Ask a Migration Expert

Q: What languages are you most often asked to migrate?

A: HP COBOL is the 3GL that we are most commonly asked to migrate. Our migration services are also requested for 4GLs such as Cognos's PowerHouse and our own Speedware V7. Since MPE commands can also be considered a language, JCL batch code migration is often required, as well as third-party languages such as Robelle's Suprtool and Vesoft's MPEX.

Q: If my PowerHouse and COBOL programs interact with the same KSAM or flat files, will there be a problem with the migrated applications?

A: It's true that a potential conflict exists due to the fact that AMXW-migrated COBOL applications continue to support MPE concepts on non-MPE platforms, whereas PowerHouse applications are migrated to use native UNIX or Windows equivalents. Speedware designed an AMXW-PowerHouse bridge solution to address this situation, and we use it for such projects.

Q: Are there issues when migrating an environment that has both COBOL and Suprtool for HP-UX if they both access the same files?

A: Issues can arise when using AMXW to migrate a 3GL environment that supports MPE concepts on non-MPE platforms, and using Suprtool for HP-UX, which does not. Speedware teamed up with Robell to design Suprtool for AMXW (also known as SUPRAMXW), a version of Suprtool for MPE which runs on HP-UX using AMXW's runtime library.

Q: Our company relies heavily on TurboIMAGE to power our applications. Is Eloquence a viable TurboIMAGE replacement if I have lots of users and heavy transaction traffic?

A: Yes. To ensure that Eloquence can handle heavy utilization, Marxmeier Software often makes improvements to their product. Eloquence can support thousands of users and handle heavy online and batch transactions. Every major version of Eloquence includes performance improvements. Eloquence has been used successfully to power very large business-critical applications involving thousands of users and millions of transactions a day.

Since every environment is different, Eloquence will yield a different performance for each customer, depending on the way transactions are used. To understand precisely how your application will react with Eloquence, specific performance tests should be part of your migration project.

Q: Can Speedware help with our application testing during a migration project

A: Yes, Speedware can handle many aspects of application testing. We can manage everything from simple "atomic" testing (ensuring a code-base compiles without error), to functionality testing, performance testing, integration testing, parallel testing and other variations. It is preferable when the client is involved in defining the testing phase strategy as this phase is key to the migration's success.

Q: If I migrate, will I have to replace my TurboIMAGE intrinsics with SQL?

A: You have a choice. You can replace all your TurboIMAGE intrinsics and surround code with SQL equivalents. This may represent a significant effort but has the advantage of replacing your proprietary TurboIMAGE calls with industry standard SQL. Alternately, you can use Speedware AMXW's TurboIMAGE intrinsic library to keep your intrinsics and surround code, while accessing one of the supported RDBMS such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server.