MIDDLEWARE Transaction Processing Monitor Middleware: Encina E xperience shows that truly large-scale enterprisewide applications are best-accomplished with transaction processing (TP) monitors. Without them, you simply can't get the bird's-eye view and systems-level control that let you scale and maintain distributed processes. Although IBM's CICS Transaction Monitor dominates the market, Encina from Transarc Corp. is a model of the next-generation TP monitor. We liked Encina because, from the start, it's designed for network-based client/ server systems--rather than mainframe-centric environments. As such, Encina is better suited to integrating and managing heterogeneous systems. For example, its Recoverable Queuing Services provides more than just load-balancing; it enables applications to deal with many of the quality-of-service realities in today's larger networks. The product's single-system view lets resources on the entire enterprise be seen from anywhere on the network. Encina also supports a wider variety of platforms and encapsulates more transactional resourc es than most TP monitors. And with Object Transaction Services, Encina allows forward-thinking developers to integrate with Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)-based distributed object technologies. Encina , starts at $5,080 per server. Transarc Corp., (412) 338-4400, www.transarc.com Honorable Mentions: BEA TUXEDO , $395 per user. BEA Systems, (800) 817-4BEA, www.beasys.com CICS Transaction Monitor , price varies by platform and configuration, IBM Corp., (800) IBM-CALL, www.hursley.ibm.com/cics Awards Tab le of Contents

Updated April 24, 1997