This client program, called the ISPF Workstation Agent, communicates directly with ISPF on z / OS and provides a point-and-click graphical user interface automatically.

ISPF can also be run from a z / OS batch job.

When a user signs on to TSO they can start up ISPF / PDF.

ISPF services are generally available to any programmer in the shop, and can be used to write panels for either personal or shop-wide use, writing in either compiled languages such as C, COBOL, PL / I, or interpreted languages such as CLIST and REXX.

ISPF applications can be used to perform so-called " file tailoring " functions, customisation of specially crafted JCL members called " skeletons ".

ISPF for z / OS provides a built-in downloadable client program that can install and run on Windows PCs and UNIX workstations.

TSO can also provide a Unix-style environment on OS / 390 and z / OS via the UNIX System Services command shell, with or without ISPF.

TSO I / O screens and menus using ISPF dialog services can be displayed by CLISTs.

ISPF is designed to be customised for each user ( a fairly new concept in 1974, when it was introduced ).

ISPF is frequently used to manipulate z / OS data sets via its Program Development Facility ( ISPF / PDF ).

ISPF is user-extensible and it is often used as an application programming interface.

Most mainframe software vendors used ISPF functions to create their applications, so their tools are similar in appearance and operation to ISPF.

* ISRLEMX, the ISPF Member Expansion utility that is used on IBM mainframes

* Time Sharing Option ( TSO ), usually used to run ISPF

For comparisons of programs or reports, the ISPF SuperC ( ISRSUPC ) compare program is often used instead.

ISRLEMX is the ISPF Member Expansion utility used in IBM mainframes.

This led several companies to create versions of ISPF that run on Windows or Linux PC systems, for example SPFPC and Kedit, which are still sold currently.

Through integration with the rest of z / OS, additional Time Sharing Option ( TSO ) commands are available alongside the usual UNIX services, making it possible to process UNIX files using ISPF.

ISPF provides the ' editor interface ' which lets an application program display arbitrary data in the familiar editor panel.

z / OS supports stable mainframe systems and standards such as CICS, IMS, DB2, RACF, SNA, WebSphere MQ, record-oriented data access methods, REXX, CLIST, SMP / E, JCL, TSO / E, and ISPF, among others.

In computing, Interactive System Productivity Facility ( ISPF ) is a software product for the z / OS operating system that runs on IBM mainframes.

ISPF primarily provides an IBM 3270 terminal interface with a set of panels.

Many vendors have created products for z / OS that use the ISPF interface.

Underlying ISPF / PDF is an extensive set of tools that allow application developers to create panel-driven applications, and a set of guidelines to promote consistent use of ISPF functions.

Similarly, many installations write their own informal tools that use ISPF services.

ISPF remembers each user's choices for such things as screen colors & layout, the location of the command line and scrolling preferences.

Many of the early users of PCs were mainframe programmers or users, who were accustomed to and liked the ISPF panel system.

But most mainframe interaction is actually via ISPF, which allows for customized menu-driven interaction.

This combination is called TSO / ISPF.

However, due to the 68010's small speed boost over the 68000 and its support for virtual memory it can be found in a number of smaller Unix systems, both with the 68451 MMU ( in the Torch Triple X ), and with a custom MMU ( such as the Sun-2 Workstation, AT & T UNIX PC, the NCR Tower XP and early HP9000s like the Model 300 and 310 ) and various research machines.

Workstation manufacturers also tend to take a " balanced " approach to system design, making certain to avoid bottlenecks so that data can flow unimpeded between the many different subsystems within a computer.

They can also be called a ' Portable Workstation ' or ' Portable PC '.

The VMware product line can also run different operating systems on a dual-boot system simultaneously by booting one partition natively while using the other as a guest within VMware Workstation.

A live CD ISO image can also be mounted by Virtual Machine software such as VirtualBox and VMware Workstation or can be converted to a Live USB using SYSLINUX.

As Mac OS X can now be run natively on the x86 platform, including on non-Apple computers ( albeit in contravention of the Mac OS X license agreement ), interest in PearPC has waned since and attention now largely centers on running Mac OS X natively on x86 hardware or in virtualization software such as VMware Workstation.

It is available in a Live CD format that allows it to be used on a computer without installing it on the hard drive, and in versions compatible with hardware emulation / virtualization systems, including Bochs, QEMU, VMware Workstation / Fusion, VirtualBox and Microsoft Virtual PC.

IBM also worked on a version of OS / 2 for PowerPC to be sold as " Workstation OS ".

Another attempt by SGI in the late 1990s to introduce its own family of Intel-based workstations running Windows NT ( see also SGI Visual Workstation ) proved to be a financial disaster, and shook customer confidence in SGI ’ s commitment to its own MIPS-based line.

Called the Collaborative Virtual Workstation ( CVW ), this allowed the session to be set up in a virtual file cabinet and virtual rooms, and left as a persistent session that could be joined later.

As another example, FXpansion offers a VST to RTAS ( Real Time AudioSuite ) wrapper ( allowing VST plugins to be hosted in the popular Pro Tools digital audio workstation ), and a VST to Audio Units wrapper ( allowing VST plugins to be hosted in Apple Logic Pro Digital Audio Workstation ).

On many Alpha computer systems – for example, the Digital Personal Workstation – both SRM and ARC could be loaded onto the EEPROM which held the boot firmware.

In older versions of Windows NT, the password could only be stored in plain text in the registry ; support for using the Local Security Authority's private storage capabilities was introduced in Windows NT 4. 0 Workstation Service Pack 3 and Windows NT Server 3. 51.