Jump to NetCOBOL

NeoKicks

This strategy, of bringing CICS applications fully into the .NET world, can completely change your perspective on your CICS programs. Rather than seeing them as limited by character interfaces and the abilities provided by a single mainframe vendor, the applications are freed to grow using the latest technologies and interface designs that are being developed by the myriad of companies targeting Microsoft's .NET environment.

NeoKicks provides a wizard that takes your CICS COBOL programs and associated BMS maps, converts them to the .NET-compatible forms, and populates a Visual Studio 2005 project so that you are ready to start building and testing your migrated code. At runtime NeoKicks services handle the CICS commands, providing the equivalent .NET functionality.

Highlights: 
  • NeoKicks Project Wizard imports your CICS COBOL code into Visual Studio 2005 projects, preprocessing EXEC CICS statements into the NeoKicks equivalents
  • Wizard also converts your screens into ASP.NET Web Forms that you maintain using Visual Studio's designers
  • NeoKicks Services provide runtime support for CICS commands
  • Configure styles of your converted BMS maps using ASP.NET master pages and cascading style sheets
  • CICS DPL (Distributed Program Link) transactions convert to Web services
  • Integration with Visual Studio 2005 gives productive and easy-to-use development environment
  • Transaction support for any ODBC data provider, Btrieve or any other external transaction monitor
  • User interface and application tiers are separable allowing flexible deployment options
  • Mainframe UI behaviors emulated such as: Overtype behavior, Tabbing behavior, PF keys, PA keys & Break
Benefits: 

CICS modernization with NeoKicks provides the following compelling benefits:

  • Cost effective, scalable, hardware platform - Windows servers have very attractive price:performance ratios
  • Escape from a proprietary hardware and software environment in which enhancements come from a single vendor
  • Enter an open environment where enhancements and new technologies are being provided by multiple vendors
  • Modernize application interfaces (in a controlled manner - opt for mainframe look and feel until you are ready to move to GUI)
  • Expose existing business logic as Web services
  • Provide your programmers with the world's best development environment (Visual Studio 2005)
Product Datasheet