The Four Hundred--New COBOL-to-SAP NetWeaver Adapters On Tap from Software AG

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Volume 15, Number 20 -- May 15, 2006

New COBOL-to-SAP NetWeaver Adapters On Tap from Software AG

Published: May 15, 2006

by Alex Woodie

COBOL remains one of the most popular languages for programming business applications, but that doesn't mean COBOL apps have "plug-and-play" compatibility with today's generation of e-business applications. To help these organizations make their COBOL play nice with SAP's middleware and ERP applications, Software AG last week unveiled a new group of certified adapters.

According to Gary Barnett, a research director at software consultancy Ovum, COBOL remains the most widely deployed programming language in large businesses, and accounts for 75 percent of all computer transactions and more than 200 billion lines of code. What's more, this COBOL code base is growing at a rate of 3 to 5 percent per year, according to Barnett. Obviously, organizations that run applications written in COBOL and other older programming languages aren't ditching their legacy code.

Software AG last week announced the expansion of its Legacy Integrator series of adapters, which helps organizations take some of the hands-on monkey work out of integrating their older apps with new systems. The German software developer's SAP NetWeaver XI line of connectors previously only supported its own Natural and EntireX environments, and has now expanded that to include COBOL and PL/I, a still-popular mainframe development language.

Software AG says the adapters offer two-way, real-time data exchange between legacy applications running on mainframes, OS/400, and Unix systems, with SAP NetWeaver XI, a middleware platform that fronts SAP's ERP suites. The adapters support business processes initiated on either the legacy application or the SAP application, and supports synchronous and asynchronous communications. The adapters have already been adapted by Volkswagen Financial Services and ZDF in Germany and ThyssenKrupp in Italy, the company says.

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Editor: Timothy Prickett Morgan

Contributing Editors: Dan Burger, Joe Hertvik, Shannon O'Donnell,
Mary Lou Roberts, Victor Rozek, Kevin Vandever, Hesh Wiener, Alex Woodie

Publisher and Advertising Director: Jenny Thomas

Advertising Sales Representative: Kim Reed

Contact the Editors: To contact anyone on the IT Jungle Team
Go to our contacts page and send us a message.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

IBM Announces New System i5 Collaboration Edition

IBM Delivers iSCSI Connection, Pushes Blades to OS/400 Shops

System i5 Security: What's New, and What the Future Holds

As I See It: Betrayal

But Wait, There's More:

Big Blue Raises Rates on Low Rate Financing Deal . . . Sun Microsystems Sues Azul Systems Right Back . . . IBM Adds 13 New Members to OpenAJAX Group . . . New COBOL-to-SAP NetWeaver Adapters On Tap from Software AG . . . IBM Acquires BuildForge to Fill Gaps in Change Management . . . TMW Systems Gets New CEO . . .

The Four Hundred

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