Original Article: IT Pro http://special.nikkeibp.co.jp/ts/article/ae0e/181249

IT Modernization Summit (2015.04.23) Review Article

“Don’t you think that fear is the main reason for resisting migration?” asks Jongpil Ra, the Vice President of TmaxSoft Japan. Of course there are other reasons such as cost and difficulty in building consensus within the company and finding engineers confident to carry out the task. “I think that setting a clear migration policy will mainly influence the company’s decision for migration,” says Vice President Ra.

TmaxSoft Japan is the Japanese subsidiary of TmaxSoft. Its main products are middleware solutions including JEUS web application server, Tmax WebtoB web server, and Tibero RDBMS.

JEUS enjoys a high market share in the domestic market, surpassing Oracle and IBM. In Japan, TmaxSoft provides various middleware products including its flagship product Tmax OpenFrame, a mainframe rehosting solution. So far, more than 10 large-scale mainframe migration cases have been implemented in Japan.

OpenFrame enables migration of mainframe applications and services to an open system environment, such as Linux, without redevelopment. The entire system can be migrated without modifying business and application logics. Since OpenFrame configuration module runs on a TP monitor, OpenFrame is capable of hosting a next generation system.

Furthermore, OpenFrame can migrate COBOL, PL/1, and JCL applications without any modification while maintaining their functionality. It supports the reuse of mainframe data sources, automated migration analysis, execution, and verification processes, and reliable transaction processing using its own proprietary technology. OpenFrame also reduces the cost, time, and effort required for the conversion process, which helps reduce the amount of time and cost spent on developing a next generation infrastructure.

■ Total Solution, OpenFrame
OpenFrame provides an environment that can maximize high performance, reliability, flexibility, and scalability.

A successful migration of 50,000 mainframe assets in just 17 months during the rehosting project for company “A” has helped prove OpenFrame’s powerful performance. The total number of assets for migration exceeded 10 million including 4,000 admin/business screens, 100 core assembly apps, 9,000 ledgers, etc. Other requirements involved developing a web-based emulation terminal, adopting vendor independent peripheral devices, etc.

 “OpenFrame provides the five core technologies (character code conversion, database, middleware, compiler, and WAS) required for a successful mainframe migration,” says Vice President Ra.

In the aforementioned large-scale migration project, OpenFrame was selected for its use in many core system migration projects, and its ability to flexibly respond to functional enhancement requirements and migrate middleware and functions provided by various vendors without modification.

 “Automatic conversion can be applied to online processing via AIM/DCMS, (online/document print function on TSS screen), AIM/NDB (network DB) management, command groups such as OS commands, JES functions, JES commands, AIM commands, and various utilities provided by each vendor. We have received positive feedbacks for automated conversion of assembler program/SVC function supported in OpenFrame,” says Vice President Ra.

The benefits of mainframe migration are numerous. Migration can enable the reuse of existing software assets, and reduce the core system operation cost. In an open environment, the system can be configured using the latest technology. This allows for easy integration with other systems, easy system modification, and easy expansion. In addition, near real-time processing can be supported by reducing the lag time on the host system. Distributed data can be managed in RDBMS, which allows many departments within a company to share the same database. The biggest benefit is the ability to build a roadmap for core system redevelopment. In an open environment, companies no longer need to be concerned about discontinued support from vendors.

■ Migration Schedule of Company “A”
Implemented each engineering process of planning, analysis, and migration phases for its core system within 17 months.

TmaxSoft Japan is planning to release the latest version (OpenFrame 7.0) by September of this year. OpenFrame 7.0 is designed with a standard architecture, and it supports easier development of next generation systems, and maximized flexibility and scalability. It also provides enhanced automated migration and testing functionalities that can greatly reduce the project time period and cost. It can also fully integrate with various 3^rd party products. By using ODBC, OpenFrame 7.0 can connect to any RDBMS and use DB connections more efficiently compared to OpenFrame 6.0.

“Due to growing competition, companies are pressured to increase their competitiveness by efficiently utilizing their limited management resources. This necessitates the migration of mainframe-based legacy systems to gain flexibility and reduce operational cost,” says Vice President Ra. TmaxSoft Japan will strive to continually contribute to modernizing IT infrastructure in Japan.