One benefit of this clean design was that programs could be written in modern dialects of COBOL, and dialogs could be developed interactively.

DPPX had a native DBMS with simple key-lookup architecture, and ability to move forward through a table after starting from a specific key value by issuing a read-forward command.

This limitation was mitigated by an enterprising young programmer (K. Riley of Anchorage, Alaska) who suggested at the application layer creating alternate keys for the DPPX tables that needed read-previous functionality.

In addition to the expected functions of an operating system, DPPX included several functions which allowed for remote administration, such as Distributed Host Command Facility (DHCF), which allowed a Host Command Facility (HCF) user on a mainframe to log on in either full-screen mode or line mode to execute commands as though logged on locally, and Distributed Systems Network (or Node) Executive (DSNX), which allowed a Distributed Systems Executive (DSX) (later NetView/DM) job to manage files.

Separate additional products were also available, including COBOL and Fortran compilers, the Distributed Transaction Management System (DTMS), Command Facilities Extensions (CFE), which provided easy support for full-screen applications, Data Stream Capability (DSC) to allow DPPX users to log on to applications on the mainframe, and Performance Tool (PT).