Introduction
Connectivity to proprietary ("legacy") system consoles has always been
a challenge for automation tools. The solution depends on the requirements.
If the only purpose of automation is monitoring, printer traffic carrying
unsolicited messages can often be delivered to the tool by means of (usually
simple) converters and cable splitters. However, when terminal emulation
and/or autoreplying is required the issue becomes much more complicated.
In some cases adequate protocol converters do exist; more often vendors
of the automation systems must deal with proprietary protocols and cabling
which effectively make the connectivity either impossible or very difficult.
Even if the reverse engineering process is successful, a serious risk exists
that the connectivity scheme will change. An excellent example of what may
happen is the history of UNISYS 1100 and 2200 hosts where almost every new
model came with a different console connectivity approach.
Fortunately, there is one commonality in the current trends. Most of the host
vendors recognize the importance and proliferation of personal computers,
which in turn results in availability of emulation software running on
the PCs.
The EPIS Board takes advantage of this fact.