Mainframe modernization using Web services/SOA has, in recent years, become one of the most effective, efficient, and economical means to reach these goals.
In manufacturing, telecommunications, energy, high tech, insurance, government, health care, education, and other industries, organizations have achieved remarkable results modernizing the mainframe with Web services/SOA.
3 Approaches
- Using a Web services engine, the largest credit union in the world presents CICS applications and System z data – Fidelity banking apps, VSAM files, and DB2 data – to millions of members worldwide via the company’s Web site, to 7,000 employees through a Universal Agent Desktop client, and to thousands of ATMs in all 24 time zones.
- A top international auto maker uses lightweight RESTful services for internal integration of a CICS lease management application, including VSAM files, with a Siebel CRM system. By enabling customer service reps to interact with CICS from within the Siebel interface, the services-oriented integration helps the auto maker boost employee productivity, accelerate customer-centric processes, and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- A European health insurer uses SOAP services to make CA Datacom-based policy information available 24/7 to policy holders, physicians, other health professionals, and company personnel through an eHealth Community Cloud that will ultimately serve more than 7 million users.
Areas to Consider for Modernization
- Presentation is the repurposing of mainframe applications and data for presentation in a Web interface. The objective is to put high-value business logic and data at the fingertips of more people – employees across an organization, partners at remote locations, and customers anywhere using the latest devices and clients. With the advent of Web 2.0 technologies, mainframe data repurposed for Web presentation can participate dynamically in the newest Web server-based composites and mashups.
- Integration is a matter of wrapping mainframe data in industry-standard Web services languages and protocols so that the mainframe and its resources can be readily and universally integrated with other platforms, systems.
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