Homestead site steps out with proxy security for 3000

More secure access

At CANNEX, the company is working to close down its clear-text Internet tunnels that customers use to access the HP 3000. Some financial customers don’t have modems any longer, so Telnet Internet connections were the only way to access the HP 3000. The proxy server works as an alternative to this less-secure access when a client doesn’t have to use host-initiated file transfers.

“No one wants modems on their desktops anymore,” Waters said. “They’re slow, cumbersome, and pose a security threat to the corporate LAN. With most financial institutions moving to e-business, we knew we had to find a way to protect their private data.”

Security desires notwithstanding, about a third of the CANNEX clients use a modem to access their HP 3000 accounts. At some sites, the CANNEX data is delivered by fax. The STR Software Avant/X solution on the HP 3000 works with the CANNEX applications to route the daily data onto financial experts’ desks.

“There are some users who don’t want to use computers, even today,” Waters said. “They find it more convenient to have interest rate information faxed to them.”

Advanced homesteading

This flexibility and innovation among all of the CANNEX means of access reflects an independent initiative in its IT designs. All of the data is served by a multi-processor Series 969 HP 3000, running applications written in Speedware and C. Putting advanced proxy services together with a server that HP is walking away from doesn’t seem like a paradox to Waters. His IT mission has been to deliver the most efficient and stable computer service to CANNEX clients.

Migration out of the HP 3000 line is only a possibility. For the present, “it’s business as usual at CANNEX,” Waters said. “Although we’re keeping up our research, we’re not doing anything major until the end of 2004. In 2005 we’ll pop our head up again and see. For any move from the 3000, it’s a negative move for us. It requires more people and more work, and it’s a less-reliable option.”

The company has already stepped as far away from HP as it can go, and it took those steps as soon as HP moved away from the system in late 2001. CANNEX uses Eurodata to provide its hardware support, and Beechglen to provide operating system support. It buys its equipment on the used market — Waters mentioned buying from reseller Genisys — and these moves have improved both costs and level of service.

“We saw that HP wasn’t going to be committed to it,” he said. “We placed a support call and saw the level of service had already degraded. We wanted to move ourselves to companies that did care. We get terrific support from Beechglen and Eurodata. These companies are both committed to the 3000 and have a well-established base, so we know they aren’t going anywhere either. And we saved ourselves a whole bunch of money.”

Those savings help fuel development, improvements in the application that helps CANNEX move into new markets. “We’re constantly in development,” Waters said. “We make changes on a weekly basis to our system, adding new modules. We spend less than two hours a week in support. We use Reflection, Speedware and the HP 3000. What’s to break?”