Chad responds:

> To those who responded so qiuckly with the exact info I needed--
>
>  Thanks for all the info, I think we'll proabably be installing a NT
>  Server using RAS.  See, I knew that answer was simple!

Let me say again, however, if you need remote vendor access and support of
your HP3000(s), don't dispense completely with your DTCs. Either that or
establish an internet-accessible IP address to the outside world.

The HP support modem port on the back of the HP3000 can't easily be used for
file transfers by essentially any other vendor than HP. It's an active port
(that is, it listens to the data flow and acts on it). For any reasonable
level of support from a remote vendor, you're going to need to keep a modem on
a standard modem DTC port.

When you do get your NT server up with RAS, take notice of how long and how
many tries it will take you to get on your network the first time. This is the
same problem that each of your vendors will face -- except that they get to do
it from quite some distance away, with no manuals, and no clear idea of your
hardware architecture. It's not an easy remote support mechanism.

However, none of that is true for internet-based access (either telnet or VT).
One of the customers that I mentioned earlier that has such a internet-
accessible IP address (and that I'm beginning to love) is right there in
Indianapolis with you, Chad, and you might speak to him, if you have the time.
He's a nice guy. His name is Scott Dortch; his company is The Order
Fulfillment Group. He should be in the phone book.

Scott used to monitor this list, but because he is a principal of his company
and interested primarily in running his business, he told me that he quit some
time ago. However, Scott, like a lot of our CEO's, is no technical dummy --
and he is the person that arranged for their internet presence.

Wirt Atmar

PS: BTW, an example of one of the modem proxy servers (people call them
different things; Ascend calls them remote access products) can be found at:
http://www.ascend.com/1685.html  If they have any advantage, they tend to be
cheap.