Microsoft Host Integration Server (a.k.a. HIS) is a gateway application

Gateway (telecommunications)

In telecommunications, the term gateway has the following meaning:*In a communications network, a network node equipped for interfacing with another network that uses different protocols....

 providing connectivity between Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 Windows networks

Server Message Block

In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...

 and IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 mainframe

IBM mainframe

IBM mainframes are large computer systems produced by IBM from 1952 to the present. During the 1960s and 1970s, the term mainframe computer was almost synonymous with IBM products due to their marketshare...

 and AS/400

IBM System i

The IBM System i is IBM's previous generation of midrange computer systems for IBM i users, and was subsequently replaced by the IBM Power Systems in April 2008....

 systems. Support is provided for SNA, 3270

IBM 3270

The IBM 3270 is a class of block oriented terminals made by IBM since 1972 normally used to communicate with IBM mainframes. As such, it was the successor to the IBM 2260 display terminal. Due to the text colour on the original models, these terminals are informally known as green screen terminals...

 (standard and Telnet 3270 TN3270E), 5250

IBM 5250

IBM 5250 was originally a family of terminal devices sold with the IBM System/34 minicomputer systems. One model was the IBM 5251-11. It also connected to the later System/36, System/38 and AS/400 systems.- Historical origins :...

 (standard and Telnet 5250), CICS

CICS

Customer Information Control System is a transaction server that runs primarily on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE.CICS is a transaction manager designed for rapid, high-volume online processing. This processing is mostly interactive , but background transactions are possible...

, APPC, and other IBM protocols. Support is also provided for advanced integration with Windows networks and software, such as linking Microsoft Message Queuing

Microsoft Message Queuing

Microsoft Message Queuing or MSMQ is a Message Queue implementation developed by Microsoft and deployed in its Windows Server operating systems since Windows NT 4 and Windows 95. The latest Windows 7 also includes this component...

 applications to IBM WebSphere MQ, binding Microsoft DTC

Distributed Transaction Coordinator

The Distributed Transaction Coordinator service is a component of modern versions of Microsoft Windows that is responsible for coordinating transactions that span multiple resource managers, such as databases, message queues, and file systems...

 transactions with CICS, and cross-protocol access to DB2

IBM DB2

The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...

 databases on IBM platforms.

HIS is the successor to Microsoft SNA Server. SNA Server was released in 1994, and was one of the first add-on products available for the fledgling Windows NT

Windows NT

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...

.

Similar gateway products are NetWare for SAA (defunct, ran on Novell

Novell

Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...

 NetWare) and IBM Communications Manager/2 (defunct, ran on OS/2

OS/2

OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...

).

HIS has an active ecosystem of third party hardware (e.g. network adapters supporting ESCON

ESCON

ESCON is a data connection created by IBM, and is commonly used to connect their mainframe computers to peripheral devices such as disk storage and tape drives. ESCON is an optical fiber, half-duplex, serial interface. It originally operated at a rate of 10 Mbyte/s, which was later increased to...

 and Twinax

Twinaxial cabling

Twinaxial cabling, or "Twinax", is a type of cable similar to coax, but with two inner conductors instead of one. Due to cost efficiency it is becoming common in modern very-short-range high-speed differential signaling applications.-IBM:...

connectivity) and software.

External links

• How SDLC devices are connected using DLSw
• Introduction to SNA