Background  It is common to find COBOL or other legacy language application programs calling System modules viz. Standard z/OS Language Environment modules for Date functions, DB2 DSNALI/RLI modules for connection establishment, DSNTIAR utility to get formatted DB2 exception trace, IDCAMS for file allocation, IKJEFT for ISPF functions, Standard abend modules to trigger abnormal termination of process as part of exception handling, and other such utilities.  System Modules  The following are the common categories of system modules that legacy programs call:  1. z/OS Languag ..read more

COBOL compiler options significantly affect calculation results and logic flow. Both human intelligence and AI struggle to replicate business logic in newer systems without considering these options. This challenge is like landing a plane on a foggy night without navigation—success is largely coincidental. In this blog, I’ll share a few examples of issues customers have encountered during their modernization journey.  SSRANGE/NOSSRANGE Compiler Option  Unlike Java, which uses 0 based index, COBOL arrays start from index 1. A COBOL array when defined as OCCURS 3 (e.g.) has a subscript ..read more

Conditional handling in COBOL is quite tricky to replicate in newer languages for a few reasons. 1. The character comparisons use EBCDIC codepage which has different collating sequence than ASCII/UTF-8. The non-equal comparison operators viz. >, >=, <, <= can result in different results when compared with EBCDIC collating sequence as against ASCII/UTF-8. e.g. String compare of literals viz.‘123ABC’ > ‘ABC123’ on mainframe will be flagged as True while it will be exact opposite in ASCII/UTF-8. 2. Comparing two different variables (PIC X(nn)) of different sizes are padded with SP ..read more

COBOL has its own rules for calculations that are hard to replicate in newer systems. We have seen thousands of different examples where the customer is unable to match mainframe-based calculations in the new system. Consider a simple calculation in COBOL. “COMPUTE VAR-1 ROUNDED = ((VAR-2 * VAR-3 ) / 100 ) * (2 / 3 )” Result: -65027221.2646 Where 05 VAR-1 PIC -(8)9.9(4). 05 VAR-2 PIC S9(9)V9(4) COMP-3.     VAR-2 = -987653.1200 05 VAR-3 PIC S9(4)V9(4) COMP-3.     VAR-3 =         9876.1200 Using a calculator Result ..read more

CloudFrame has advanced their strategic partnership with EPAM, with an eye towards accelerating enterprise modernization efforts and furthering collaboration that takes advantage of evolving technologies in GenAI Princeton, N.J., USA, May 14, 2024: CloudFrame, a pioneering company specializing in mainframe application modernization solutions, further strengthens its market position today by announcing a strategic investment from EPAM Systems, Inc., a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company. This strategic investment underscores the collaborative and synergist ..read more

FS Firm envisions a COBOL-less future by collaborating with CloudFrame and EPAM Download Renovate Case Study Download Case Study Financial Services Firm envisions a COBOL-less future by collaborating with CloudFrame and EPAM as a partner Customer A Financial Services (FS) Firm wanted to reduce mainframe COBOL application costs without disrupting operations. CloudFrame facilitated a collaboration between the financial services firm and EPAM as a partner. This project involved conducting a comprehensive comparison between CloudFrame’s automated transformation software and the ..read more

Telecom Saves $4m a Year by Reducing MIPS Usage with CloudFrame Substantial Savings, Reduced Risk Case Study Download Case Study Telecom Company Reduced Mainframe Application Costs with CloudFrame Relocate™ Customer A large TeleCom achieved nearly $4M in savings using an incremental project approach with CloudFrame Relocate, moving COBOL workloads to both cloud and zIIP eligible JVM. Backward compatibility with mainframe VSAM, QSAM, DB2 data, JES Job Scheduler, and MQ messaging was maintained. Challenges Faced This Fortune 100 Telecom leader, delivering innovative communi ..read more

Prominent Financial Services Organization Accelerates Application Modernization Through Refactoring and Automated JUnit Test Case Generation Automated JUnit Test Case Generation Case Study Download Case Study Prominent Financial Services Organization Accelerates Application Modernization Through Refactoring and Automated JUnit Test Case Generation Customer The client is a leading international financial services organization with a strong focus on providing protection and wealth management solutions. Operating in various markets worldwide, offering a wide range of insurance ..read more

Large Credit Card Company Successfully Migrates Two COBOL Applications in Record Time Credit Card Company Renovate Case Study Download Case Study Large Credit Card Company Successfully Migrates Two COBOL Applications in Record Time Business Challenge A tier-1 financial services company confronted a critical modernization challenge with two legacy applications. Extensive batch processing on a mainframe was utilized to generate extract files from diverse data sources, including DB2, VSAM, and QSAM. The urgency to shift from COBOL to Java and discontinue mainframe processing ..read more

Fortune 500 Financial Services Firm collaborates with CloudFrame to explore a tool-assisted approach to refactoring Customer Success Download Case Study The Customer For almost 90 years, this financial services company has been one of the largest banks in the United States and a household name. With over $50B in revenue, over $1T in assets and over 80,000 employees, they have earned the right to be called a tier-1 bank. Background The central question the client was dealing with was “how to start”: should they do a manual rewrite (greenfield)”, an extremely time and resource inten ..read more