Enterprise-wide integration of IT is one of the greatest challenges facing companies today. Organisations realise that they need to adopt a corporate model which can provide an end-to-end solution to integrate both new and legacy systems.
"Over the last 25 years corporate IT architectures have become extremely complex, underscoring the need for solutions capable of integrating disparate data and systems," says Ben van Niekerk, product manager at Compuware Corporation SA.
Most large IT organisations recognise that their mainframe applications are critical strategic assets; such businesses have invested millions of rands building information systems based on mainframes. "These systems contain important functionality and data essential to the ongoing operation of business. It`s a noteworthy fact, recorded in a Compuware White Paper 2004: Optimal J Integration Mainframe Connectivity, over 70% of the world`s corporate data is still stored on mainframes," Van Niekerk continues.
As a result, organisations are focusing on renewing and extending their strategic mainframe applications to meet their customers` changing business needs. "The challenge is to combine the proven power, reliability and security of the mainframe with new and emerging technologies," he says. Furthermore, the continuous financial pressure to reduce costs and remain competitive drives many mainframe-based organisations to connect different aspects of their business operations while also taking it to the Web.
When developing applications for deployment into the technology environment, new software must work well with older technologies, maintaining an integrated environment which results in better organisational visibility.
Compuware`s OptimalJ development environment is a solution designed to address this need. Model-driven and pattern-based to speed application development, it also enables developers to quickly integrate with mainframe components that are external to the OptimalJ application.
"Compuware OptimalJ`s Integration Model accelerates and reduces the complexity of integration with external applications when developing a new J2EE application, similar to what OptimalJ provides for Java development," says Van Niekerk.
With its Java Connector Architecture (JCA), Compuware OptimalJ provides rapid access to a wide range of legacy Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). "The JCA model currently provides specific support for familiar mainframe environments including Customer Information Control System (CICS), External call interface (ECI) and IBM Information Management System (IMS) resource adapters. This gives businesses the tool they need to expose mainframe applications to the Internet," Van Niekerk comments.
Using Compuware OptimalJ, he concludes, organisations can easily integrate disparate data across the enterprise and modernise and extend their mainframe applications in a productive and cost-effective way.
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