The mainframe system that runs LION’s business functions was more than 30 years old. Since then, system functions have been added and changed extensively to address changes in the work and management environment. Although it had performed efficiently for years, after three decades, several issues had begun to occur in the systems. For example, mainframe data could not be used for data analysis such as business intelligence.

Aging applications and system complexity due to long-term use were affecting performance and finding and keeping skilled resources for maintenance was difficult. And, the cost to support and maintain the mainframe and systems was so high that there was little-to-no IT budget left for new development.

LION knew it was time to address the aging mainframe, its legacy applications, and overly complex data management. They considered a rebuilding option, but rejected it because of its difficulty, high risks, and questions around accessing source codes. Instead, they decided to migrate the host systems on the mainframe to a virtual server to reduce maintenance costs and total cost of ownership.

LION chose TmaxSoft OpenFrame to migrate their mainframe. OpenFrame offered few risks compared to rebuilding. LION could continue to use their source code easily, and there were no internal design changes. In addition, no additional resources or skills were needed for migration.

• The scope of the project included:
• Ensuring the independent operation of online and real-time processing
• Integrating inter-system operation
• Unifying distributed data
• Migrating to the integrated, virtual x86 server while maintaining the business logic for 90 sub-systems on the mainframe
• Migrating to Oracle Exadata from IBM DB2

After the migration, the company reported that maintenance and operating costs were reduced by 60%, maintenance productivity was improved, accessing and using data is easier, and system processing performance improved by 20 to 30%. The development environment responds to IT business continuity planning, and the knowledge and skills of retired engineers have been handed down to a new generation.

The mainframe system that enabled some of Entergy’s most critical operations was implemented in 1981. The company had been rearchitecting its legacy systems but still had some mission critical applications running on IBM z/OS. The cost to support the systems increased each year.

These issues needed to be addressed; it was not possible to maintain the status quo any longer. Moving some applications over and a few other options, such as rewriting, were also on the table. However, these were too big of an undertaking with no guarantee of success. As a result, the company realized all mainframe programs, databases, storage, scheduling, and interfaces would have to be ported onto new virtual servers in its virtual environment. Migrating the mainframe was the most
viable option.

TmaxSoft delivered a proof of concept (POC) that showed that programs could be moved without change and that they would perform the same as they had on the mainframe. Entergy saw that the lift from the old platform to a new platform would have huge benefits and enable the company to successfully shut down the mainframe.

Entergy selected TmaxSoft to migrate its mission critical applications to the OpenFrame platform and migrate its data to the Tibero RDBMS, both running on Linux. TmaxSoft assisted with application migration, which included recompilation of the application programs on Linux and building both a production and a test environment. The file system (PS, GDG, VSAM) was migrated and ADF COBOL was rewritten to Java. TmaxSoft also provided OpenFrame and Tibero services, mentoring and training for developers and administrators, and product installation and configuration. Entergy's team took decades of programming and made it all work on a Linux platform.

After the migration, the company reported that processing time was the same and, in some instances, faster than on a mainframe. Significant decrease in annual run costs of over 70%, and the application footprint decreased significantly as well. The new modernized solution supports growth and innovation, enabling the energy company to better serve its customers.

SC Data Center, Inc., an affiliate of Colony Brands, had six core business systems (700 MIPS) housed on an IBM mainframe. This closed environment was preventing the client from meeting the performance expectations of increasingly tech and mobile savvy consumers. The mainframe was also preventing the company from being nimble and responsive to market changes and customer demands. SC Data Center, Inc. wanted to be able to innovate and decided that a move to the cloud would be their best option. Moving to the cloud would also eliminate high mainframe and infrastructure costs. The long-term goal was to shut down the mainframe completely.

After weighing several options, including application rewriting, SC Data Center, Inc. decided that modernizing its mainframe was the best choice. It would allow them to move legacy apps to the cloud without a major rewrite that could affect business logic and code. It would also set them up to re-architect and create new apps in the new cloud environment for the future. They also needed reliability and availability for all the processing, especially the real-time credit approvals.

SC Data Center, Inc. chose TmaxSoft OpenFrame to modernize its mainframe. A deciding factor in their choice of OpenFrame was the Active-Active Cluster, which provided the reliability and availability SC Data Center, Inc. needs to deliver efficiency, performance and speed. Another factor in the company’s decision was the OpenFrame business model.

The project scope for mainframe modernization with OpenFrame involved moving all the client’s legacy applications to the AWS cloud. This included interpreting the mainframe’s 3,685 COBOL applications and the 327 mainframe assembler programs, migrating the mainframe’s 867 middleware and on-premises CICS transactions and 5,766 batch processes, modernizing 4,741 datasets and 400 datacom tables and installing OpenFrame operation and management functions in the new environment. One of the key applications that was required to move forward with the mainframe modernization project was a packaged manufacturing suite. TmaxSoft teamed up with the customer and vendor and enabled the Assembler-based proprietary software to run flawlessly in production.

As a result of the project, all the client’s legacy apps are now on the AWS cloud. SC Data Center, Inc. reported an annual cost reduction of approximately 75%. Performance matched the expectations across their business operations, including for the online, real-time systems and web service transactions. OpenFrame on the AWS cloud platform also provides high availability and reliability so that an interruption in the cloud does not affect online processing.

Most importantly, SC Data Center, Inc. now has the infrastructure for innovation and business agility. After the mainframe modernization, the company’s developers were able to build a fully integrated automation solution to streamline customer data management, achieving in days what couldn’t be accomplished previously. Future plans include making OpenFrame a hub of the company’s technology infrastructure.

Modernizing legacy applications has helped SC Data Center, Inc. significantly reduce its dependence on the mainframe, gain the agility and efficiency needed to innovate, get its costs under control and improve application performance. Thanks to OpenFrame, this customer is seeing significant ROI.

Nomura Securities handles public and private sector bonds issued by governments, public organizations, corporations, and other entities in Japan and the rest of the world. Its bond trading computer system, the Bond Contract Processing System, records the content of all transactions undertaken by investors, generates the reports that are sent to investors periodically, and more. Their processing system was originally housed on a mainframe. As the end of the maintenance period for the system’s peripheral devices approached, Nomura Securities began to consider other options.

One option was replacing the system’s peripheral devices while maintaining the core mainframe platform. The other option was moving the system to a more economical open system platform and redeveloping the applications that make up the Bond Contract Processing System. The company preferred the open system option, but it did not want to deal with the expense and trouble of redevelopment. It decided to look for a solution that would allow moving the mainframe without changing the applications.

As the search began, Nissay Information Technology, a systems integrator renowned in Japan’s finance industry, introduced Nomura Securities to TmaxSoft OpenFrame. After a trial migration demonstrated that the integrity of the migrated applications would be maintained, Nomura Securities chose OpenFrame for its migration project. The implementation and deployment team examined the Bond Contract Processing System in its entirety and selected the applications to be migrated.

OpenFrame tools automatically converted and migrated the target applications. Three months after the start of the project, unit testing was performed followed by integration testing. The Bond Contract Management System began operating successfully on the new open system as scheduled, which was well before the maintenance period expired. Nomura Securities reports that their total cost of ownership has been reduced by 1/3, their employee and user experience has improved, and the ability to respond to changes with agility has increased.

Meritz Fire Insurance’s core business system (1,600 MIPS) was housed in an IBM mainframe. Each year, there was a noticeable increase in the costs of maintaining the mainframe and its footprint of 19,000 batch processes. In addition, concurrent processing and sub-optimal transaction application speed were affecting the insurer’s bottom line and business agility.

The company needed a different and more efficient approach that could address policyholder and transaction growth with high availability and capacity, increased stability, and expandability. They wanted a lower-cost, more manageable environment, and they wanted it fast. Therefore, they decided to migrate applications and data from their IBM mainframe to an open system environment.

Meritz Fire Insurance chose TmaxSoft OpenFrame to migrate its mainframe. The scope of the project included migration, data conversion, and system replacement. As part of the project, 7,000 online programs, 19,000 batch programs, and 22,000 JCLs were migrated and compiled. More than 2,100 database tables, 1,500 tapes, and 35,000 SAMS were refined and converted. The insurer decided to implement a phased production rollout, with final phase applications fully turned on in production in 12 months.

As a result of the migration, the insurance carrier has a lower-cost, more manageable environment. Service reliability is ensured, around-the-clock system operation is guaranteed, and overall performance has improved. They reported enhancements in CPU capability (10,000 MIPS), improvements in transaction per second (4x), a response time of 200 milliseconds, and optimized batch processing. The quantifiable benefits were cost reductions that were estimated to be $17.5 million in the first 5 years after the project.

The widely divergent range of the coast guard’s activities was putting a strain on its outdated, fragmented, and disparate systems running on a mainframe. The Korea Coast Guard wanted the reliability, efficiency, integrity, and flexibility of next‑generation systems but was being held back by high maintenance costs and the rigid cost structure of an IBM mainframe. The need to convert to client screens was inconveniencing users, and the maritime agency was having difficulty finding resources to maintain and develop for their proprietary, localized legacy system.

The Korea Coast Guard chose TmaxSoft OpenFrame for legacy modernization, application redevelopment, and rehosting on an open system. The scope of the project included migrating system resources to the open system, eliminating the existing proprietary system, maintaining mainframe levels of performance and reliability, and implementing a crime inquiry system. As part of the project, 359 copies of statistical analysis, 314 copies of integrated ship management, and 108 copies of departure control programs were migrated, recompiled, and integrated into a main system. In addition, 207 database tables and 80 VSAM and NON-VSAM files were converted.

The project was completed in just five months. As a result of the rehosting and modernization, the new system satisfies high performance and stability requirements and is flexible to allow rapid changes or the incorporation of next‑generation capabilities. At the same time, there was minimal change to code and business logic. Now that monitoring and operations management are part of one main system, all operations are much more efficient. The Korea Coast Guard reports a significant reduction in TCO and an increase in ROI compared to the mainframe, as well as a reduction in maintenance and development costs.

The customer’s 10 core business systems (9500 MIPS) were housed in six IBM mainframes. Each year, licensing fees and the costs of maintaining the mainframes and their massive footprint of 93,271 batch processes increased significantly. When combined with the high costs of having to use mainframe technology (IMS DB/DC) exclusively, the company was taking a big hit in IT expenses. Not only that, but the tightly-coupled environment was becoming difficult to manage and affecting business agility.

With a mandate to reduce costs without affecting user experience, the company was looking for a different approach. They wanted a lower-cost, more manageable environment but they didn’t want to rewrite, lose their business logic or impact users. Rehosting was the answer. But it had to be done in a short timeframe.

The retailer chose TmaxSoft OpenFrame for a “lift and shift” rehosting solution for its IMS applications. These core applications were migrated off the IBM mainframe to a private Linux cloud environment.

The project scope with OpenFrame included moving 24 IMS applications and associated batch processing that included critical core applications for POS advertising, cash and sales, transportation, inventory, returns, ordering, and much more. The rehosting effort included 239 COBOL applications, 1,588 data sets and the DBMS migration. This was all accomplished while maintaining application and data integration to those applications that remained on the mainframes. Another critical requirement was that they would need to continue interacting with IBM’s DB2 databases. The customer decided to implement a phased production rollout, with final phase applications fully turned on in production in 12 months.

As a result of rehosting, the retailer has a lower cost and manageable private cloud environment. When compared to the mainframe environment, they reported a 50% reduction in costs and an increase in ROI. The company also benefited from migrating IMS DB and VSAM files to Tibero, and the administrators are easily adapting to the open system environment.

GE Capital was looking to move its Portfolio Management System (PMS) suite of applications from ADS/O and COBOL/IDMS running on a mainframe, to COBOL running with Oracle on Unix without changing the user interface in the process. PMS was built by GE Capital in 1987 and began its life as a 20,000-account schedule system without any interfaces.

As with most homegrown systems, it was built out of necessity and to serve the business as it existed at the time. Over the decades, this small system grew in size and complexity to become the central nervous system of both GE Capital’s direct and indirect business units comprised of four highly customized implementations. With over five million account schedules, 382 interfaces, 1,700 concurrent users, and 3.5 million transactions per day running against 71 million lines of code, the PMS system had come a long way from its humble roots.

However, using such a legacy system to support GE Capital’s whole business was incredibly risky; if PMS went down, the business went with it. “PMS is the sun in the universe of the GE Capital leasing business. This is a system that if it goes down, we are out of business at a very expensive cost,” explained Marc Rubel, Executive Director of Application Development at GE Capital.

To tackle this project, GE Capital selected TmaxSoft to deliver the solution. TmaxSoft worked with its partner ATERAS, which merged with Blue Phoenix in 2014 and is now named Modern Systems, for the IDMS to CICS conversion work, and used its OpenFrame solution for modernizing the converted applications on Unix.

OpenFrame is TmaxSoft’s complete mainframe modernization solution that moves mainframe applications into a multi-tiered, x86 environment. For GE Capital, OpenFrame provided various components to emulate the functionality of the different sections of the mainframe (CICS COBOL emulation, batch processing, etc.) and was the ultimate landing place for the new open systems environment hosting the PMS suite of applications.

GE Capital chose to test drive the TmaxSoft and Modern Systems technologies through a proof of concept. “We spent a very little amount of time and money,” recalled Marc Rubel. “And we completed a proof of concept within a month. We converted a small amount

of code and we really wanted to see what the compile and promote process inside of OpenFrame looked like.” To the delight of Rubel and his team, the proof of concept on OpenFrame demonstrated that the target code was well-formed and easily maintainable, and the IDMS database converted as they expected with no surprises.

The modernization of GE Capital’s PMS application suite and the data that drove it with OpenFrame took around a year to complete. The 71 million lines-of-code system moved from an ancient mainframe environment to a modern and open Unix environment with astonishing results. GE Capital’s annual run cost for the PMS system and related applications fell by 66%, the time it took for PMS to recover from disaster decreased by 240%, and the overall application footprint shrunk by 78%. While the cost savings were enormous, the most positive result for Rubel was moving to a platform that integrated easily with the rest of the business that supported growth and innovation.