Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

One of the OS/400 solutions providers giving early support to IBM's iSeries Developer Roadmap is CGC Solutions Group. The company, which was spun off from its parent company, construction ERP software developer Computer Guidance, earlier this year, has a full gamut of roadmap-related offerings, including software tools, WebFacing services, and training, to help move RPG applications and their programmers forward.

IBM announced the iSeries Developer Roadmap at the COMMON conference in Orlando, Florida, two weeks ago. The roadmap outlines a five-step program to help confirmed RPG programmers modernize their skills and their applications--and to wean them off RPG. The roadmap prescribes a heavy dose of IBM development tools, Java, and Web services technologies, delivered in increasingly more potent combinations over the course of the journey. The roadmap also was designed to let RPG programmers check in at any point along the way, spend extra time on problem areas, without committing to a prolonged stay.

You won't find any new technology in the roadmap, nor is IBM's enthusiasm for Java on the iSeries anything new. But what is new is that, with the roadmap, IBM has put the relevant elements of application and skill modernization into a linear context, so before you set off to convert your RPG II application into Enterprise JavaBeans, or deliver it over the Internet as a Web service, IBM says your first step should be to take care of that 5250 green screen and turn it into GUI.

Step two of the roadmap ("better interface") is arguably where a major portion of OS/400 shops are, and that's exactly where CGC Solutions Group intends to play. The young company says it has converted 200,000 5250 screens into GUIs, using mostly IBM's WebFacing Tool, but with a smattering of Host Access Transformation Server (HATS), Host Integration Solution (HIS), and iSeries Client Access, too. Many of those screens reside in eCMS, the construction management system developed by Computer Guidance, which shares office space with the eight CGC Solutions Group employees at its suburban headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Other software vendors partaking of CGC Solution Group's WebFacing services include New Generation Software, Encoda Systems, and Avenir Systems.

Company officials say that, in the last two months, they have entered a period of heightened WebFacing activity in the OS/400 community. One of the key drivers of this new wave of Web enablement is the pricing incentive that IBM is offering to companies who use the WebFacing Tool to convert their interactive 5250 screens into Web browsers that can run in batch. But the biggest driver--the key enabler--of all this Web activity was the introduction of WebSphere Application Server Express for iSeries.

"IBM seems to be doing the right things, getting this stuff sorted out, so people in the iSeries world can move to Web enablement, and WebSphere Express is the biggest thing making this viable," says Charles Bennett, CGC Solutions Group's director of sales and marketing. "WebSphere Express is the right way to go, and [we say that] only because we know it works, and it works very well."

WebSphere Express is providing older AS/400 and iSeries shops with an entry-point to Web enablement, as well as to the developer roadmap, Bennett says. "Most of these people aren't even using an application server today," he says. "They have to start somewhere. We have to get them moving in a direction, get something going, and ease them in--kind of like the roadmap."

CGC Solutions Group is also easing companies into the roadmap by offering free DDS source code assessments and Web screen pilot projects. The company uses its DDS code analyzer and the IBM WebFacing Tool (which requires DDS source code to work) to convert up to 50 of the customer's 5250 green screens into Web-faced GUIs. They will also take four or five of the primary screens and add a variety of drop-down boxes, knobs, and other widgets to improve the look and feel of the screen. These Web pages are housed on CGC Solutions Group's servers and are accessed by customers over the Internet.

If customers choose to engage CGC Solutions Group in a mass conversion of their 5250 screens via the WebFacing Tool, the company charges a flat fee of $5,000 for the first 100 screens, $7,500 for 400 screens or less, $10,000 for 1,000 screens or less, or $15,000 for anything over that. These conversions include all applicable widgets.

The company is planning to offer its DDS analyzer, along with several other development tools, as a package in the near future, probably for less than $3,500, officials say. The company currently sells three other tool bundles, including iSeries WebFacing Tool Suite, a three-piece set for $1,495 that includes the Message Manager, the Job Queue Manager, and the User Manager. These three tools manage functions that are commonly performed on a green screen but from within a Web browser. There is also the Dynamic Java Menu System, which retails for $3,995 and provides a menu navigation framework that CGC Solutions Group says is more intuitive for applications that have been WebFaced than the standard iSeries menu. Last, the $995 Spool File Manager provides spool-file-to-PDF conversion capabilities from within a browser.

In addition to tools and services, CGC Solutions Group offers training for the WebFacing Tool and related technologies. Classes are held monthly at the company's Scottsdale facilities in suburban Phoenix (which should provide a warm and welcome destination in the coming months) or onsite at the customer's shop.