Veryant, a COBOL-to-Java migration tools vendor, has released a new version of its isCOBOL Application Platform Suite (APS) software. The suite aims to blend the business-oriented nature of COBOL with the strengths of the Java platform without retraining staff or rewriting code. "isCOBOL APS is a set of tools for the development, maintenance and modernization of COBOL applications," Alfredo Iglesias, vice president of business development for Veryant, tells 5 Minute Briefing.
isCOBOL APS 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is intended to help organizations with COBOL enhance their core applications and reduce development time by taking advantage of an Eclipse-based IDE, UniKix mainframe rehosting technology from Clerity Solutions, and advanced diagnostic capabilities. The service pack "adds functionality flexibility and continues to enhance what we believe is a choice for the COBOL market, a choice that wasn't there not long ago," Iglesias notes. "When economic times get tough, people try to make the most of out of what they have and many of these enterprises have significant COBOL assets. We are seeing a lot of interest in the COBOL market in looking for ways to modernize and make the most out of COBOL applications."
According to Iglesias, "One of the most exciting parts of this update is the release of our integrated development environment, the IDE, based on the Eclipse platform." By leveraging Eclipse, developers can use the same IDE to code and debug COBOL, Java, and other languages.
Since the isCOBOL Runtime Environment is written 100% in Java, COBOL application developers can develop and deploy across many platforms, including AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Linux, Windows, Mac OS, and mainframe systems, using a single code base. Enhancements to the isCOBOL Development System now make data access 100% portable as well. As new RDBMS releases are issued, or as market demand dictates, organizations using isCOBOL APS can transition between relational database platforms without requiring any source code changes.
Another enhancement in line with making developers more productive is the advanced diagnostic tool announced with this release, which allows developers to obtain a better idea faster of what problems might be with an application so they can resolve them more efficiently, notes Iglesias. APS 2008 includes Abend Diagnostic Snapshot (ADS), a detailed report provided by the isCOBOL Runtime Environment, for troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
According to Veryant, isCOBOL APS 2008 SP1 is the first Veryant release to be integrated with UniKix mainframe rehosting technology from Clerity, offering a choice of COBOL compilers to enterprise-class customers with rehosted CICS, IMS, and related legacy assets. For more details, go here.