What is in a word?

Conversion, migration, modernization, transformation and re-write are among the words used today to describe what you may want to do with your older legacy applications. Whether you are trying to solve the problem of "too little staff out there" or "too much cost for my annual license", you can turn to any of these words to help. ATERAS uses the following definitions when referring to these words.

Conversion

For ATERAS, conversion means a complete change of your application and/or database technology without a change to what your end-user community sees on the screen. Convert COBOL to .C#. Convert Natural to COBOL or Natural to C#. Convert ADS/Online to COBOL or ADS/Online to C#. Convert PL/1 to COBOL. Convert Easytrieve to COBOL. With all of these conversions, the technology is completely changed, but you don't need to change the way you do business and your user community does not need to be re-trained.

Conversion is perfect for the organization with a large user base, a limited budget and the need to eliminate proprietary license fees, increase the available human support base, and open up their applications to the future. ATERAS conversions are 100% automated and the resulting applications are guaranteed to perform, look and feel exactly like the current applications.

Modernization

Modernization retains the basic functionality of your existing applications and databases, but changes the look, flow or general feel for the end-user community, and changes the underlying technology for your support teams. With ATERAS, modernization to C# .NET or to Java results in beautifully native web-based applications that you maintain with Visual Studio, or Eclipse or another standard IDE of choice. Rather than perpetuating 3270 routines that decide what key was pressed or to count how many lines of data can fit on a screen, the ATERAS modernization tools exploit the capabilities of the .NET or J2EE frameworks, generating methods, classes, functions and objects that provide buttons and scroll bars instead.

Modernization provides a fresh new set of web-based Java or .NET applications. The developer uses the existing application code and flow as the basis for the new application, guiding the toolset to generate a fully native web application for .NET or Java. With ATERAS, modernization from COBOL to .NET or from COBOL to Java results in less application code, more functionality and a fresh user interface. The ATERAS modernization from Natural to .NET or from Natural to Java results in a code base that is similar in size to the original Natural application, fully stateless and native to the new platform.

Legacy modernization is accomplished using the eavRPM tool - Enterprise Application Viewer Rapid Program Modernization.

Migration

Migration does not generally include a language change and does not generally change the type of database management system. Migration might be an upgrade to a new release, or the movement of a relational COBOL application from a mainframe environment to an off-mainframe environment. Migration is a mechanical re-implementation of exactly the same application in a new environment or on a new release.

Organizations that wish to eliminate their mainframe environments may migrate their applications and databases to .NET or Unix or Linux off the mainframe, as long as the new environment can support the language and database technology. Organizations that have COBOL and VSAM, can migrate their applications off the mainframe with very little change. Organizations that have Adabas and Natural can migrate their application to an off-mainframe version of Adabas and Natural, or can convert or modernize to native Java or .NET. Organizations that have ADS/Online and IDMS must convert or modernize in order to begin processing off the mainframe. The ATERAS solutions provide every organization with the chance to make the move.

Transformation

Transformation is what happens to an application or database when it is converted, modernized or migrated. The heartbeat of the application or database is unchanged, but the form and technology can be quite different.

Re-Write

Re-write is what you do when you have lots of money and lots of time. In most cases, a re-write includes manual code conversion, manual program modernization, and brute force application migration... all rolled into a single lasting project. With ATERAS, tool-based conversion and tool-assisted modernization make a re-write seem absurd.

Re-Engineering

Re-engineering an entire application is about the same as re-writing it. Re-engineering a specific process or function within an application can be a great solution to a specific technology hurdle. For instance, if you have a custom subroutine that you use to send email from your mainframe applications, you will likely need to re-engineer that subroutine when you convert or migrate off the mainframe to Java or .NET. Your goal will be to still send e-mail, but the way that you accomplish that goal will change. ATERAS provides delivered modules, solution sets and custom re-engineering to replace those unique features that you have today.