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Migrate COBOL code

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I had the opportunity to present to some folks from Microfocus yesterday about building manageable applications on the Windows Server platform.  They have several products that are designed to help migrate COBOL code off the mainframe.   The NetExpress for .NET product integrates with Visual Studio.NET and complies COBOL code to MSIL to run on the .NET Framework.  Once you have managed code, it can be extended using any other .NET language.  Pretty cool stuff.  They also have Application Server and Enterprise Server products that can natively run COBOL code on Windows. 

 

Why should we care about COBOL?   According to a whitepaper on their site (COBOL & .NET Framework), which references to a Gartner figure, there are between 150 to 175 *billion* lines of COBOL code still out there.   After working with a telecom for two years, I know there's still a lot of mission critical COBOL code out there, but 150 Billion lines is unreal.  It really makes you wonder, in 10 years will there be 150 Billion lines of managed code out there? How much of that will you have written?  

 

If you want some more info on Mainframe migration, then checkout the Mainframe Migration Alliance site.