ADVANCED BusinessLink, has enhanced its Strategi e-business solution with a new component called Strategi FileCabinet. The feature gives browser users bidirectional, secured access to AS/400 and PC files through the Integrated File System (IFS), giving remote users the ability to access and manipulate authorized host or PC file areas through a browser.

AS/400 or PC files can be securely sent to and from specific Web users using a browser. The FileCabinet component within the applet allows Web users to browse, open, or save files on the AS/400 IFS or attached NT servers. Until now, FTP was the only means of file transfer available and offered no security of access management, so the majority of AS/400 sites chose not to allow its use. FileCabinet makes it safer to send and receive files using sophisticated access management, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Digital Certificate-based user authentication.

"Essentially," said BusinessLink's CEO Chris Lategan, "remote users can work on both host and PC tasks from any browser without previously installing software. Whether on a borrowed PC in a client's office or their laptop in a hotel room, they have secure access not only to AS/400 data, but network files like Word documents and PowerPoint presentations as well, just as if they were working from a desk- top on the LAN."

Files being sent or received are encrypted using 128bit SSL and standards-based algo- rithms to provide industrial strength security. According to BusinessLink,, FileCabinet trans- fers secures the identity of both parties, the privacy of the data being transferred, and the security of other host resources.

BusinessLink has extended its host-centric management to FileCabinet to include IFS access. AS/400 managers can restrict users to designated, shared file areas, presenting them as simple lists of descriptions, abstracting users from site structure and lengthy path names.

When files are retrieved to the browser, Strategi can automatically launch the applica- tion required to receive or process it. For example, if the user is browsing a list of spread- sheets and double-clicks on one, the file is seamlessly moved to the remote PC and Excel launches automatically with the spreadsheet open.

This latest addition to Strategi should be good news for IBM, allowing users to leverage the platform's scalability to serve files and data through the Strategi applet to thousands of browser users.

Strategi is comprised of a 100% Pure Java client applet for 5250, push technology for user-specific file and report delivery, and HTTP serving and High-Speed Messaging (HSM) for high performance e-business appli- cations. HSM is a scalable framework for state-less, session-less e-business development and legacy application reengineering.

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