A gulf developed between the 3270 world, focused on page-oriented mainframe transaction processing (especially via CICS), and the asynch terminal world, focused on character-oriented minicomputers and dial-up timesharing. Asynchronous terminal vendors gradually improved their products with a range of smart terminal features, usually accessed via escape sequences. However, these devices rarely competed for 3270 users; IBM maintained its dominance over mainframe data center hardware purchase decisions.
A gulf developed between the 3270 world, focused on page-oriented mainframe transaction processing (especially via CICS), and the asynch terminal world, focused on character-oriented minicomputers and dial-up timesharing. Asynchronous terminal vendors gradually improved their produ,cts with a range of smart terminal features usually accessed via escape sequences. However, these devices rarely competed for 3270 users; IBM maintained its dominance over mainframe data center hardware purchase decisions.