Ed,

>Not wanting to reinvent 'the wheel' or become expert in
>this field, does anyone know of existing software (applications, utilities,
>tools) that I can utilize on the HP from cobol to do the job?

A small example for COBOL using sockets via NetIPC intrinsics
(in a client as well as server role) can be found at this URL:

 http://www.editcorp.com/Personal/Lars_Appel/index.html#tips

You'll also want to have a look at the QSDK at www.qss.com for
a COBOL specific library/toolset to ease socket programming. The
QSDK manual that used to be available for download does have a
number of very nice network programming tips (in an appendix?),
even if you don't end up using QSDK or COBOL at all.

Lars.

Oh, and you might also want to check out the HP3000-L archives.
I seem to recall that someone did share some nice code examples.
There also was a thread discussing various principles of getting
a server program handle multiple client requests concurrently by
using NOWAIT I/O or child processes and IPCGIVE and IPCGET.

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