 | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry |
|
| Founder | John Alderman |
| Fate | Acquired by Attachmate |
| Headquarters | Alpharetta, Georgia, United States |
| Products | Computer networking hardware |
Digital Communication Associates, Inc. (DCA), was a company in the computer and telecommunications industry, located in Alpharetta, Georgia, United States.
Digital Communications Associates was founded by John Alderman, who led the company until 1981, when he was replaced by Bertil Nordin. [1] In February 1983, DCA went public, raising 24 million USD. [1] Later, Garry Betty (1957-2007) was CEO of DCA, until he left for Earthlink in November 1996. [2]
Together with Intel, DCA had designed the DCA/Intel Communicating Applications Specification (CAS). It defines a standard, high-level programming interface for data communications applications. The DCX format is the standard file format for storing FAX images in CAS. DCA was in the market of producing T-1 multiplexers. [3] In 1995, DCA [3] of Alpharetta, Georgia, was acquired by Attachmate of Bellevue, Washington. [3] [4]
In 1981, under the leadership of Bertil Nordin, DCA acquired Technical Analysis Corporation (TAC), the makers of the IRMA Board which enabled PCs to function as 3270 terminals to an IBM mainframe host. [1]
In September 1986, DCA bought Cohesive Networks. [5]
In 1986, DCA acquired Microstuf, makers of the Crosstalk Communications package together with their flagship product, the terminal emulation program Crosstalk Mk.4. [6]
In 1991, DCA acquired Cincinnati-based InterComputer Communications Corporation (ICC), makers of the INFOConnect line of terminal emulation and file-transfer products (focused on the Unisys ecosystem), OpenMind (collaboration) and RLN (remote lan node)
In 1992, DCA acquired Westborough-based Avatar Technologies, makers of the Mac Mainframe hardware and software 3270 emulators, for $8 million. [7]
The IBM 3270 is a family of block oriented display and printer computer terminals introduced by IBM in 1971 and normally used to communicate with IBM mainframes. The 3270 was the successor to the IBM 2260 display terminal. Due to the text color on the original models, these terminals are informally known as green screen terminals. Unlike a character-oriented terminal, the 3270 minimizes the number of I/O interrupts required by transferring large blocks of data known as data streams, and uses a high speed proprietary communications interface, using coaxial cable.
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A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. The teletype was an example of an early-day hard-copy terminal and predated the use of a computer screen by decades. Starting with the Apple I, computer terminal circuitry began to be integrated into personal and workstation computer systems, with the computer handling character generation and sometimes able to connect to simple consumer TVs instead of specialty CRT terminals.
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The IBM 3270 PC, released in October 1983, is an IBM PC XT containing additional hardware that, in combination with software, can emulate the behaviour of an IBM 3270 terminal. It can therefore be used both as a standalone computer, and as a terminal to a mainframe.
Relay Gold is a terminal emulator software program that supports modem transmission and mainframe file transfer. It was developed by Microcom, and marketed by Relay Technology until its acquisition in the late 1990s by NetManage.
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IBM 5550 is a personal computer series that IBM marketed in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China in the 1980s and 1990s, for business use customers. In Japan, it was introduced in 1983 and promoted as "Multistation 5550 (マルチステーション5550)" because it had three roles in one machine: a PC, a word processing machine which was traditionally marketed as a machine different from a PC in Japan, and an IBM-host attached terminal.
Crosstalk Mk.4 was a commercially available PC telecommunications and terminal emulation software package originally produced by Atlanta-based Crosstalk Communications, from the late 1980s through 1990, and by Digital Communications Associates (DCA) until the mid-1990s. Crosstalk Mk.4 was one of a suite of products produced by the company; others included the famed Crosstalk XVI, Crosstalk Communicator, Crosstalk for Windows, and Remote 2.
Rumba is a terminal emulation software program with user interface (UI) modernization properties. Rumba and Rumba+ allow users to connect to legacy systems via desktop, web, and mobile. Rumba provides IT end users with a modern UI, allowing them to bypass green screen applications.
Informer Computer Terminals, Inc., originally Informer, Inc., and later Informer Computer Systems, Inc., was a privately held American computer company active from 1971 to 2007. It manufactured data terminals that could communicate with mainframes and minicomputers, mainly those manufactured by IBM and Digital. It was originally based in Los Angeles, California; in the early 1980s, it moved to Laguna Beach, and in the late 1980s, to Garden Grove.
3R Computers, Inc., or RRR Computers, Inc., later Avatar Technologies, was an American computer company based in Westborough, Massachusetts, known for their Avatar series of dumb terminal-to-workstation devices.
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