Platform modernization for UNIX systems

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 various UNIX-based servers that run legacy versions of UNIX, from Solaris to AIX. Furthermore, you may run a legacy database, such as Sybase, Informix or Oracle, with applications written in C/C++, Java, PowerBuilder or a 4GL language. 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 UNIX system

Many UNIX shops already use their mid-range servers to run distributed systems for business-critical applications such as messaging, business intelligence (BI), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management. Now you can add greater agility and considerably more support at a significantly reduced cost by moving to the Microsoft Application Platform. Microsoft technologies, such as Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 R2, Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 R2 and Microsoft Windows Azure™ provide all the reliability, availability, serviceability and security (RAS+S) your business-critical applications need.

Microsoft and its partners provide a number of tools to ease your transition from UNIX to Windows®. Microsoft provides robust scripting via Windows PowerShell™, which is built on the common language runtime (CLR) of the Microsoft .NET Framework. Microsoft also provides UNIX emulation on Windows via the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA). In addition, UNIX emulation on Windows is provided by partner solutions such as Cygwin, UWin and the MKS Toolkit. These products provide an environment for UNIX-based application development, UNIX-based shell scripts and integration with other UNIX systems.

Preserve your data

If UNIX application migration raises concerns about your database, Microsoft provides the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) tool to help identify potential database migration candidates and the SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) to help perform the migration. This toolkit dramatically reduces the effort, cost and risk of migrating from database systems such as Oracle and Sybase to SQL Server 2008 R2. SSMA assesses migration efforts while automating schema and data migration. With this tool, you’ll quickly convert Oracle or Sybase database schemas to SQL Server schemas, upload the resulting schemas into SQL Server and migrate your data. Click here to learn more or, watch this short video.

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. Click here to learn more.

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