Attachmate
Defunct software company
title: "Attachmate" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["opentext", "1982-establishments-in-washington-(state)", "2005-disestablishments-in-washington-(state)", "2005-mergers-and-acquisitions", "defunct-software-companies-of-the-united-states", "software-companies-based-in-seattle", "software-companies-established-in-1982", "software-companies-disestablished-in-2005", "defunct-computer-companies-of-the-united-states", "defunct-computer-hardware-companies"] description: "Defunct software company" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachmate" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Defunct software company ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Attachmate Corporation |
| logo | Attachmate Corporation logo.svg |
| trading_name | |
| native_name | |
| native_name_lang | |
| type | Private |
| industry | |
| fate | Acquired by The Attachmate Group () |
| foundation | , in Bellevue, Washington, United States |
| defunct | |
| location_city | Seattle, Washington |
| location_country | United States |
| locations | |
| area_served | Worldwide |
| products | |
| revenue | |
| parent | OpenText |
| homepage | |
| :: |
| name = Attachmate Corporation | logo = Attachmate Corporation logo.svg | caption = | trading_name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | romanized = | former type = | type = Private | traded_as = | industry = | fate = Acquired by The Attachmate Group () | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = , in Bellevue, Washington, United States | founder = | defunct = | location_city = Seattle, Washington | location_country = United States | locations = | area_served = Worldwide | key_people = | products = | production = | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = OpenText | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = | footnotes = | intl = | bodystyle =
Attachmate Corporation was a software company founded in 1982 which focused on secure terminal emulation, legacy integration, and managed file transfer software. Citrix-compatibility{{cite web |title=Citrix Compatible Products from Attachmate Corporation |url=https://citrixready.citrix.com/attachmate-corporation.html |quote=Attachmate (now part of Micro Focus) .. Citrix Technology Alliance Partner ... Optimized to run on Citrix XenApp, Attachmate ... |access-date=2018-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914203618/https://citrixready.citrix.com/attachmate-corporation.html |archive-date=2018-09-14 |url-status=dead |title=Solution - Support Portal |website=TriCentis.com |url=https://support.tricentis.com/community/article.do?number=KB0013448 |quote=You have a Reflection emulator installed and want to scan and steer it with ... |date=August 31, 2018}} were enhanced/added offerings.
History and products
Attachmate Corporation
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Old_Attachmate_logo.jpg" caption="Older logo, as of 1988"] ::
Attachmate was founded in 1982 by Frank W. Pritt.{{cite web |quote=Key Dates: 1982: Frank Pritt founds Attachmate. 1994: Attachmate merges with DCA. |title=History of Attachmate Corporation |website=FundingUniverse.com |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/attachmate-corporation-history}} It focused initially on the IBM terminal emulation market, and became a major technology employer in the Seattle area.{{cite web |quote=Attachmate, founded by Pritt in 1982, was among the region's largest software developers in the late '90s and early '00s, with revenue of ... |title=Investors begin merger of Attachmate and WRQ |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2005/05/30/daily27.html |date=May 30, 2005}}
KeaTerm
KEAsystems' KEAterm products were PC software packages that emulated some of Digital Equipment Corporation's VT terminals, and facilitated integrating Windows-based PCs with multiple host applications.{{cite news |newspaper=Computerworld |quote=KEAterm is an advanced software emulation of Digital Equipment Corp.'s VT terminals, enabling users to integrate multiple host applications into the Windows |title=KEA DEC/VTterminal eumulation |date=September 6, 1993 |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgsZJgu-zDkC}}{{cite web |quote=After consideration, two products were selected for more detailed evaluation, Pathworks VT320/VT382 for Windows and KEAterm VT340. VT320/VT382 are ... |title=Terminal Emulator Task Force Report - City University of Hong Kong |url=https://www.cityu.edu.hk/csc/netcomp/net2/pc240.htm}} These included KEAterm VT340 and VT420 terminal emulators, and KEA X X terminal software).
KEA was acquired by Attachmate.{{cite web |quote=We have certain macros in our Attachment KeaTerm 4.23 (emphasis added) install that aren't easily workable in other terminal emulators or at least no one has ... |title=Need a replacement for SCO TermLite. |website=ARStechnica.com |url=https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1112274 |date=June 3, 2010}}
DCA IRMA
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/KL_DCA_BS0017.jpg" caption="DCA IRMA II ISA network card"] ::
Another acquisition was Digital Communications Associates (DCA), makers of IRMA line of terminal emulators, INFOconnect, Crosstalk communications software, and OpenMind collaborative software). DCA was also known for its 3270 IRMA{{cite book |title=Expanding and Networking Microcomputers |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1349076252 |isbn=1349076252 |author1=Dennis Longley |author2=Michael Shain |date=1985 | publisher=Springer |quote=IRMA DECISION SUPPORT INTERFACE ... PC3278/79 EMULATOR/ADAPTOR BOARD}} hardware product (used for SDLC), and ISCA SDLC hardware adapters. They also supported driver downloads.
Extra!
The Attachmate Extra! family of terminal emulator packages was built to include 3270, 5250 and VT100.Computer Associates' help desk documented a problem with it. {{cite web |url=https://support.ca.com/us/download-center/problem-detail.html?productcd=ATMXC%26problemnbr=415%26docid=305874 |title=HLLAPI Short Names don't appear in Session Configurator}} so did IBM. {{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/forums/html/topic?id=77777777-0000-0000-0000-000014917867 |title=Attachmate EXTRA! X-treme automation using RFT |website=IBM |date=December 9, 2012}}
Acquisition
After buying both WRQ, Inc. and Attachmate, who had been long-time competitors in the host emulation business, a group of private equity firms announced in 2005 that the companies would be merged under the new ownership. It was announced that Attachmate founder and CEO Frank Pritt would retire at the same time.
IBM, RedHat, Microsoft, Attachmate, Apache, Cisco, NEC, SAP, Software AG, Adobe Systems, Fujitsu, Oracle, CA Technologies and BonitaSoft, are some of the key players operating in the Global Application Server Market.
References
References
- "Reflection for the Web Reference Guide".
- "Moonsoft - Products - Attachmate EXTRA! X-treme".
- By 1988 it was being marketed as "Attachmate Extra!" (source: a pricesheet that includes various software options and four hardware products)
- (27 April 2020). "Global Application Server Software Platform Market 2025 Top Manufacturers".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::