Clerity Update Will Migrate Mainframe Apps to Azure Cloud 
For those who doubt the cloud has come a long way, baby Clerity plans to help mainframes migrate apps to the cloud with a newly-designed version of its UniKix Mainframe Rehosting software. The update will integrate Microsoft’s Visual Studio, System Center, IIS and even a complete .NET framework to promote full mainframe SaaS access.
Clerity Solutions has unveiled its plans for a newly-designed Windows and .NET managed-code version of its UniKix Mainframe Rehosting software optimized for migrating mainframe apps to the Windows Azure cloud.
This new solution will help businesses save money and operate more efficiently when they move their legacy apps to the Microsoft application platform. Clerity’s solution is based on UniKix technology, Veryant’s vCOBOL Enterprise software, and Microsoft Visual Studio. It will be released in two phases, starting Q4 2011.
“Enabling customers to take full advantage of the .NET Framework and Windows Azure cloud in combination with UniKix will deliver unrivalled cost and performance benefits for IBM shops migrating mission-critical mainframe applications,” said Glenn Dent, CTO of Clerity’s Microsoft Practice, in the statement.
In Phase One, Clerity will integrate Microsoft Visual Studio, IIS, and System Center Operations Manager with the company’s own mainframe rehosting platform. Further, the user experience within UniKix for Windows users will be completely revamped to better enable devs to maintain and modern legacy apps on the Windows Application Platform. It will also feature full Windows look and feel for installation, configuration, and management of the rehosted environment.
During Phase One, the technology suite is also supplemented with a cloud hosting option for Windows Azure, designed so organizations can save money on cost-per-transaction rates, as well as protect their existing application and data investments.
In Phase Two Clerity’s will add a complete .NET framework to its mainframe rehosting technology to leverage the Windows Azure cloud. This addition will allow users to take full advantage of SaaS (software as a service) features including automated provisioning, fault-tolerant data storage, and continuous application availability to further simplify IT management requirements while migrating legacy apps to the cloud.
One long-time Gartner mainframe analyst acknowledged that many mainframe shops are looking to modernize their legacy apps.
“As the scale of these migrations grows beyond the small shops [couple of hundred MIPS] to shops with as high as 2,000 to 3,000 MIPS, being able to leverage a complete .NET implementation will become increasingly important to organizations with a long-term application modernization roadmap,” said Dale Vecchio, Garter research vice president in a statement.
Clerity’s UniKix technology is currently deployed in 50 countries across a variety of vertical sectors and government for business-critical online and batch applications originally written in a variety of languages including COBOL, Natural, Assembler, and PL/1.
