more about the Alliance solutions for CRM here.
Websphere
MQ (MQSeries) support
The
IBM Websphere MQ (MQSeries) product is the most popular
middleware messaging application in use by Enterprise
customers. The Alliance XML/400 product provides native
support for sending and receiving XML documents with
Websphere MQ. Alliance supports multiple MQ queue
managers and queues, routes XML web documents using the
MQ message header information, and provides seamless
integration with Websphere MQ for transmitting XML
documents. The Alliance technical team can help you set
up and configure Websphere MQ on your AS/400 or iSeries
system if needed.
File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) support
Many
Enterprise customers use the Internet File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) to move XML documents from one server to
another. Alliance XML/400 fully supports receiving XML
documents via FTP and processing them into your
applications, and sending XML documents via FTP to a
remote server. These are automated processes that ease
the amount of effort required to exchange XML documents.
SSL
acceleration for performance
Alliance
supports SSL encryption in its web servers and clients
for data security. As your volume of web transactions
increases you may need to provide additional resources
to handle the SSL encryption workload. The Alliance
XML/400 product fully supports the IBM cryptographic
hardware accelerators for the SSL sessions. You can add
inexpensive IBM hardware acceleration cards (hardware
feature code 4758 or 4764)
and get an immediate performance improvement in
your SSL connections.
XML
standards support
The
Alliance XML/400 product supports all of the major XML
standards including W3C, SOAP, EDI/XML and others. The
product incorporates the use of the Xerces XML parser,
Version 2, for parsing XML documents and making data
available to AS/400 and iSeries applications. This means
integrated support for DOM and SAX parsers, name space
support, XML document validation, and many other
features of the Xerces software. Alliance customers rest
confident that they can process all standard XML formats
now and in the future.
Security
Alliance
XML/400 provides multiple layers of security for your
web services implementation. The Alliance HTTP and HTTPS
servers implement HTTP authentication, IP address
control, and SSL certificate controls. The Alliance HTTP
and HTTPS client applications support proxy
authentication and negotiation, and HTTP and HTTPS user
and password authentication. At the data level Alliance
XML/400 provides the ability to encrypt sensitive data
before insertion into an AS/400 or iSeries database
file. Alliance fits easily into your security strategy
and fully supports native AS/400 and iSeries native
security.
Systems
management
Alliance
XML/400 provides a wide range of systems management
facilities. For error notification the product provides
a full SMTP email client that can send notifications via
your Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, or UNIX mail
server. You can also configure the product to send SNMP
network management trap messages in the event of an
error. At the application level all XML documents that
encounter errors in processing are saved to an error
directory and can be re-processed if the error is not
canonical. Error messages are also logged to the system
operator message queue and system history message queue.
Lastly, the Alliance XML/400 product includes a license
to the Alliance Application Monitor solution which can
monitor the basic health of your AS/400 or iSeries
system.
Consulting
services
Alliance
customers who need assistance with their web services
implementation are welcome to engage our professional
services team to develop and deploy the web services
solution from start to finish. Consulting services
includes project management, systems analysis, partner
coordination, application integration, and software
configuration and deployment. Please contact your
account representative for more information.
How
to get more information
To
get more information about the Alliance XML/400 product
please contact Patrick Townsend & Associates at:
(800)
357-1019 or
(360) 357-8971
International +1 360 357 8971
Evaluate
Alliance XML/400:
We
know that every AS/400 environment is different and that
you want to get your hands on the actual software for
evaluation. That's why our "No strings
attached" free trial provides you with a fully
functional Alliance XML/400 product on your AS/400. We
are confident that the more you know about Alliance XML/400
solution, the more you will like it. Learn more...
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