Reasons for Using Fujitsu Legacy Modernization to Move to the .NET Platform

Organizations use the Fujitsu application modernization software for migrating to Windows/.NET for a variety of reasons including:

• The mainframe is consuming too large a proportion of their budget:
  - Business survival or competitiveness threatened.
  - Difficult to respond to market changes or opportunities.
• Their IBM mainframe is old and needs to be replaced. Quoted cost of upgrading is too high so alternatives are being sought.
• They have too many different platforms, usually because of acquisitions, and need to consolidate. .NET is seen as an attractive option for at least some of the applications.
• The mainframe or operating system is being phased out (such as VSE) or has an uncertain future so applications have to be migrated to a different platform.
• They have experimented with J2EE and found that their programmers (particularly those experienced with its legacy systems) have not been productive in the J2EE environment.
• Some applications have already been replaced by packaged software on other platforms, leaving just a few applications on the mainframe - too few to justify its existence.
• They find that hardware and software coming from a single vendor creates limited technological innovation. They desire to use hardware and software from a healthier, more competitive market. This applies to both the developer tools and the program execution environments.

Legacy Modernization

Generally our legacy modernization projects start with a proof-of-concept to demonstrate that the proposed solutions work for the customer and perform at or above their desired criteria. From the proof-of-concept we move to a pilot project in which a selected application is migrated and put into production. Following the successful completion of the pilot, the full application migration is planned and can be performed in-house using our tools or, more commonly, by our consultants or SI (System Integrator) partners. The first step of modernization is automatically part of the process as the NeoKicks and NeoBatch tools position the applications in the .NET environment. There are several advantages to engaging our consultants or partners:

• Your legacy modernization is performed by our migration experts
• You don't have to wait for your staff to learn the details of the new platform before starting your application migration.
• Your programmers can learn the new system while taking control of the application testing - by the time the system is released they are fully up-to-speed.
• Your staff continue to maintain and enhance your systems while the IBM migration work proceeds - you don't have a migrate-or-enhance choice to make.

• CICS to Microsoft's .NET Framework
• MVS and DOS/VSE Batch to Windows
• VSAM Data to SQL Server
• Migrating IDMS, IMS or VSAM Data to SQL Databases

The Fujitsu legacy modernization software products are our NetCOBOL compilers, and our NeoKicks, NeoBatch, NeoSort and NeoData products that are designed to speed the application migration process while positioning the applications for future growth. EZ Source helps you analyze the application before migrating, as well as enhancing your maintenance operations after your modernization project. Full details of these products can be found on their product pages. Below are short overviews explaining how each product fits into our legacy modernization solutions.

NetCOBOL for .NET
NetCOBOL for .NET provides the foundation for bringing CICS and batch applications to an exciting future. It is tightly integrated with Visual Studio and generates standard, verifiable MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) code so programs can take full advantage of the rich .NET Framework class libraries in a memory-safe manner. The integration with Visual Studio provides a highly productive COBOL development environment.
Features of NetCOBOL for .NET that make the biggest difference for developers coming from mainframes are:

• Immediate help and syntax checking provided by IntelliSense as code is entered
• Powerful interactive debugging enabling quick bug resolution and deeper program understanding
• Fast, visual interface design with Visual Studio's designers
• Greatly increased programming power with the thousands of classes and methods available in the .NET Framework
• Ability to take advantage of OO programming techniques

NeoBatch™
NeoBatch is the long term solution for bringing mainframe JCL to the Windows/.NET environment. It executes JCL under the control of the NeoBatch Job Manager in a manner that is highly compatible with mainframe batch job execution. You can choose to maintain your batch jobs as JCL or have them transformed to Microsoft® JScript® as a route to greater .NET/Windows® operating system integration in the future.
Features such as the NeoBatch catalog manager, support for generation data groups (GDGs), IEBGENR, IBR14, IDCAMS, NeoSort integration for DFSORT® and Syncsort® commands, highly usable console window and mainframe print file support, make NeoBatch one of the best application migration options for the future of your batch jobs.

NeoSort™
NeoSort is a specially packaged version of Nsort™, the world’s fastest sort program, that integrates with NeoBatch to support IBM® DFSORT® commands within migrated JCL jobs. Because NeoSort takes advantage of all the hardware made available to it – such as multiple processors, multiple disks, and memory – it can deliver exceptionally fast sorts of even your largest files. With NeoSort you can improve the performance of your batch sort jobs by migrating to the .NET platform.

NeoData™
NeoData migrates VSAM data to Microsoft® SQL Server® without rewriting legacy COBOL code. NeoData provides well-designed tools and tight integration with SQL Server to provide a highly viable route for bringing your VSAM data to a modern SQL database and giving your users more flexible reporting options.

EZ Source™
EZ Source is an application analysis and understanding tool. It analyses all components of mainframe applications (COBOL source, screens, database definitions, JCL etc), populates a relational database repository and provides a variety of reports and graphical views that can be used to explore the application.
Because EZ Source provides a "Missing Components Report" that identifies any resources that are required to complete the analyzed applications, using EZ Source is a good first step to ensure that your migration plans include all parts. Once you know you have all the pieces you can then use EZ Source to check for any challenges in the code so that you have an accurate estimate of the work involved in the legacy modernization project.

COBOL Modernization Services

Often organizations seek assistance in making the move from mainframe to Windows server as the application migration part of the effort is seen as a one-time process, requiring specialist skills that are not required for the organization's regular IT work.

Fujitsu provides training; consulting and mentoring services in the area of legacy migrations/modernizations that can help start larger projects or perform smaller application migration projects. Fujitsu also partners with a number of system integrators that offer specialized legacy modernization services and who are capable of handling projects of any size.

Partners

See the list of our Mainframe Migration Partners on our Technology Partners page.

Mainframe Migration Alliance

Fujitsu is an active member of the Mainframe Migration Alliance (MMA). The MMA is an organization created by Microsoft and other industry partners designed to help customers migrate workloads off the mainframe and onto the Microsoft Windows platform. The alliance represents a group of companies that have their interests aligned in making legacy migration easier and more efficient for customers. The MMA has a Website which is a good reference for checking options for your complete IBM migration solution, for example when your applications contain significant elements not covered by Fujitsu solutions such as large amounts of assembler, or reliance on non-SQL databases.

Legacy Modernization Case Studies

Mainframe-to-Windows Move Speeds Agility up to 300 Percent for Global Publisher
.NET Framework Provides Solution for Italian Social Security, Opening AS/400 Applications to Millions of Users
Stockholmshem (Property Firm) Migrates from Mainframe to Windows, Cuts Costs 60 Percent, Ups Speed
Scottish & Southern Energy plc Migrates 1.9 TB Database Applications using Fujitsu’s NetCOBOL for
 World Class Performance
NetCOBOL for .NET Provides Route for Interpolis to Modernize 800GB Database Application While
  Saving Money and Improving Performance
Presidential Life Refreshes CICS with NeoKicks
West Covina Service Group Turns HP3000 Dead-End into a .NET Superhighway
State of Washington Department of Licensing Selects NetCOBOL for .NET
San Diego Schools
Superior Court Stanislaus County System

Legacy Modernization Case Study Videos and Presentations

See Simon & Schuster staff explain how moving to Windows with NetCOBOL helped increase their
 agility threefold. Select one of the “.wmv” files in the “Download Documents” section of
 Microsoft’s case study page.
See the staff of Stockholmshem describe their migration experiences. Select one of the “.wmv” files in the “Download Documents” section of Microsoft’s case study page
State of Washington Department of Licensing
See staff from Washington DOL, Microsoft and Fujitsu describe the project in this fast-paced, three-minute video.
Willem Gorter's presentation on Euronext's migration to .NET given at the Mainframe Migration Conference (PowerPoint) (HTML)

Legacy Modernization White Papers

Numerous useful papers can be found at the Microsoft page “Learn More About Mainframe Modernization”
In particular check: Moving Mainframe Applications to Windows January 2008
Mainframe-Compatible Transaction Processing on Windows (PDF)* July 2007
Job Scheduling on Windows (PDF) January 2007
Batch Applications - The Hidden Asset (PDF)* June 2006
Why the NeoSort World Record is Good News for Mainframe Users (PDF)* July 2006

Articles Related to Legacy Modernization

Fujitsu and ATERAS announce Illinois Township High School District 211 Migrates IMS to SQL Server with ATERAS and Fujitsu Solution
Fujitsu and Oracle demonstrate superior off-mainframe performance with TPC-C record
White paper: Batch Applications - The Hidden Asset
DePaul University Study: Shows migrating using NetCOBOL for .NET and NeoKicks is much much faster than recoding in JAVA.
Microsoft TechEd Podcast: Microsoft interviews Steve Crawford from Fujitsu Computer Systems and Basim Kadhim from Fujitsu about the hardware and software available for Legacy Modernization. See video. (Streamed Windows Media Video, .wmv)
Computerworld: Features NetCOBOL customer Euronext in article "Microsoft courts mainframe shops, pushes Windows use"
DevSource: Fujitsu Kicks CICS From Mainframe to .NET
Tech Target: Ancor Migrates from IBM Mainframe to Windows
Network World: Court Ditches Mainframe for Windows System
Insurance Networking News: Presidential Life Rejuvenates Valuable Legacy Code
ITJungle: Fujitsu Chases $2 Billion with PrimeQuest Itanium Boxes
White paper: Reuse versus Rewrite: An Empirical Study of Alternative Software Development Methods for Web-enabling Mission-critical COBOL/CICS Legacy Applications - Kanter/Muscarello, DePaul University (PDF)
Legacy Modernization Overview Presentation Walk through an overview PowerPoint presentation (requires PowerPoint) on the Fujitsu legacy migration software, or see the PowerPoint presentation with notes and outline. Alternatively you may download the presentation if you'd prefer to view it on your own machine or share it with others in your organization.