Category Archives: Mainframe computer

BluePhoenix Moves Mainframe COBOL, Batch Processing to the Cloud

BluePhoenix has released their Cloud Transaction Engine and Batch In The Cloud Service. The Cloud Transaction Engine (CTE) is a module of the company’s soon-to-be-released ATLAS Platform.    CTE is a proprietary codebase that enables mainframe processes to be run from off- mainframe infrastructure. BluePhoenix’s Batch In The Cloud service is the first formal offering leveraging CTE capabilities.

“Batch In The Cloud uses off-mainframe, cloud-based processing power to reduce mainframe MIPS and total cost of ownership,” explains Rick Oppedisano, BluePhoenix’s Vice President of Marketing. “The huge array of virtual machines in the cloud brings greater performance and scalability than the mainframe. Jobs can be processed quicker at a lower cost. It’s a great way for customers to save money immediately and explore options for an eventual mainframe transition.”

The Batch In The Cloud service is supported on private or public clouds, including Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s EC2. This service is designed to enable COBOL, CA GEN and Natural/ADABAS mainframe environments.

“In a typical scenario, workloads continue to grow while the mainframe’s processing power and batch window stays the same,” says BluePhoenix’s VP of Engineering, Florin Sunel. “Our technology acts as a bridge between the mainframe and cloud. With Batch In The Cloud, all business logic is preserved. Customers can reduce usage cost by running jobs like reporting from the cloud platform rather than the mainframe. In that scenario, they can also add business value by using modern business intelligence tools that aren’t compatible with the mainframe to gain insight from their data.”
Adds Oppedisano, “Beyond the immediate cost savings, this technology creates a competitive advantage. Exposing data in an off-mainframe location empowers the customer to become more agile. Not only can they process reports faster, but they can slice and dice their data to get a broader perspective than competitors who keep data on the mainframe.”

“By moving batch workloads to Windows Azure or a Microsoft Private Cloud, companies are able to take advantage of cloud economics,” said Bob Ellsworth, Microsoft Worldwide Director of Platform Modernization. “Combined with the advanced analytics included in SQL Server, the customer not only realizes great savings, scale and flexibility but increased business value through self-service BI.”

BluePhoenix is offering a free Proof of Concept for the Batch In The Cloud service. “To manage the scale and demand, we’re going to start with a complimentary assessment of the customer environment to identify the most appropriate applications for this service,” says Oppedisano. “Once those applications are identified, we will build the roadmap and execute the Proof of Concept on the cloud platform of the customer’s choice.”

Additional details on the Batch In The Cloud service and Proof of Concept can be found here.