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White Plains, N.Y.--Faced with dwindling sales and tough competition, IBM 3174 Establishment Controller planners are determined not to let the stalwart controller become lost in networking backwater.
IBM 3174 planners say in the future they will battle the competition with Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking (A4PPN) and improved multivendor local-area network support ("Controller vendors fall victim to LANs," NW, April 20). Plus, IBM intends to add these new functions for attached personal computers and workstations while continuing to support fixed-function 3270 terminals.
"Part of the dilemma we have is that many customers still think of the 3174 as a display controller, but because of its adaptable operating code, it really can do much more," said Ed Linde, IBM product administrator for the 3174.
The 3174 is one of the few IBM platforms that supports the firm's ballyhooed APPN Network Node technology. Network Nodes are the brains of IBM's APPN, a scheme for routing Systems Network Architecture data without host intervention. Network Nodes keep directories and routing tables for resources in the net.
Today, a 3174 Network Node can only communicate with another...