SaaS Green Screens Terminal Server for IBM i

by Green Screens Ltd.

We just added another product to our family, SaaS (Software As A Service) version of a Green Screens Terminal Server for IBM I.

It is specially built version for cloud environments with some advanced features compared to original version.  Server itself is in internal testing stage, but progressing quite fast. What remains to finish are backend services that will be eventually setup on our online servers.

Here are some notable features:

  • Automated updates
  • Automated license renewal
  • Hardware based encryption
  • MITM resistant
  • Reduced network signaling
  • Subscription Based model only
  • Telemetry improvements
  • Virtual threads

Automated updates

Introduced in GSv5, now even better with integration possibilities with external schedulers or with MS Windows Task Scheduler or Linux Crontab. New features will allow backend teams to customize and control when to update all instances.

Security is also improved with internal IP filter engine, allowing to define triggers  source IP allowed.

Automated license renewal

Automated license renewal module will control license key distribution. Every Green Screens Server instance will connect to our licensing server requesting updated license key and if available will automatically apply to the IBM i server. Cloud backend will not have to worry about license control.

Hardware based encryption

All screens are already "masked" with unique identifiers per single request. If there is a breach, it will be valid only for that specific data block.

With SaaS version, we bring even better security for terminal screen data with hardware backed  strong encryption on session layer for compatible OS/HW combinations. Much harder to break, and even if breach happens, it won't affect other sessions.

MITM resistant

With new set of security features, it makes our data even safer in open Internet which reduce requirement for VPN tunnels and along the path reduce additional cost.

Reduced network signaling

Green Screens Terminal data are in specially encoded and compressed form and in average are smaller than standard 1500 MTU. Around 85%-90% of data is less than 1.5KB compared to competitor products of 8-12KB.

This feature is significant for cloud environments where network data transfer rates apply. Also, it is significant for  end customers as overall feel of responsiveness is high.

Subscription Based model only

With this version we are slowly heading to subscription based model payment only.  Perpetual license keys will not be provided any more once this version goes to the production. Older version will eventually be terminated except for the clients under the maintenance contract. Model will be based on monthly / half-year / or 1-3 years subscription contracts with price discounts and will be all-inclusive model.

Telemetry improvements

OpenTelemetry feature was introduces of GSv5, now improved with more data and in sync with latest SDK version and support for Prometheus and Graphana.

Virtual threads

Green Screens Server SaaS version is build with modern Java 21+ and supported only on Java 21 or newer. New Java Runtime brings Virtual Threads which practically allows millions of parallel tasks running in highly optimized environment.

This feature reduce memory requirements, improves performance and allows much more parallel terminal sessions across single hardware unit.