`The Kermit 95 Academic Site License`

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Kermit 95 2.1 for Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP and IBM OS/2:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95.html

is the newest product from the Kermit Project at Columbia University in New York City, which has brought quality communications software to the academic community since 1981:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/

Kermit 95 is the perfect Windows terminal emulator for any campus that has shell accounts or terminal-based administrative or library applications and is concerned about security. While some might think of shell accounts and terminal sessions as passé, they won't disappear any time soon -- and for good reasons: they are safer, more stable, and easier to support than high-maintenance and ever-changing desktop GUI-based platforms and applications:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/safe.html

The new K95 release runs in a GUI window, includes a new Secure Shell (SSH) v1/v2 client:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/sshclient.html

plus several other forms of security. It emulates 40 different types of terminals and transfers and manages files securely using Kermit, Zmodem, HTTP, and other protocols, now including an advanced, secure, scriptable FTP client:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftpclient.html

Kermit 95 compares favorably with other SSH clients:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/winsshclients.html

Its advantages in the academic sector include:

It comes from academia itself and is popular at universities all over the world.
It is supported enthusiastically by its developers (ask anybody).
It includes Kerberos 4/5, SSL/TLS, and SRP security as well as SSH v1/v2.
It includes secure Telnet, Rlogin, FTP, and HTTP clients.
It supports safer authentication methods for SSH such as GSSAPI.
It supports SSH tunneling and X Windows session forwarding.
It supports HTTP Proxy and SOCKS firewall traversal.
It supports plain-text network connections to servers that lack security.
It supports serial-port and modem connections too.
It can conduct terminal sessions in many languages.
It automatically highlights URLs for one-click browsing.
It is infinitely configurable and customizable.
Everything it does is fully scriptable.
Cheap academic site licenses are available.

And:

C-Kermit , Kermit 95's file-transfer and client/server partner for Unix and VMS is free to universities. The command and scripting languages of Kermit 95 and C-Kermit are identical, allowing complex and/or automated communication tasks to be developed portably for Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, VMS, and dozens of other platforms.

See how some other universities are using Kermit 95:

New GUI Features - Fonts and Languages

Version 2.0 of K95 is the first release to run in a GUI window:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95gui.html

and therefore to allow font selection and Unicode terminal sessions, even in Windows 95/98/ME. See the website for sample screens, including terminal screens with many languages -- English, German, Spanish, French, Icelandic, Greek, Russian, Armenian, Georgian, ..., even Runes:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/glass.html

Secure Host Access

Security features such as SSH, Kerberos, SSL/TLS, and SRP require strong cryptography, whose export is controlled by the US government. Effective 16 July 2002, we have permission from the US Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security to export the cryptographic version of Kermit 95 to all countries except Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, or Cuba.

Kermit 95 can make securely authenticated and encrypted terminal connections from Windows to Unix, VMS, or other hosts that support SSH v1, SSH v2, Kerberos 4, Kerberos 5, SSL, TLS, or SRP. It can also make FTP connections secured by Kerberos or SSL/TLS and it can make HTTP connections secured by SSL/TLS. (Of course K95 can also make clear-text serial port, modem, Telnet, Rlogin, LAT, FTP, and HTTP connections when the host or communication method does not support secure authentication and encryption.) Kermit's security methods are detailed here:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/security.html

Secure Remote Access

K95 2.1 can be installed as a service on Windows NT, 2000, and XP, allowing secure, authenticated, and logged remote text-mode access on the Internet for file transfer and management. For details, see:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/wiksd.html

Likewise, C-Kermit can be installed as a secure Internet file-transfer and management service on your Unix hosts:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/cuiksd.html

with all the same features. Windows can be a client to Unix, and Unix can be a client to Windows.

Secure File Transfer

On SSH, secure Telnet, or secure Rlogin connections, K95 can use its built-in Kermit or XYZMODEM file-transfer protocols within the encrypted terminal session for convenient and secure up- and downloading. (Ditto for clear-text Telnet, Rlogin, or LAT, as well as serial-port or dialup sessions, but in this case without encryption.)

As an SFTP replacement, the Kermit 95 SSH client and Unix C-Kermit server (installed as an SSH subsystem) give the same security and performance as SFTP/SFTPD but a great deal more options and features:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/skermit.html

As an FTP client secured with Kerberos or SSL/TLS, as well as on regular clear-text connections, K95 offers an unequalled range of power and flexibility:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ftpclient.html

Automation

Kermit 95 not just a terminal emulator and file-transfer and management agent; it's a general-purpose communications tool with a programming language built in that you can use to update your Web and FTP sites; to monitor and manage your network; to log and report hostile probes on selected TCP ports; to troubleshoot your modem pool; to configure your hubs and routers; to automatically send numeric or alpha pages when faults are detected. The scripts you develop for K95 can also be used in Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, Solaris, AIX, and other forms of Unix, as well as VMS:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95scripts.html

The Academic Site License

An academic site license covering all students, faculty, and staff costs about what you would pay for a PC or two:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95pricing.html#academic

Typically just pennies per head, and no copy counting. It won't break the bank and proceeds go to keeping one of the last remaining university-based nonprofit software R&D projects going strong (21+ years and counting!), whose work includes not just writing software but also active participation in the standards process:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/standards.html

as well as in Kerberos, OpenSSL, and OpenSSH development, and public works such as the 1994 Brazil National Election and the Bosnia Relief Mission.

Academic site licensed versions can be custom configured "at the factory" for your campus security infrastructure, hosts, services, and preferences (e.g. Kerberos configuration, host keys and certificates, common connections predefined, custom key maps, colors, terminal emulations), allowing streamlined one-touch InstallShield setup by your users.

To download an evaluation copy of Kermit 95 2.1, visit:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95demo.html or http://www.e-academy.com/kermit

To order an academic site license, use the order form:

http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/k95asl.html

For further information, please contact:

Christine M. Gianone, Business Manager
The Kermit Project - Columbia University
612 West 115th Street
New York NY 10025-7799
kermit@columbia.edu

[ Columbia University ] [ The Kermit Project ] [ Kermit 95 ] [ Evaluate ] [ Order ]

The Kermit Project / Columbia University / kermit@columbia.edu / 14 November 2002