D.R. Stewart World Staff Writer
. . . "We are excited to announce that we are the only company that can offer a solution to all the needs with one program -- SuperVision 5.0."
-- R. Brent Johnson, Global Interface Solutions
As the telecommunications industry revolution advances, a Tulsa company has become a pathfinder, anticipating problems in computer networking and producing answers via its patented software.
Global Interface Solutions Inc., however, is not a Tulsa- based version of Microsoft Corp., the Seattle-based juggernaut that is the subject of a Justice Department antitrust case. Microsoft produces software that operates individual personal computers.
Global Interface Solutions, which has 12 full-time employees who work out of a plain vanilla east Tulsa office park at 10816 E. Newton St., produces software that automates mainframe computers.
Its latest creation is SuperVision 5.0, which is used primarily in transaction processing facility networks and is the fifth generation version of the software that allows small companies do more work with fewer people.
R. Brent Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Global Interface Solutions, said the latest SuperVision incorporates several evolutionary changes plus a new diagnostic feature. The software enables the computer operator to locate the source of an error by scrolling back through as many transactions as necessary to determine what happened just prior to the error.
"When I wrote this (software), I spent time in a (computer) data center watching operators work," Johnson said. "One of the problems is that so many of them are flooded with information. Part of what we do is remove the messages that the operator doesn't really need to see so he can concern himself with those things that are very valuable."
Johnson, who moved to Tulsa from San Francisco in 1991, first developed mainframe computer automation for on-line systems in the early 1980s. He then extended the automation features for software he developed for computer reservations systems at Eastern Airlines and Continental Airlines.
Today, Global Interface Solutions' clients include American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, the SABRE Group Inc., Continental Airlines, the EDS Information Processing Centers in Plano, Texas, and Charlotte, N.C., and the Amadeus and Galileo | reservations centers in Europe. More than 60 percent of Global's customer base is located in Europe, Johnson said.
One SuperVision feature that has won wide acceptance is console consolidation, for which a U.S. patent was granted in December. It brings multiple mainframes and operating systems onto one personal computer screen using one industry- standard platform. That feature enables operators to monitor and control the work being done by several computers, Johnson said.
Additional automation features of SuperVision include automatically triggering responses to key words and events, which guarantees that jobs are initiated promptly and accurately, and remote access capabilities, which permit better communication between technical support employees and computer operators.
The remote access feature is a particular favorite of computer technicians, officials said.
On a recent holiday, for instance, a technician was able to identify and remedy a problem without leaving home. The software enables the technician to log onto the system through the Internet or intranet, view the same screens as the operator and play back the cause of the difficulty.
Johnson said the remote access feature of SuperVision is secure. It uses an elaborate encryption process to prevent theft or intrusion. User IDs and passwords do not travel along the same Internet path, he said.
"We obviously looked at competitive products while creating SuperVision, and we are excited to announce that we are the only company that can offer a solution to all the needs with one program -- SuperVision 5.0," Johnson said. "In addition, we are offering remote access security that has never been available before anywhere in the world."
Johnson's other business linked to computers is WebTek, which he started in 1995 to help businesses develop web sites and market their products on the Internet. One web site developed by WebTek's is that of the Tulsa World, which can be accessed at www.tulsaworld.com.
Some of WebTek's most creative work has been done for the Tulsa arts community. It was produced without charge to such organizations as the Tulsa Opera, the Tulsa Philharmonic, Tulsa Ballet, OK Mozart Festival, Performing Arts Center, Oklahoma Sinfonia, Gilbert and Sullivan Society and Philbrook Museum of Art.
"I've always felt it was important to give back to the community in which we live and do business," Johnson said
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