The Los Angeles Times has selected Attachmate myEXTRA! Smart Connectors for 3270 to support its 24/7 online subscriber self-service Web site, www.myaccount.latimes.com. Attachmate (www.attachmate.com) is an all-mainframe connectivity provider (since 1982), with technology and services for worldwide enterprises to leverage valuable mainframe investments.

The L.A. newspaper�s Web site, online since April 1996, gives subscribers the convenience of an Internet-based account management system and enables them to update billing and delivery addresses, request replacement copies, vacation stop/start dates, as well as allowing subscribers to review billing and payment history. The site can process up to 24 transactions per second. Additionally, the online service reduces the call volume into the newspaper�s customer service center, helping to lower call center operating costs.

In developing the Web site, The Times faced the task of figuring out how to make mainframe data �self-service� while keeping the host secure and creating reusable services to meet future development goals without changing host code or reinventing the wheel.

Attachmate Smart Connectors were used to integrate legacy applications residing on The Times' IBM (news - alert - quote) OS/390 mainframe, thereby providing an easy-to-use tool for capturing transactions as callable services for reuse in application development on the BEA WebLogic platform. This allowed the daily to develop a service-oriented architecture.

Online 24/7 self-service is essential for subscribers. The Web application handles subscriber requests in real-time and scales to accommodate high traffic levels without sacrificing security, according to Anne Turner, senior project manager for circulation systems.

Smart Connectors are being deemed as ideal for enterprises with diverse hardware and software environments because organizations can easily extend their investments in valuable legacy systems to the Web, ultimately benefiting customers.

David Butcher is the assistant editor for Customer Inter@ction Solutions Magazine.

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