As the wave of migration of applications to the cloud continues, we sometimes forget that this is not one problem but rather a multitude of problems, each with its own special issues and considerations. That leaves room for companies to dial in on opportunities that the broader solution sets don’t handle. LzLabs is one of those companies targeting a unique enterprise computing niche that many people have forgotten is still out there: mainframes. With us today to talk about LzLabs’ unique position within enterprise cloud migration is Executive Chairman Mark Cresswell.
IT Finanzmagazin: Software Defined Mainframe – Eine inkrementelle Mainframe-Migration mittels Re-Hosting
Viele Mainframe-Nutzer suchen nach Wegen ihre Bestandsapplikationen auf moderne Plattformen zu überführen. Dabei handelt es sich um Applikationen, die zumeist fester Bestandteil unternehmenskritischer Geschäftsprozesse sind. Allerdings ist deren Ablösung eine große Herausforderung. Denn eine Applikation neu zu schreiben oder eine Standardapplikation zu verwenden – soweit eine solche überhaupt verfügbar ist – sind sehr komplexe und aufwendige Projekte. Eine inkrementelle Migration mittels eines Software Defined Mainframe (SDM) bietet hier eine willkommene Alternative. Der folgende Beitrag erläutert anhand eines konkreten Anwendungsfalles, wie eine derartige Re-hosting Strategie funktioniert.
LzLabs and Astadia Announce Mainframe Transformation Partnership
Collaboration will support enterprises looking to embark on a mainframe modernization journey with the LzLabs Software Defined Mainframe®
Zurich, 06 October 2020 – LzLabs today announced that it has signed a Teaming Agreement with Astadia, the market leading mainframe modernization consulting and systems integration boutique.
Through this new partnership, LzLabs and Astadia will join forces to help customers move away from mainframe environments and embrace the potential of legacy application modernization.
With an initial focus on North America, the partnership will focus on mainframe to x86 and cloud rehosting projects and will support the increased market demand for migration of legacy applications to cloud environments such as Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud Platform.
As organizations seek to integrate legacy applications with modern enterprise computing practices based on Linux and in the cloud, Astadia and LzLabs customers now have the option to migrate applications, without recompilation or data reformatting, to LzLabs Software Defined Mainframe (LzSDM). They are able to do so even without access to original source code – the absence of which is a significant barrier for companies considering traditional migration methods.
Once migrated to LzSDM, mainframe workloads benefit from the unparalleled flexibility, reliability, and availability of cloud platforms, and customers gain the agility benefits of managing these applications using modern DevOps orchestration tools.
Enterprises also benefit from LzSDM’s unique ability to allow mainframe and rehosted applications on open systems to co-exist and interoperate, reducing disruption and risk. In addition, incremental application modernization opportunities and integrated compilation options within LzSDM help companies to maintain applications more easily and rewrite parts of them in new languages.
As part of the agreement, Astadia will provide systems integration and modernization services from initial assessment, through to discovery and, ultimately, taking customers into production on LzSDM.
“As more companies look to rehost mainframe workload to the cloud, it was essential for us at LzLabs, to work with a great implementation and managed services partner”, said Mark Cresswell CEO of LzLabs. “Astadia’s strong technical vision and leadership, and long history of delivering successful workload rehosting outcomes, will ensure our joint customers can undertake these projects with confidence” he continued.
Scott G. Silk, Chairman and CEO, Astadia said: “We are delighted to be working with LzLabs to continue our mission to maximize the impact and minimize the risks of our mutual clients’ journey from legacy systems to the cloud. By combining our history and pedigree of successful mainframe migration projects with LzLabs’ unique technology offerings, we look forward to helping more organizations capitalize on the benefits of cloud IT ecosystems”
DataCenter Insider: Young Professionals und die Mainframes
Während sich so vieles um Cloud-Nutzung und Digitalisierung dreht, läuft IT-Leitern vor allem von Banken und Versicherungen bei einem anderen Thema gerade die Zeit davon: Die Spezialisten der für diese Bereiche so wichtigen Mainframe-Technologie, stehen meist kurz vor dem Ruhestand – und es fehlt an Nachwuchskräften. Wie sind Mainframe-Modernisierung und Generationenwechsel zu schaffen, ohne dass wertvolles Anwenderwissen in den Unternehmen verloren geht?
TechRadar Pro: The legacy mainframe crisis – Why COBOL is not the issue
The challenges organizations face with legacy systems are not in fact a result of COBOL, or any other programming language; the language is just a syntax for expressing business rules. A programming language like any other which anyone can learn.
So why are so many organizations – including the state governments of New Jersey, Kansas, Connecticut and Colorado – experiencing such issues with legacy applications written in COBOL? I argue that the problem is not with COBOL itself, but with the arcane mainframe environment the programmers must inhabit to maintain the programs.
