OpenVMS Porting and Migration

With frequent advances in computing technology, the focus on renewal, modification, and updating of computer systems is increasing.

Application migration is now a major issue in established IT departments everywhere. Organizations that have spent years developing applications for particular hardware and operating system environments now see these environments as inappropriate and financially impossible to maintain.

However, these organizations have significant investments in legacy applications critical to their business work flows. Migration of critical applications to a newer platform, offers a way to maintain that investment while gaining additional benefits.

Costs savings are typically realized through reduced capital expenditures and ongoing savings in operating costs provided by the newest hardware. Further cost savings are realized by the standardization in hardware, resulting in highly competitive pricing. Finally, enhanced capabilities are possible because of the extensive selection, and wide availability, of modern software development tools.

The introduction of new technologies such as the Internet, e-commerce, development environments, operating systems, networked data storage, and hardware and communications systems have become the leading edge and focus of the industry.

Indeed, these new technologies have changed the concept of information and its usage in worldwide business. Keeping abreast of new developments and using them to the fullest are essential requirements for maintaining a competitive edge in today's high-powered business environment.

While the need for renewal of business legacy systems is clear, the fact remains that, for the most part, they perform satisfactorily and continue to meet the functional requirements for which they were originally developed. The main reason for this is that the functional requirements, which embody the rules and methods of business transactions for the domain of interest, have not changed appreciably.

Consequently, it is a unique attribute of business legacy systems that they contain a vast amount of valuable business knowledge and procedures that should and will be retained in the new systems that will replace them. What is rarely taken into consideration is the sizable investment in time, effort and money that has gone into making these systems as functional and robust as they are today - the opportunity to retain some of that investment should not be overlooked.

To that end, there are a number of options to be considered; Retain, Re-host, Renovate, Replace, Rewrite or Retire. We can provide assistance with all of these scenarios.

VAX VMS to VAX/Alpha OpenVMS

For one reason or another, you may still be running your applications on VAX VMS, and the time has come to upgrade to OpenVMS. Only problem is, you don't know if it will be a simple "drag-and-drop" exercise, or if your application code will require modification or enhancement to run under OpenVMS (on VAX or Alpha). We can help you with both your planning and porting needs.

Porting to OpenVMS on Itanium

As we move ever closer to the reality of OpenVMS on an Intel platform, you may be thinking about what will need to be done to make your applications run under OpenVMS/Intel. We can help you with both your planning and porting needs.

Migration to UNIX, Linux or Windows

The decision to migrate your existing applications is generally predicated on a number of factors such as your investment in them, how critical they are to your business, how complex they are, and the extent to which they make use of features unique to OpenVMS. The use of such features is typically viewed as a barrier to migrating your applications to UNIX, Linux or Windows, but it shouldn't be. We understand all of the complexities in moving an OpenVMS application to other platforms such as UNIX, Linux and Windows.

Along with the experience of migrating numerous OpenVMS applications to other platforms since 1985, we also have a comprehensive suite of tools that can minimize the time and risk taken to migrate. If your preference is for a non-tool based solution, we can do that also. It's your choice. Our offerings include:

Migration Kick-Start

If you wish to license our tools and perform your own migration, our Migration Kick-Start can provide expertise at your fingertips in a single package, for a minimum investment. Migration Kick-Start is available in three options:

OpenVMS Skills Transition

Life doesn't end with OpenVMS for your existing staff. We also offer tailored transition training to migrate the skills of your OpenVMS engineers to those of the new platform of choice.

RMS/database migration/conversion

Data is your most valuable asset. If you need to share OpenVMS-based data with applications on another platform, or have it converted into another format, we have tools that can help.