The channel application server hardware (also known as the Front End Server) delivers the toolkit-based application to the clients using a TCP/IP connection. IBM® WebSphere® Application Server runs on the channel application server for this purpose and processes requests from clients once the application is running. Handling client requests involves managing dialogs (and the user interface for light client types), launching business operations that interact with back-end transactional systems or SOA based systems, processing local transactions, and sending responses to the client. This architectural layer contains logic that is intended to be common across delivery channels, as well as technical functions such as electronic journaling, parameter tables, and store-and-forward.
The design and portability of the product allow channel application servers to exist at either the branch level (one server per branch), the regional level (one server per a group of branches), or even at a centralized level (a single server for the entire financial institution). These options provide the flexibility to achieve the right balance between the number of servers and network bandwidth, with no changes to application logic.
The following diagram shows the channel application server.