Summary of Universal-Link Features

Operational Capabilities

Host or Remote Initiated Transfers

Supports dialing from the mainframe and auto-answer of calls from remote sites.

Multiple Protocols

Supports BSC/3780, SNA (LU1/3770 and LU6.2), TCP/IP, and Async communications.

Mailboxing

Optional VSAM data bank supports an unlimited number of remotes, adding and extracting transmissions continuously without downtime for reorganization.

Multiple Lines

Multitasking operation can manage 200+ leased or switched lines with minimal system resources.

Scheduled File Transfers

Transfers can run immediately or be deferred to a user-specified time window.

Unattended Operation

Autodial, autoanswer, and scheduling enable completely unattended host and remote operation.

Security

In addition to user ID and password verification, the mainframe controls all sessions. Compatible with security products including RACF, ACF2, and Top Secret.

Resilience, Data Handling & Control

Error Recovery / Restart

Extensive facilities ensure recovery from data transmission errors and reliable restarts.

Broadcasting

Send the same data set to multiple remotes without duplicating input data.

Transparent Transmissions

Supports transparent transmission of binary data (e.g., program distribution to multiple remotes).

Automatic EBCDIC/ASCII Translation

Automatic conversions for mainframe↔PC communications—no extra utility required.

Record Sizes up to 4,096 Bytes

Inbound and outbound records up to 4,096 bytes, including transparent and compressed data.

Transmission Control & Auditing

Comprehensive reports and monitoring to control and track transmission activity.

User Exits

Define events to pass control to another program (e.g., a security product); Universal-Link resumes processing after the external task completes.

MVS and VSE Release Independence

Designed to work with any version of MVS or VSE.