AUTOMATED REFACTORING

COBOL

Our Automated COBOL Refactoring solution delivers Cloud-enabled applications and databases that are functionally equivalent to their legacy counterparts, eliminating the hassle and expense of COBOL. This reduces cost, allows for deeper integration, and enables customization to meet business requirements whether your target is on-mainframe or off.

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Discussing the 2022 Mainframe Modernization Report

60 minutes

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Why modernize?

CHALLENGES

Scarcity of domain expertise

Many COBOL developers are reaching retirement age and no one is trained to replace them, resulting in a steadily diminishing talent pool. As this skills shortage grows, the costs and risk of relying on COBOL will continue to rise.

Limited flexibility

Companies are rapidly moving to modern paradigms and practices such as DevOps and the Cloud. COBOL and the underlying systems that support it were not designed for modern IT, resulting in difficult integrations and limited flexibility.

 

Exorbitant costs

Legacy systems running COBOL cost as much as 4,500 per cent more to operate than their modern counterparts. This figure is often compounded by rising licensing and maintenance fees. 

Automated COBOL Refactoring

OUR SOLUTION

Our Automated COBOL Refactoring solution preserves the benefits of legacy systems while empowering organizations to leverage the advantages of newer platforms, especially the Cloud. This unlocks a whole new world of quality and scalability from automated testing to quality assurance, and the ability to leverage containerized deployments and orchestration with Docker and Kubernetes.

Many COBOL transformation solutions create structurally similar programs in the target language but require additional re-engineering efforts to yield desired results. Our Automated COBOL Refactoring solution, harnessing a powerful combination of proprietary software and an iterative transformation methodology, delivers a modern Java or C# application based on fully maintainable open systems.

Our Automated COBOL Refactoring solution was designed with the following requirements in mind:

  • Refactored applications must remain functionally equivalent to their original counterparts
  • Refactored applications must be easily maintainable, attain SonarQube A ratings, and follow object-oriented concepts and paradigms
  • Refactored applications should perform as well as, or better than, the original applications
  • Refactored applications should be Cloud-ready and delivered using a standard DevOps toolchain and best practices

Our Automated Refactoring software deconstructs the legacy codebase to isolate source code and classify down to the field level. It then refactors the assets using customized rules based on customer requirements and standards. Remarkably, this turnkey solution retains your valuable business logic without requiring code freezes or additional licensing.

The refactoring process includes flow normalization, code restructuring, data layer extraction, data remodeling, and packaging for reconstruction. Cloned code is identified and common replacement objects created – simplifying maintenance and manageability, while complex data and control dependency analysis is used to locate and remove dead code. Upon reconstruction, new object-oriented code structures are generated and deployed into the target environment and enabled by our Java or Microsoft .NET framework.

Once the COBOL applications and associated databases are refactored, Java and C# developers can extend application functionality for Cloud optimization using standard DevOps tools and CI/CD concepts that simply aren’t available for mainframe applications. Precious business logic from the legacy system is preserved, while levels of optimization can be applied to deliver efficiencies and business benefits such as elasticity, granular service definition, and easy integration with Cloud-native services.

Automated Refactoring is available for most COBOL dialects and platforms, including z/OS, OpenVMS, and VME.

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Over 35 years of COBOL and mainframe modernization experience

More than 500 successful modernization projects completed

Over 2.5 billion lines of code refactored through automation

Intelligent modernization, unparalleled experience

OUR PROCESS

Additional resources to help you modernize

 
 

CASE STUDY

The New York Times: COBOL to Java

Advanced's Automated Refactoring solution enabled The New York Times to completely migrate their core IT system to an AWS platform.

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WHITEPAPER

Don’t kick the COBOL can down the road

This whitepaper looks at the challenges of maintaining legacy applications, and the various COBOL modernization options available.

Read whitepaper

 

 

 
 

REPORT

2022 Mainframe Modernization Report

Exploring the impact of the new era of digitalization and change on the current state of legacy systems and organizations' modernization plans.

Read report

 

 

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Aug 31, 2022 by Rob Anderson, Vice President of Marketing and Product, Advanced

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Mar 10, 2022 by Rob Anderson, Vice President of Marketing and Product, Advanced

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Apr 6, 2021 by Rob Anderson, Vice President of Marketing and Product, Advanced

News & Opinions

BLOG // 13-02-2024

How DevOps is influencing mainframe modernization strategies

by Tim Jones, Managing Director - Application Modernization

How DevOps is influencing mainframe modernization strategies