Why You Only Want One Terminal Emulator Vendor

If you’ve recently decided that terminal emulation is a benefit your company can’t survive without, you’ve taken a big step toward longevity. Unfortunately, the next step can be tricky. In fact, it could make or break your other efforts. You now need to decide which vendor you’ll go with for the software. Depending on your requirements, it may make sense to choose to give your business to more than one. However, it almost always makes more sense to get all your emulation needs matched by just a single source.

Reduce Your Costs

As you’d probably suspect, using more than one vendor could come with some exorbitant costs. License agreements are just one example. These subscriptions can come yearly even though you already paid one price for the software to begin with. The more platforms you use, the more it’s going to cost you. Other maintenance expenses can come up annually and further tap your budget.

Of course, you may still have some of these costs with just one vendor, but it will obviously be a lot less. One subscription could get you the terminal emulator you need, plus any legacy integration or modernization platforms you may also be using.

One Support Team

Having just one vendor means having just one number to call when you need help with your software. Most of us don’t look forward to that kind of situation, but it will be even more frustrating when you have to dial a few numbers to find out what the problem is and perhaps even get passed around because one vendor swears it must be something another is doing.

Should your terminal emulation software ever act up, that single contact point will make a big difference.

Easier Implementation

Along the same lines, you’ll have a much easier time installing and implementing your terminal emulator if you only have one vendor to go through. The majority of companies will need a little help getting it up and running, which is where a strong implementations team comes in handy. Having to deal with multiple teams will only hinder your progress and potentially cost your company money as well.

Uniform Updates

When searching for the right vendor, give credence to one that has proven itself where innovation is concerned in the past. You want to be confident that the vendor you choose will be able to offer you updates as time goes on so that your emulators are never lacking.

If you have multiple vendors, expect multiple updates. They won’t be showing up at the same time either. Inevitably, you’ll eventually have one platform that seems to be firing on all cylinders and at least one other that is lagging behind. This is far from ideal, to say the least. As long as you choose a quality vendor, you can also depend on great updates and, thus, consistently high-functioning software.

Disregard the temptation to use terminal emulation platforms from a number of different vendors, even if it seems like this might be necessary at times. No matter what kinds of terminals you’re targeting, there is going to be a vendor that has you covered in every area.