Mark (gblolmxb @
ibmmail .
com) is wondering about the IBM Global Network.
As far as I know they have an SNA (SNI) part that is separated from
a more 'open' part (IP, IPX) by some internal security gateways. We
ourselfs do make use of the SNA part and I feel comfortable with it.
I would not feel so comfortable with the 'open' part, because IBM
uses it as their way to be an Internet provider, so it seems not
logic that some security is placed between the Internet and an IBM
customer. So, yes it is private, no it is not secure.
If you are connected to the SNA part without any IP connection, you
still have some Internet functionalities available. There is the mail
possibility that I'm using to send this message. It is not very
userfriendly but it connects our mainframe users to the world.
There is also an application called TCPgate where you log on to a
IBM mainframe that acts as a gateway and let you do Telnet, FTP or
Gopher. Although this works and I think it is very secure, I don't
like it (to telnet a unix box with a 3270 screen makes me sick).
Toon Mordijck
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