© 2003 acucorp, inc. all rights reserved. the future of cobol by gerold ekström acucorp, inc
TRANSCRIPT
© 2003 Acucorp, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Future of COBOL
by Gerold EkströmAcucorp, Inc.
Agenda Overview
• Introduction
• COBOL’s business advantages
• True value of COBOL applications
• Why an opportunity exists now
• Strong case for preserving the COBOL
• Interoperability provides the key to COBOL’s future
Acucorp
• Founded in 1988
• Headquartered in San Diego, California
• Subsidiaries in France, Germany, Netherlands, U.K.
• Over 1 million end users in 75 countries
• Modern solutions that extend and enhance business applications
Longevity of COBOL
• Predictions of its demise were unfounded.
• The “older generation” outlasted the younger languages.
• COBOL just keeps delivering.
COBOL Advantages
Well-known for Business Strengths
• Reliable, stable language
• Focus is on solving the business problems.
• Natural language statements provide ready access to managers and coworkers.
• Open-ended structure enables interoperability with other technologies.
True Value
Key is Business Logic
• Critical business processes have been automated.
• Hundreds of refinements have occurred over the years.
• Key corporate knowledge is embodied in the COBOL.
• In some cases, that knowledge is not well-understood by current employees. Thus, it exists only in the code.
Why COBOL Can Seem Risky
• No longer fashionable
• Programmers aging
• Youngsters not too keen on COBOL
• Training programs hard to find
• Universities treating COBOL as “dead”
• Hardware and O/S often obsolete
• Some code monolithic and hard to maintain
So Why Keep It?
Sheer volume of well-functioning business routines• Hundreds of thousands of businesses relying on proven COBOL
applications
• Operating smoothly and dependably
• Costly to rewrite or replace
• Risky to rewrite or replace (Capers Jones) - 50% of rewrite projects over budget - 25% behind schedule - over 25% rescheduled or cancelled - final system has less than one-half of planned features
• Business logic is often not understood, thus hard to duplicate
The Opportunity
Preserve the Business Logic
No need to disrupt the business
• COBOL can interoperate with .NET, Visual Basic, Java, C#, XML.
• COBOL functions can become Web Services.
• Programmers can talk to COBOL modules without knowing that the modules are in COBOL.
• COBOL routines can talk to Java and Visual Basic programs without knowing which language they are talking to.
• It’s all about following standard protocols.
The Acucorp Vision
Modularize COBOL at Your Pace
• Identify specific business functions performed by your COBOL.
• Separate each function into a self-contained COBOL module.
• Choose how many you want to start with.
• Identify only those that you wish to expose to the outside world.
• Each module becomes a Web Service.
COBOL as Web Services
Web Services
• COBOL modules are packaged in a standard way.
• Businesses can make use of their own services to structure their code. Over time, companies can clean up their application code at a comfortable pace.
• Communicate with .NET, Java, C#, and Visual Basic programs when it makes sense to do so, without any regard for which language is being addressed.
• Open new markets and add e-commerce capabilities.
Today’s Reality
Not all businesses are ready for interoperability today.
• COBOL-centered applications are thriving.
• Some businesses prefer an all-COBOL approach.
• Acucorp is committed to supporting and enhancing COBOL, just as we have been since 1988.
• Our natural extensions to COBOL are handled in a way that is familiar to COBOL programmers. They can be adopted at a comfortable pace.
• We’ve added verbs to create graphical user interfaces; transparent connectivity to databases; ODBC compatibility; distributed processing; thin clients; a graphical workbench; and much more.
Continuing the Acucorp Path
Embrace Interoperability When Ready
• Acucorp’s technology will offer a simple and elegant way to transition to Web Services.
• Preserve the business rules in the COBOL code.
• Benefit from experienced COBOL developers who know the business processes in addition to the technology.
• Communicate with .NET, Java, C#, and Visual Basic programs when it makes sense to do so.
• Open new markets at a prudent pace.
Summary
• COBOL modules embody critical business logic that can be preserved and can continue to function.
• This presents a huge opportunity.
• To continue to thrive, COBOL must interoperate with new technologies.
• COBOL code can be modularized and exposed to the outside world at a pace that suits the business.
• Many languages can communicate with each other, COBOL included, as long as they adhere to standard communication protocols. In this way, COBOL will benefit businesses for many years to come.
• The biggest challenge will be to extract and document the business rules.
Thank you!