The Kermit 95 Academic Site License

Academic Site Licenses are no longer offered effective 15 February 2003 for business reasons. From now on academic institutions must use the Bulk Right-to-Copy license, which requires copy counting. Current academic site license agreements are, of course, still valid. The remainder of this page is for historical reference only.

Kermit 95 2.1 for Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP:

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 clear-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.
• An OS/2 version with many of the same features is included.
• 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.

• Kermit 95 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Kermit 95 at the State University of New York
• Kermit 95 at the University of Oregon [PDF]
• Kermit 95 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• Kermit 95 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Kermit 95 at the University of Georgia
• Kermit 95 at Duquesne University
• Kermit 95 at Drew University
• Kermit 95 at KU-Eichstätt

  New GUI Features - Fonts and Languages

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

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

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

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

  The Academic Site License

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

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