Are you a small company that would like to take advantage of the large number of available software packages for the AS/400? Are you looking to move to the AS/400 for it’s well deserved reputation for stability? Are you unable to afford buying your own AS/400 at this point? Are you concerned that running your own AS/400 just won’t be as easy as it sounds? If you have an internet connection from your office, you can connect to TimeShare400’s machines. You buy (and own) the software and send it to us. You and the software vendor set up the software just as if you had your own machine. We take care of running the machine, doing regular backups, etc. The vendor can connect to our machine to apply patches, set up features, etc. No one else will be able to run your software, and no one else will be able to see your data.
Renting capacity at TimeShare400 will solve your system management problems. Our engineers will work with you and your software vendor to define your requirements and generate an estimate for your monthly charges. Should your requirements exceed our agreed upon estimates, we will work with you and the software vendor to determine the available options, then negotiate our arrangement. Should your actual requirements be smaller than expected, your monthly charges will be reduced.
TimeShare400’s equipment is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your users and programmers can open a window to the TimeShare400 machine any time (subject to internet connectivity).
A basic company outsourcing account includes the following features (the quantities of of each item to be determined by requirements analysis):
- Five user ID’s capable of two simultaneous sign on sessions each
- Four libraries – one reserved for ‘save file’ backups (see info on backups below)
- One single-threaded batch job queue
- Four output queues (two for printers, two for holding output)
- 250MB disk storage
- Regular backups for disaster recovery purposes
- Access to CD image creation software (must be scheduled, additional charges apply) for software distribution preparation purposes
Programming Languages and Tools
You will have access to RPG, Cobol, C, Java, Query, SQL, ADTS (SEU, SDA, PDM, etc), DFU, FTP, Code/400, VRPG, DB2 UDB and more! If you need additional languages, or have a question about a specific programming language or tool, please contact us with the form below.
Security
Your libraries will be not be visible to other developers, nor will you be able to see other developers’ libraries.
Compiles and other long running batch jobs….
Your AS/400 will be a shared resource. You will have one or more single threaded batch queues to use for long running processes, like compiles and other big batch jobs. The system will be monitored for performance purposes. Users found to be abusing the interactive subsystem by running tasks that should be submitted to batch will be contacted and asked to submit such jobs to their batch queue. Failure to follow these and other generally accepted “rules of etiquette” may result in cancellation of your account. Sometimes these long running processes are the result of the design of the application software you are running. If this turns out to be a cause of problems to your users or others, there are other ways to reduce the impact to other users. Our engineers will work with you and the software vendor to find ways to alleviate the problem.
Backups
One of your libraries will be a ‘save file’ library. Your host AS/400 will be backed up on a regular basis for PTF and disaster recovery purposes, but any requests for us to restore something for you will incur a hefty penalty… So DO YOUR OWN BACKUPS. Since you will want (and need) easy access to save and restore your objects as you see fit, we recommend that you do your own back ups to save files in your ‘save file library’. You should also plan to FTP those save files off of the AS400 and to your own PC for off-site safekeeping. You can then do your own restores as needed. The save file backup libraries are backed up nightly, but we provide no guarantees on this. So, in the event of disaster the system will be restored from the full system backup tapes and the save file libraries will be restored from the daily backups. But… again…. backups are YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY. If you’re really stuck, we will try to help you, but it’ll cost you.
Emulation Software
If you need terminal emulation software, we have some recommendations. Click here for more information.
Key Benefits
- Low cost
- Easy access via the internet
- No system management hassles
Pricing
Every outsourcing situation will be different – a different number of users, different disk space requirements, numbers of output queues, etc. The numbers quoted below are only very rough guidelines that can be used for planning purposes. A TimeShare400 engineer will work with you to determine your actual requirements and generate an estimate.
Description SKU # Price Basic Company
Outsourcing AccountCOA-1 $750/month Additional Library COA-2 $50/month Additional 5 User IDs COA-3 $100/month Additional 250MB COA-4 $100/month Additional 1GB COA-5 $250/month Additional Batch
QueueCOA-6 $25/month Additional Output
QueueCOA-7 $10/month Restore from Tape
oe Create CDCOA-8 $150/each occurrence
Pricing is subject to change without notice.
Subscriber Agreement
Your account will be subject to certain terms and conditions. Please review our Subscriber Agreement by CLICKING HERE.