App modernization gets budget-sleek look
February 13, 2014
Transitions are still in the future for HP 3000 shops in your community. It might not have made sense to switch platforms in 2003 (to nearly everybody) or in 2008 (when HP's labs closed, but the 3000 remained online) or even in 2011 (when HP ended all of its support, and indie support firms stepped up).
But by 2014, there will be some shops that would be considering how to budget for the biggest transformation project they've ever encountered. Pulling out a CRM, ERP or even a manufacturing system, honed over decades, to shift to commodity hardware is a major undertaking. But it's been going on for so long that there's best practices out there, and one vendor is going to share the best of the best next week.
For some US companies, Monday is a holiday, so it'd be easy to let Wednesday sneak by without remembering it's Webinar Wednesday at MB Foster. The first show of the new year is all about app migrations, modernizations, and the budgeting that's worked for their clients over the last decade. It's a 2PM Eastern start for the interactive presentation February 19. You can sign up for the free experience that provides an online chat room, slides with the salient points, Q&A exchange via standard phone or IP voice, as well as Foster's expertise. The company says that it specializes in application migrations -- the first step in the ultimate transition in a 3000-based datacenter.
The vendor is one of the four original HP Platinum Migration partners, and since 2003 MB Foster's been acquiring experience in transitioning apps written in HP's COBOL and Powerhouse, apps employing Suprtool, apps whose interface is driven by VPlus. "We've been working with entire ecosystems and integrating them with the database of your choice," CEO Birket Foster says, "along with integrating the complete application environment covering external application interfaces, database interfaces, JCL, scheduler and other pieces that complete the environment."
Our clients, who have had us assist in their migrations, appreciate the experience and guidance the MB Foster team brings to the table. In every case there have been advantages to making the transition to Windows, Linux, or Unix in terms of:
1) Reduced risk from aging hardware
2) Reduced cost of supporting the server environment and
3) Easier access to, training and hiring of application programmers and operations personnel with knowledge of the new application environment to support it properly.
Foster promises that the 45-minutes around midday in the middle of next week -- a shorter workweek for some -- will deliver a "thought-provoking synopsis for your senior management team to invest in the right IT solutions for your business."