SCO uniPath and other 386 UNIX -> IBM packages

[Joy Correa]

One of our prospective clients is interested in the uniPath product and
I just wanted to get some feedback from people who have used it.  I really
know very little about the IBM mainframe world (fortunately, the client has
a good staff that will handle the details on that side of things) and any
opinions, comments, or anecdotes about problems related to the SCO product
or similar products used to tie-in 80x86 UNIX systems to IBM mainframes would
be useful.  The client will be running the uniPath board and software on an
EISA bus '486 (Micronics motherboard) so any specific comments about trying
to run this stuff on a '486 or EISA bus would also be very welcome.


I understand that the board emulates a 3274 cluster controller with attached
terminals and printers and that it talks directly to an IBM communications
controller.  One question I have is whether or not I will have to run a
cable to the communications controller for every emulated terminal.  I had 
assumed that the controller would multiplex the signals but I have heard
otherwise.  Does this mean that I will have to run 5 lines to the 
communications controller if the customer goes with the 1-5 user option 
and 32 lines if they choose the 1-32 user option (or at least as many lines 
as they have terminals on the '486)?  If so, is there any other hardware
solution out there to simplify this?

Thank you for your time and info.