Rocket Consolidates Half a Dozen Terminal Emulators With Secure Host Access
February 10, 2025 Alex Woodie
Rocket Software has rolled out Secure Host Access, a new terminal emulator for utilizing the classic greenscreen interfaces of heritage IBM i, mainframe, and Unix applications. The new offering consolidates multiple emulators acquired by Rocket over the years into a single offering, while delivering much-needed security features that the previous emulators largely lacked.
Rocket Software’s Secure Host Access is a terminal emulator that provides a full array of TN5250, TS3270, and VT connectivity from PCs, Web browsers, and mobile devices. The Java-based product offers all the features and capabilities that you would expect to find in a mature emulator, such as support for macros, printing, multiple sessions, custom keyboard mapping, etc. as well as multi-function authentication (MFA) capabilities that you would not.
Secure Host Access comes in three flavors:
- Secure Host Access Pro, the base product, is a desktop product that runs on Windows and Linux PCs (Mac support is pending) and provides the full array of standard emulation functions, including TLS 1.3 encryption
- Secure Host Access Enterprise implements an additional security layer that allows customers to connect their emulator into identity and access management (IAM) solutions to support a variety of MFA methods and introduces a security dashboard
- Secure Host Access Anywhere is the top tier offering and adds a Web-based emulator, as well as a feature that allows users to switch back and forth between desktop and mobile modes (iOS and Android) without ending their session
The other big change that Rocket is making with the launch of Secure Host Access is it’s moving away from perpetual licenses toward subscriptions. It’s also throwing in 10 hours of free consulting services with each subscription to help customers migrate from any of the six emulators they’re currently running – or even IBM’s Personal Communications (PCOMM), the single biggest competitor to Rocket’s new emulator.
A terminal emulator session using the old WRQ Reflection product.
How did it end up with six emulators used by 2,000 different organizations? Before it acquired half of Micro Focus’ assets in a $2.275 billion deal with OpenText back in May 2024, Rocket had only two terminal emulators. That included the Rocket Terminal Emulator (previously called BlueZone), which it obtained with its 2006 acquisition of Seagull Software. It also had the Passport line of emulators, which was developed by a software company called Zephyr that Rocket acquired in February of 2012.
As a result of the Micro Focus deal with OpenText, Rocket Software’s collection of emulators ballooned. For starters, it got RUMBA, the emulator originally developed by NetManage that was popular with many AS/400, iSeries, and IBM i shops over the years. The acquisition also brought Rocket three other emulators, including HostExplorer, an emulator originally developed by OpenText; EXTRA!, an emulator originally developed by Attachmate that had a fair number of IBM i users; and Reflection, the emulator originally developed by WRQ, which officially merged with Attachmate back in 2005.
Having six different emulators wasn’t sustainable, so Rocket decided to consolidate them, said Puneet Kohli, president of application modernization at Rocket.
“We really needed to figure out how do we get our customers the right value and not having to read through this Chinese menu of all these different emulators,” Kohli said. “So we decided to make it simple, go to a single product, and created Secure Host Access.”
Reflection had been the flagship emulator ever since the Attachmate-WRQ acquisition two decades ago, and so Rocket decided to build on that foundation with Secure Host Access. These emulators are mature products that have been around for decades, and have developed many of the same capabilities. It turns out, they’re more similar than different, Kohli said.
“When we brought both of them together, what we found was that our customers’ code bases weren’t that far apart,” he told IT Jungle. “The capabilities were very close, so we streamlined it and said, we’re going to just create a single base and we’ll move towards a single roadmap.”
All of the emulator vendors, including Rocket, were familiar with each other’s products and had built connectors that allowed their customers to take the macros, mappings, and customizations developed for one emulator and use them with another. Rocket will provide those connectors and migration tools as part of Secure Host Access subscriptions, while the 10 free consulting hours will help fill in any other gaps that might pop up, Kohli said.
“People will be able to do it on their own. Where they have some customization, some macros, some RPAs that they’ve written, we can provide them tools or we can provide them services to help them through that upgrade process,” Kohli said. “This journey, just like anything, is going to take us a while. But we’re moving forward with a single code [base], a single product out in the market and allowing our customers to upgrade quite seamlessly. They’re not going to see a lot of change.”
The biggest change may be in the security and authentication arena. New regulations, such as the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) as well New York City’s new cyber security regulation, 23 NYCRR Part 500, require MFA to be used by companies handling sensitive financial information. However, many of the legacy terminal emulators don’t natively support today’s MFA capabilities. That was a big driver in creating the new emulator, Kohli said.
“What customers really need, at the end of the day, is connectivity to the host. And more importantly, as we were finding out with all these different regulations, they need secure connectivity to the hosts,” he said. “The moment we start bringing a security architect or a CSO into the conversation, they say ‘That’s what we’ve been wanting,’ especially with integration into an IAM solution.
Source: Rocket Software
“All of the other applications within an enterprise have already been able to” integrate with leading MFA services, Kohli said. “When it came to the host, and especially on the mainframe, that has been a bit of a challenge. That’s a gap. You need to either code that, or you need to make [your own], so a lot of work went into that. With our solution, it’s becoming a lot easier to do the integration.”
In its marketing material, Rocket talks about preventing “fake workers” from getting access to sensitive corporation computer systems. Host systems that are protected with just a user name and an eight-character password are susceptible to the type of social hacking techniques that successfully brought down MGM Resorts’ systems and caused $100 million in damages back in the fall of 2023. Rocket and its customers hope to block those scammers from gaining access through MFA and Secure Host Access.
Chris Drake, a senior research director with IDC, applauded Rocket’s approach to securing host access.
“Organizations are increasingly under pressure from cyberattacks and regulatory mandates to secure sensitive data on the mainframe.” Drake said in a Rocket press release. “Green screen applications frequently provide access to the data via outdated login authentication practices. Rocket Secure Host Access provides an easy way for mainframe organizations to integrate green screen login authentication into their IAM solution and extend modern security best practices, such as MFA and SSO [single sign-on], to terminal emulation.”
The Enterprise and Anywhere editions of Secure Host Access support the latest MFA standards, such as oAuth 2.0, and they feature wizard-like interfaces to streamline the connections to leading MFA services, such as those provided by Octa, RSA, or even IBM, Kohli said. Different customers have different requirements when it comes to IAM and MFA, so Rocket is trying to simplify the work it takes to connect their host emulator with a variety of third-party security products.
You can find more information about Secure Host Access at www.rocketsoftware.com/en-us/products/secure-host-access.
RELATED STORIES
Rocket Finally Gets Its RUMBA, And A Whole Lot More
Why You Should Be Concerned About the MGM ‘Vishing’ Attack
Micro Focus Acquires Attachmate, Builds Software Powerhouse
