Hummingbird Connectivity

Hummingbird Connectivity is a suite of individual products that collectively provide the ability to connect to existing UNIX, Linux, Mainframe and other boxes and applications from Windows desktops. The components of the suite provide terminal emulation, file sharing, X Windows application access, and secure shell connectivity.

Individual components of the suite include:

- Exceed: a PC X Server that enables Windows-based PCs to access X Window servers and their applications. Features include support for advanced input devices, local and remote Window Managers, support for up to 8 screens and 254 X Clients per session, and compressed X protocol support via LBX. The latest Exceed release includes support for X Windows release X11R7.1.

- Exceed OnDemand: A thin X Server with a specific emphasis on efficient bandwidth utilization for access from remote (WAN, Internet) connections. Clustered servers (with failover) are supported, as are secure (SSL, SSH) communications. Supported clients include Windows (2000/XP/2003) and, in the upcoming release (expected in Q1/2007) Linux.

- NFS Maestro: Includes Solo, Client, Server and Gateway flavors. NFS Maestro provides a file access suite that allows Windows users to access NFS-based file stores (UNIX, VMS, Mac, IBM mainframes, etc.) from within the Windows environment without requiring knowledge of UNIX itself or NFS commands. New in the latest release is support for LIPKEY (Low Infrastructure Public Key) as an alternative GSS provider for RPCSEC_GSS authentication; "Delegation" support (allows the NFS server to delegate particular operations to NFS clients), and SECINFO support (allows the NFS client to auto-discover the security requirements for connecting to a shared file system on a remote NFS server).

- HostExplorer: Provides Windows or Web (browser) based terminal emulation capabilities, with support for the TN3270 and TN5250 protocols and 3270/5250 emulation. Support for the HLLAPI, EHLLAPI, WINHLLAPI, OHIO, OLE, and COM APIs is included; as is a macro engine allowing for recording, editing, and playback. An additional feature, Multiple Profile Space, allows organizations to manage multiple locations (local drives, remote file systems, LDAP directories) from which profiles and connection settings are stored.

- Hummingbird Security: A collection of components facilitating secure communications between Windows desktops and corporate hosts. Included are Connectivity SecureTerm, which provides a secure VT terminal and secure file transfer facility; Connectivity Secure Shell, with support for SSH, SSL, and Kerberos; Connectivity SSL providing SSL administration features including certificate management, key management, and user certificates; Connectivity Kerberos with support for the MIT Kerberos client code; and Hummingbird SOCKS Client, a publicly available protocol developed for use as a firewall gateway for the Internet. Enhancements in the latest Hummingbird Security release include support for X.509 Certificate Authentication for SSH (draft), and integrated SOCKS support.

In addition to the enhancements noted within the component descriptions, the latest release of Hummingbird Connectivity also includes the Event Monitoring Server, which assist admins in the collection of information about their Connectivity infrastructure.

Hummingbird Connectivity is available now. Visit the Hummingbird Web site for further information.