Platform modernization for mid-range servers

Business processes are rarely static; they are created, mature, and evolve or become obsolete. Because enterprise applications and platforms are reflections of these business processes, they are also not immune to business change. Ignoring this reality can burden a business with legacy systems and hamper its ability to compete effectively in the new economy

If your enterprise is like most, you have a variety of platforms that span decades of IT innovation. These may include IBM AS/400s, Sun Microsystems and other legacy platforms, such as HP3000 or DEC. Furthermore, you may run a legacy database, such as Sybase, Adabas or Oracle, with applications written in COBOL, RPG, or a 4GL language such as Natural. Maintaining these platforms and technologies can drain your budget and limit your ability to run, grow and transform your business. Platform modernization shifts the balance so you can:

• Reduce the cost of running your business-critical applications
• Invest in business growth
• Improve your rate of return
• Transform your business with tools and technologies that increase your agility
• Move your applications to the cloud

You can take a number of approaches to modernizing your business-critical applications, but the best place to land is the Microsoft® Application Platform. By making this choice, you’ll get more value from the applications that run your business today. What’s more, you’ll be able to create new applications that meet your changing business needs.

Replace your mid-range system

The early success of mid-range systems was phenomenal, but other platforms challenged their dominance through numerous technological improvements. Furthermore, mid-range systems forced companies to hire from a dwindling supply of highly paid specialists and devote more of their budgets to maintenance. Worse yet, mid-range systems failed to keep pace with change and stopped supporting customers unless they upgraded to newer systems.

Companies with mid-range platforms used to be skeptical about using Microsoft technologies as an enterprise platform. But those days are long gone. Today, the Microsoft Application Platform is a robust, stable and manageable platform with low overhead, superior development tools and simplified administration. The Microsoft Application Platform is perfect for mid-range application and database workloads, and provides all the reliability, availability, serviceability and security (RAS+S) your business-critical applications need.

Partner for success

Microsoft has organized the Platform Modernization Alliance (PMA) to help customers migrate and modernize business-critical workloads to the Microsoft Application Platform. Our network of partners is unified by the goal of making platform modernization easier and more efficient while reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO). If you’re ready to develop an effective modernization strategy and implement your roadmap, the PMA can help. By engaging our services, you’ll be able to:

• Recruit from the largest base of trained IT professionals
• Stop training newly hired developers and put them to work
• Improve the compatibility of your infrastructure
• Convert RPG, COBOL and CL code to the Microsoft .NET Framework
• Transform green-screen user interfaces to Web-based GUIs
• Enhance partnerships, customer service and the end user experience
• Increase productivity and agility while reducing IT project backlogs
• Lower your TCO
• Shift your budget to innovation
• Move valuable mid-range data to Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2

Move to the Microsoft Application Platform

The Microsoft Application Platform is the future for business-critical workloads because it offers a comprehensive, integrated set of technologies that help you maximize the value of your applications. What’s more, it provides a consistent environment for system management and application development through readily available skills.

In addition, Microsoft provides businesses with the price-to-performance ratios, reliability, productivity and agility they need to support all their business-critical application investments. Finally, Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft Windows Azure™ cover infrastructure, databases, middleware and applications, offering nearly identical experiences inside and outside the data center, on the edge and in the cloud.

There has never been a better time to make your transition. If you’re ready to move beyond the limitations of your current platform, we’ll help you lower your costs, expand your options and increase your agility. Click here to learn more.

Modernization Partners