Best Terminal Emulator Software

What is Terminal Emulator Software?

What are the Common Features of Terminal Emulator Software?

What are the Benefits of Terminal Emulator Software?

Who Uses Terminal Emulator Software?

IT teams: IT and network administrators use a terminal emulator to connect and communicate with another machine from their local device. It enables them to control operations and automate tasks on a remote device. This software assists in accessing data and using the resources stored in a mainframe or centralized computer.

Developers: The tool helps developers with shell access to the remote computer. Terminal emulators with a text-based user interface allow developers more control over functions and speed up the process of developing apps. It allows developers to configure themes and fonts and provides many more formatting options to match their requirements. Software that comes with several plugins offers developers extended functionality to customize applications. 

Retailers: Retailers utilize terminal emulators to provide employees on the shopfloor access to the mainframe from a mobile device or a tablet and empower them to improve customer service by resolving queries, scheduling home deliveries, checking stock availability, and more. The workers can keep an eye on sales volume using the tablet or mobile and determine if there is a need to restock without visiting a terminal.

Healthcare personnel: Employees working in the healthcare sector use this solution for accessing the test results of patients stored in the central computer of the test laboratory. Terminal emulators allow hospital staff the flexibility to track medical information, such as patient records, in real time on mobile devices from the central database. While multiple staff members may access the information on the central computer simultaneously, an efficient solution ensures low network latency.

Challenges with Terminal Emulator Software

Terminal emulators can come with their own set of challenges, as mentioned below:

Security: Based on the kind of license purchased, a terminal emulator software may allow multiple users access to the resources on the central computer. This can pose a serious threat to security since not all users require access to all the information and may lead to non-compliance with the privacy and security regulations of the organization. Multiple users trying to access information may lead to network congestion and slow down the flow of information to users who require it.

Tabbed-mode limitation: While using certain solutions, if the user splits the screen, they need to navigate to a single screen before switching tabs which is indeed a limitation. Some terminal emulator applications in the market also come without any tab support, which causes inconvenience to the user.

Lack of centralized configuration: Each connection must be configured individually for certain open-source software. For some tools that offer the functionality to run multiple sessions simultaneously, the settings of each session are stored separately. So if a user wants to alter the settings for all sessions, then they need to execute it independently for each session.

Cost: Robust software packages with great features come at a high price. Users may face certain limitations if they only have access to the free version of the tool.

Poor scrolling support: Mouse scrolling while using certain terminal apps navigates to blank space instead of scrolling to the text content. However, this is not the case for every terminal emulator software.

How to Buy Terminal Emulator Software

Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Terminal Emulator Software

In case a company is just starting and looking to purchase its first terminal emulator software, or if the organization needs to migrate to a new tool--wherever a business is in its buying process, g2.com can help select the best terminal emulator for the business.

Finding the right terminal emulator for a business can be daunting, with vendors improving the support quality and enhancing users' experience with added functionalities. Without digging deeper to uncover the details, enterprises risk selecting a tool that can result in unexpected costs, vendor lock-in, difficult-to-agree service level agreements (SLAs), or simply a lack of fit to requirements. 

Depending on the scope of the deployment, it might be helpful to produce an RFI, a one-page list with a few bullet points. This allows the user to confirm that the chosen tool will reduce the organization's total cost of ownership, ensure a hassle-free migration to a new terminal emulator and ensure compliance with their administrative and security requirements.

Compare Terminal Emulator Software Products

Create a long list

A long list can be created by choosing solutions based on criteria specific to the buyer. The organization should evaluate a terminal emulator software based on the following parameters:

Vendor: Vendor evaluations are essential to the software buying process, from meeting the business functionality needs to implementation. It is crucial to select a vendor willing to work with the organization as a partner while also delivering top-notch technical support. The buyer should also prepare a consistent list of questions regarding specific requirements and concerns to ask each vendor for a smooth buying experience. It is important to evaluate whether the vendor has the required knowledge, experience, and competence to successfully help them migrate if they upgrade to a new tool. It is also imperative to ask questions about how the vendor accommodates requests for bug fixes and feature enhancements and if such requests are considered while making future upgrades to the product.

Hassle-free migration: The organization should consider the impact of migrating to a new tool, which may interfere with routine work. The right software provider must have the required knowledge and tools to ensure a seamless migration. The vendor should be prepared to provide quality assistance throughout the process. Buyers must also consider the timeline within which the migration is expected to be completed and ensure that they have all the necessary details about the process.

Compliance: The terminal emulator software vendor should quickly implement the latest security protocols to ensure optimum security. It should ensure compliance with industry or regulatory standards.

Create a short list

Organizations must narrow down the list from the long list of vendors to keep two or three finalists. Since the products on the long list usually provide similar functionality, the criteria to create a short list need to be more specific. For instance, vendors can be eliminated if they don't have extensive experience and expertise in the terminal emulation industry or in case they do not have the necessary security infrastructure to shield the organization from potential cyberattacks.

Conduct demos

Demos should be used to further differentiate between products. While pre-recorded demonstrations and slide decks are available on vendor websites, it is lucrative to request the vendor for a live demo of the terminal emulator to dive deep into their technical capabilities.

Selection of Terminal Emulator Software

Choose a selection team

Before getting started, creating a winning team that will work together throughout the entire process, from identifying pain points to implementation, is crucial. The software selection team should consist of employees with the right interest, skills, and time to participate in this process. A good starting point is to aim for three to five people who fill the required roles. This may include the primary decision maker, project manager, process owner, system owner or staffing subject matter expert, technical lead, and an IT or security administrator. In smaller companies, the vendor selection team may not be that big, with fewer participants multitasking and taking on more responsibilities. The selection team should compare notes, facts, and figures they noted during the process, such as the availability of advanced capabilities, quality of support, and security features.

Negotiation

It is imperative to open up a conversation regarding pricing and licensing. The vendor may be willing to give a discount for multi-year contracts or for recommending the product to others. The buyer must account for factors such as the number of users and the number and types of licenses required by the organization while negotiating the price of the terminal emulator software.

Final decision

It is recommended to roll out a test run or pilot program to test adoption with a small sample size of users before settling for a tool. The buyer can be confident that the selection was correct if the tool is well used and received. If not, it might be time to return to the drawing board.

What Does Terminal Emulator Software Cost?

Various factors influence the total cost of ownership of terminal emulator software. Depending on the number of employees using the software and the number of hosts, the organization can decide what kind of license will help them reduce costs without compromising on the quality.

The buying organization can choose between a perpetual license and a subscription-based license. The former allows the buyer to use the software for an indefinite period and is charged as a single expense in the first year of purchase. After the first year, the buyer must pay the maintenance cost for continued access. 

The subscription model requires the organization to pay for the software for a predefined period, say a month or a year, and covers support services and access to all software updates released during that period. Organizations favor subscription licensing since it involves lower acquisition costs and provides the freedom to transfer the license to new users based on requirements. 

The organization can also choose between a named user license and a concurrent license. The former only provides one license to a particular user and cannot be shared with other employees. It is best suited for companies where users need continuous and frequent access to the central computer. Under the concurrent licensing model, companies can buy a fixed number of licenses that a given number of employees can share. However, no two users can use the same license simultaneously. This model can be cost-effective for organizations with multiple users requiring access to the terminal emulator, but not all need access simultaneously.

Return on Investment (ROI)

In order to ensure a shorter ROI period, it is important to compare the pricing structure offered by different vendors. The buyer must analyze if the vendor has separate charges for granting host access from more than one device. It is lucrative to understand the pricing model before buying the tool and selecting a vendor who offers uniform pricing irrespective of the number of devices the users log in from.

Terminal Emulator Software Trends

Automation of terminals and mainframes through robotic process automation (RPA): 

Robotic process automation is a method that involves the automation of processes in an organization through the usage of software robots to perform tasks and increase productivity while safeguarding applications and IT environments. In this process, robots communicate with systems and applications like humans but in a more agile and secure manner and with higher accuracy. RPA can aid businesses by providing access to vital business data, which are stored in mainframes and not easily retrievable. Through the use of RPA, companies can reduce costs and free up time for employees so that they can work on other projects which need their attention.