REFLECT (for either VSEⁿ or GCS) is a VTAM and local 3270 printer emulator that intercepts IBM 3270 print data streams sent to VTAM printers from your business applications and redirects them to the POWER spool where they can be managed by mainframe output management systems such as VTAMPrint. Alternatively, REFLECT/GCS could connect to the JES2 spool using Columbus Z.
Used in conjunction with an output management system such as VTAMPrint, REFLECT can also be used to distribute print data streams directly to the Columbus open systems delivery solutions for additional document enhancement and multi-channel delivery.
This approach reduces developer effort and increases flexibility as changes can be made to the output destination without making changes to your business applications. It also makes better use of printer hardware by allowing legacy print data streams to be sent to any networked printer.
Output management
Redirecting legacy print data streams to an output management system such as VTAMPrint makes it possible to print your documents on any VTAM or TCP/IP attached printer on the network, and increases resilience as documents can be sent to an alternative device in the event of a printer failure
Increased throughput
Print throughput increases as output can be routed to the POWER spool, or sent to Columbus report queues when used in conjunction with VTAMPrint; this applies equally if using REFLECT to route to the JES2 spool through Columbus Z
CICS and IMS output management
REFLECT lowers business risk by bringing CICS output under the control of an output management system; the problem of lost VTAM print output following CICS termination is eliminated
No application changes
REFLECT 'logical printers' appear to your applications in just the same way as physical printers, so there is no need to modify your applications to redirect your output
Flexible configuration
All logical printers, spool characteristics, closure comparison criteria and authorized users are defined in a configuration file, which is loaded at REFLECT startup time and can be updated by authorized users
Online displays
Authorized users can view and modify printer and spool definition characteristics, and configure displays - for example to run in different national languages
Security
To ensure security for your business documents, REFLECT provides comprehensive internal features for user authorization and also integrates with external security products, using a standard SAF interface