White Papers

Comparing Mainframe and Windows Server Transactions per kWh

Using transaction rates based on the IBM Redbook A Performance Study of Web Access to CICS and power consumption data published by IBM, we establish “transactions per kilowatt-hour (kWh)” figures and compare those figures to figures derived using the same transactions that are running on Windows Server–based systems with NeoKicks.

The results weigh heavily in favor of the Windows servers which can run between 3 and 24 times as many transactions per kWh as the mainframe, depending on the Web-enablement model used.
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Batch Applications – The Hidden Asset

There is tremendous value invested in batch applications that may seem locked in mainframe architecture. Taking advantage of new technologies on the mainframe, such as Web services, requires considerable effort and investment—more than most companies can afford. If this value can be placed in a more flexible, agile environment, such as the Windows operating system and the Microsoft .NET Framework, organizations have the opportunity to unlock the value to enhance business operations and provide new or better services to customers.
Read the full white paper (PDF)* June 2006, last reviewed March 2008

Why the NeoSort World Record is Good News for Mainframe Users

There is tremendous value invested in batch applications that may seem locked in mainframe architecture. Taking advantage of new technologies on the mainframe, such as Web services, requires considerable effort and investment—more than most companies can afford. If this value can be placed in a more flexible, agile environment, such as the Windows operating system and the Microsoft .NET Framework, organizations have the opportunity to unlock the value to enhance business operations and provide new or better services to customers.
Read the full white paper (Word doc) July 2006, last reviewed March 2008

Reuse versus Rewrite: An Emperical Study

Based on the data collected, analyzed and presented, the following conclusions appear valid at this time:

• The time to convert the application chosen for testing using COBOL and the CICS migration solution was on average less than 3% of the time needed to rewrite the application in JAVA.
• The skill level of the programmer had little overall effect on conversion time when compared to time needed to rewrite code in JAVA. At all skill levels tested (levels 1 through 3) conversion times were less than 5% of JAVA rewrite times.
• Training times to use COBOL and the CICS migration solution for conversion    work on straightforward applications is minimal.
• With appropriate training, less skilled employees or paraprofessionals, rather than skilled technicians can do most of the work required to reuse the system using the CICS migration solution in a fraction of the time needed to rewrite.

Read the full white paper (PDF)* May 2005, last reviewed March 2008

Creating COBOL from the .NET Framework Class Library Help Topics

NetCOBOL for .NET supports most of the .NET Framework constructs so you can take advantage of the .NET Framework class libraries. However, the documentation on the class libraries is not written with COBOL in mind. This paper provides guidelines for interpreting the .NET Framework documentation and map the .NET Framework constructs to their NetCOBOL for .NET forms.
Read the full white paper (PDF)* October 2003, last reviewed March 2008

Moving your COBOL Assets to Microsoft .NET

This white paper outlines the options available on the market and discusses a new solution — NetCOBOL for .NET — and its approach to moving COBOL assets over to Microsoft’s .NET platform.
Read the full white paper (PDF)* August 2002, last reviewed March 2008

COBOL for Microsoft .NET Framework

Discusses why COBOL and .NET are strong partners and explains how NetCOBOL has been integrated into the .NET Framework.
Read the full white paper December 2001, last reviewed March 2008

Best of GUI, Best of Business, Accessing COBOL Programs from Visual Basic

Are you one of the many who have made Visual Basic® your tool and language of choice for creating graphical interfaces for your applications, yet have a considerable amount of business logic written, and still being written, in COBOL —the language designed to support business programming? COBOL applications can consist of thousands or millions of lines of code that have been honed over the years to reflect current business rules. Rewriting this code is not an option. To capitalize on the value in the existing code and the benefits of Visual Basic you need a way of combining the two languages as easily as possible.
This white paper describes three ways you can achieve language integration using Fujitsu COBOL now called NetCOBOL for Windows.
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(From the May 1999 issue of Visual Basic Programmer's Journal)