Sunday 14 March 2010
Application modernization can enable the transition. Modernization, a compelling alternative to rewriting or replacing critical applications, fosters communication between historical systems and contemporary solutions while preserving the unique value encompassed in existing information technology systems. Modernizing critical applications through a service-oriented architecture provides agencies otherwise bound to the mainframe environment with the ability to leverage modern technologies. Using these solutions, Cobol-based applications can now operate in a Web 2.0 environment, providing a responsive Rich Internet Application without altering a single line of code. These now-Web-based applications work the same – because they are the same. They may have been moved to a Web environment, but development time is ultimately reduced because the application business logic remains unchanged. Modernization can also provide a significant cost advantage and reduce the time it takes to deploy an application; a modernized application is fully functional in a fraction of the time it would typically take to rewrite or replace critical applications. In these economic times, it is important to realize every cost saving as long as security and privacy are not compromised.
While the private sector reaps the benefits of software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) technologies – benefits such as cost savings, capital expenditure-to-operational expenditure conversion, elasticity and more efficient compliance procedures – the fact remains: We live in a Cobol world, and many government agencies still rely on Cobol-based applications. ears of code modified to meet the specific demands of individual government agencies can make it difficult for those agencies to move toward the cloud to operate in a Web-based environment. The good news is that Cobol-based government agencies looking to realize the benefits of cloud computing can make practical progress towards leveraging these benefits without jumping straight into the cloud – Cobol applications and all.
A proper enterprise cloud platform provides security of all data in motion (between the desktop and the cloud over HTTPS) and at rest (when stored in persistent cloud storage). Data is secured with encryption certificates owned by the organization – not the underlying utility infrastructure. Government agencies looking to take practical steps toward cloud computing without making the full commitment can also opt to transition to a private cloud – leveraging the advantages of cloud computing, such as pay-as-you-go licensing and elasticity, in their own data center.
THE 50 YEAR OLD programming language COBOL is set to make a comeback, according to SD Times.
A survey by Micro Focus claimed that the average American still interacts with a COBOL program 13 times a day. That includes ATM transactions, ticket
purchases and telephone calls.
What has happened is that many COBOL applications have been wrapped with .NET, where it competes better against Windows applications.
Many outfits that are running COBOL software really don’t need to upgrade it, as it works nicely within the new frameworks. There are apparently shedloads of
open sauce compilers that can make COBOL work just fine in Linux environments.
COBOL has been installed in many legacy systems, particularly in the financial markets, and it has remained a steady source of income for aging programmers.
However, the move towards cloud computing also means that COBOL could be with us for another 50 years.
Drake Coker, chief technologist for application development at Micro Focus, said that the future of COBOL may also lie in the cloud. Currently there are web
applications written in COBOL, and there are even graphical applications programmed in COBOL as well.
He said that any significant technology with substantial business value has been layered into the language at some point.
Coker said that he was currently looking at what has to happen to put COBOL applications into the Cloud.
