Legacy Transformation is a proven approach to extending the ROI on legacy software applications written in archaic languages such as PL/1, Fortran, Pascal, Basic and COBOL. Over the years many companies have developed valuable equity, intellectual property and business logic using legacy platforms such as IBM MVS, CICS, IMS, COBOL, DCE/RPC, OS400/RPG, OS390 and Cool:Gen/IEF. As new platforms evolve and older one’s fade, companies are faced with having to abandon working applications and invest in new ones in order to remain current and operational manage risk.
At eCube Systems, we use Legacy Transformation to help companies leverage existing investments in legacy technology as they move to support contemporary service oriented architectures such as .NET, J2EE, LDAP and SOAP. Whether a company wants to transform, integrate or maintain a legacy platform we help them reach their goal without abandoning the ROI already in hand.
eCube’s key Legacy Transformation offerings:
- Lower operational risk by support un-supported platforms
- Lower the cost of owning and using your own proprietary IP by moving it to open systems and removing the need to pay high maintenance costs
- Deliver integration with contemporary architectures, such as .NET, J2EE, SOAP, LDAP and WS Management Suites
- Provide methodologies for legacy transformation of existing business logic on new platforms
The Problem
Legacy Transformation addresses the consequences whenever a new technology becomes the generally accepted new paradigm. Vendors begin to discontinue support for products built on older technologies in favor of new ones. Companies start to recognize “technology gaps” (of varying degrees of severity) between their current implementations and the latest way of doing business. These gaps in maintenance, interoperability and expertise invariably have a negative impact on agility, viability, cost and operational risk.
There are a limited number of responses for companies in this situation. They can:
- Pay exorbitant maintenance fees to opportunistic vendors
- Pre-maturely retire existing technical assets and the ROI they provide
- Buy expensive commercial off the shelf (COTS) applications and attempt to customize them to meet their needs
- Re-engineer working applications and pay for the same functionality and ROI a second time
- Do nothing -- role the dice, ride out their initial investment for as long as possible -- and watch the value of their technical assets decrease until it is impossible to extend and re-use them
All of these options are problematic, risky and expensive. However as the industry shifts to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and to utility computing based on Web Services and SOAP -- the 4th major paradigm shift in 10 years -- addressing these issues has never been as pressing. Legacy Transformation addresses the risk and expense.
Legacy Transformation Solutions
eCube Systems provides legacy transformation products and services that bridge legacy technology gaps. It enables customers to extend technology ROI, manage risk and leverage existing business assets. eCube uses legacy transformation to help companies bring “transformed” legacy applications into synchronization with the latest technology. To maximize legacy ROI, eCube has developed three primary offering categories. Legacy Support and Maintenance (LSM), Legacy Transformation Services (LTS) and Legacy Transformation Products (LTP). This portfolio offers extraordinary ROI on legacy technology investments, allowing Fortune 1000 and Global 500 companies to transform and modernize legacy applications in a phased approach. For more information, see our pages on the ARM process.
