APPLICATION MODERNIZATION
Transforming legacy systems to create business
advantage
In a digital marketplace that demands faster time to market, exceptional user experience, and lower cost of operation, the pressure to modernize aging application portfolios keeps growing.
Given the age, size, and complexity of existing business-critical applications, modernization can be a daunting prospect. As the examples in this paper show, however, there are multiple and incremental ways to extend the life of valuable business logic, deploy new functionality, and transform user experience—while reducing cost, risk, and complexity going forward.
DIGITAL BUSINESS DRIVERS
Today’s digital marketplace rewards innovation and superior customer experience. To compete, enterprises need to be able to focus more on creating business value—and less on underlying technology.
Just as virtualization and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) capabilities enable dramatic business agility and cost advantages, Cloud Application Platform technologies and moves toward a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model are transforming the way applications are developed and deployed. New application architectures make it much easier for companies to:
• Accelerate time to market
• Reduce the cost, effort, and risk of developing, deploying, changing, and maintaining applications
• Improve user experience
• Deploy on Web and Mobile platforms
• Enable predictive analytics and real-time insight
• Embed security and trust
• Shift IT spend and skilled resources from maintenance to innovation • Improve asset utilization
Few organizations, however, are in a position to take a greenfield approach to capitalize on this opportunity. Most must look at incremental, ROI-driven paths to modernization across the landscape of applications, platforms, skillsets, and processes in use today.
Figure 1. Focus on business value
New platform-as-a-service models enable greater automation and efficiency by putting more IT operational workloads into the platform itself, enabling application developers to focus more on creating and delivering business value—and less on underlying application infrastructure.
BARCLAYCARD INVENTS A
NEW BUSINESS MODEL
Barclaycard, the global financial
institution, had a vision for the
launch of its new U.S. credit card.
They would build customer
awareness and loyalty by changing
the cardholder-card provider
relationship.
Barclaycard had worked with EMC
financial services industry
consultants, user experience
designers, and application developers
on UK and U.S. banking websites and
on iPad, iPhone, and Android service
applications. They again selected
EMC to help with their launch
strategy—to use social media and
create a community of cardholders
engaged in co-developing the card
offering they wanted.
EMC researched target segments,
interviewing people about their
interactions with financial
institutions, experience with social
media, and reactions to initial launch
concepts. In addition to face-to-face
focus groups, EMC set up an online
innovation lab for 2,000 participants
to provide feedback. After design
prototypes were created, refined, and
validated through iterative user
testing, EMC designed the digital
experience, leveraging advanced
social and game-ification techniques,
in a representation layer on the
Lithium social platform.
The launch garnered significant news
coverage in the blogosphere, as well
as in business, financial services, and
technology publications. Customers
collaborated on setting policies and
rates and opted for member
profit-sharing, based on a transparent
monthly reporting of card P&L, over a
traditional rewards or cash-back
program. Forrester Research
awarded the site its Voice of the
Customer Award. The new card
outperforms peers and the
cardholder community continues to
actively participate in how the card
evolves.
TECHNICAL DEBT
It’s not unusual for enterprises today to rely on hundreds or even thousands of applications, whether on decades-old mainframes or running on heterogeneous server architectures in multiple data centers.
While these applications enable the business, they also represent a kind of “technical debt” that can hold an organization back from achieving new objectives. For example:
• Traditional software development lifecycles are slow and delay time to market
• Legacy software licenses, infrastructure, and maintenance consume time, money, and resources that could be invested more strategically
• Critical business logic and data locked in proprietary platforms are difficult to access and use in new ways, to meet new needs
• Data models established years ago often constrain new business directions and do not easily support web, mobile, or Big Data scenarios
• Large, complex, and monolithic applications are difficult, and even risky, to modify—requiring IT involvement for even minor changes and multiple test and QA cycles
• Technical skillsets for aging platforms become increasingly difficult to find as programmers and database administrators retire
• As the market share for older application platforms shrinks, so do investments in new product development and the availability of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software and third-party tools and services
• End users, developers, and business units, frustrated by corporate IT solutions and turnaround times, are turning to consumer technologies and public cloud services, creating a “shadow IT” that adds another layer of cost, risk, and complexity
MOVING FORWARD
Like any large debt that’s accrued over many years, getting out from under the burden of legacy applications can seem overwhelming. While many recognize that existing application architectures are unsustainable, making any changes to critical applications can seem fraught with risk for both application owners and IT. A sense of paralysis and a tendency toward procrastination are understandable, but as with any debt, the longer action is delayed—the larger the problem becomes.
The good news is there are many ways to move forward in rationalizing and modernizing the applications that the business depends on today, to speed innovation, and significantly reduce the burden of technical debt going forward. What’s more, proven application modernization strategies, methodologies, and tools can greatly reduce the uncertainty, risk, and effort associated with transforming applications.
WHERE TO START: PORTFOLIO RATIONALIZATION
While specific application modernization efforts are often driven by immediate business requirements, organizations that undertake a holistic and objective analysis of their entire portfolio can better prioritize and optimize modernization efforts.
Portfolio rationalization helps identify:
• Legacy applications with the greatest risks/costs
• Transformation opportunities with the highest payback potential
• Changes that can be made relatively quickly and easily to reduce overall cost and complexity
Because applications are typically widely used across an organization and deeply ingrained into business processes, gaining a clear and accurate understanding of what exists can be difficult. Proven application portfolio rationalization
methodologies that leverage automated tools can reduce the time and effort it takes to identify and categorize hundreds of applications and identify those that are vital to future success.
Application assessments must go beyond technical description. Only by evaluating applications within the context of enterprise objectives and business, technical, and user requirements, can useful consolidation models be built and recommendations made for the disposition for each application. Armed with this information, organizations can make informed decisions about whether an application should be:
• Retired (archived or decommissioned)
• Consolidated with other overlapping/redundant applications • Replaced by off-the-shelf software
• Re-platformed, to cut infrastructure costs, minimize technological diversity, or enable virtualization potential
• Re-architected, to support new data models, separate front-end functions from back-end processing, improve processing performance, etc.
• Re-written, to add new functionality or take advantage of new cloud development and deployment platforms
REDUCE UNCERTAINTY WITH APPLICATION INSIGHT
As part of the modernization planning process, a data-driven analysis of existing application code can provide helpful insight that reduces uncertainty and improves project planning and predictability.
Large, decades-old mainframe applications, especially, can be particularly daunting and opaque in terms of determining the time, cost, and risk of modernization. In many instances, although originally built for a specific business purpose, they have been expanded to meet changing needs in the interim and may have grown to be tens of millions of lines of code.
Analysis of application source code, using specialized tools, algorithms, and statistical analysis, can provide valuable insight by decomposing how code is clustered, what functional tasks are performed, and how much is duplicated or cloned. In context of a rewrite initiative, findings frequently show that what actually needs to be rewritten is significantly less than first thought. For example, it’s not unusual for cloned or duplicate code to account for 30 percent of a
mainframe program. Analysis can also show how older, monolithic applications can be functionally decomposed, replacing additional large portions of code that perform specific tasks with modern architecture frameworks or tools, such as report writers.
Figure 2. All code has a story to tell
An EMC Insight Assessment can tackle even the largest legacy application within a few weeks. The assessment combines analysis of existing code and interviews with application experts to enable more informed decision-making, accurate scoping, and realistic planning for modernization. Application visualizations help identify opportunities for improvement and foster meaningful communication among business and IT stakeholders.
REWRITE—OR CONVERT?
Organizations that want to extend the life of valuable business logic and data locked in proprietary mainframe languages and non-relational databases should consider the option of converting, rather than re-writing, applications.
Automated application conversion tools, combined with experienced code analysis, conversion planning, and technical architecture and database expertise, can convert code written in obsolete languages into industry-standard COBOL and move data from old, flat files into fully relational SQL databases, running on either a mainframe or x86 platform.
Conversion tools and methodologies that produce COBOL code—as opposed to ‘black box’ conversion solutions—enable development teams to continue to “own the code” and to work with and enhance the application, using the language they already understand.
Conversion has the advantage of avoiding ‘scope creep’ and other risks associated with complete application rewrites. Testing, for example, remains straightforward— with the old application providing the baseline for new code performance and functionality. End-user screens and processes can be migrated without change, leaving business users unaffected by the platform modernization.
In addition to dramatically reducing hardware maintenance and software licensing costs, conversion extends the life of critical applications. Converted applications gain access to new platform functionality, a larger pool of skilled developer resources, and more third-party solutions than aging platforms with rapidly shrinking market share can offer.
LEAP AHEAD WITH MODERN FRAMEWORKS AND FABRICS
Whether updating an existing application or building a new one, enterprises can use modern application development frameworks to break free from legacy constraints and cut the cost, time, and effort of delivering innovative digital business solutions.
The open source Spring™ Framework, for example, has proven so productive that it is used by more than half of today’s Java developers. VMware vFabric™
application middleware provides an established runtime platform for Spring-developed applications on virtual infrastructure, enabling developers to focus on creating business logic. Instead of “recreating the wheel” of runtime functions, such as data management or asynchronous messaging for each application, developers can rely on the vFabric middleware to abstract and deliver these functions as services in a distributed fabric running in the data center or in the cloud. In addition to improved availability, security, and manageability, virtual resources can be automatically and dynamically provisioned to match changing application workloads—for example, to handle spikes in transactions or traffic or support unpredictable social media activity.
In addition to developing new applications, frameworks and fabrics can be used to offload, speed up and improve the function of existing applications. For example, new data models to support Big Data analytics or to incorporate other data types can be delivered using vFabric GemFire or SQLFire data fabric running on a virtual x86 platform, while keeping much of the transaction processing logic on the mainframe or other legacy platform. Alternatively, front-end end-user functions can be separated from back-end systems and delivered from the cloud application platform layer for faster, easier updates and simplified deployment on web and mobility channels.
BENEFITS FIRM
PRESCRIBES VIRTUAL
DATA FABRIC TO SAVE
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
A large prescription benefits
management firm needed to be
able to respond quickly to new
market conditions, regulations,
and patient needs. But making
changes to its decades-old, 25-
million-line COBOL application
was slow—and costly. What’s
more, with the mainframe
struggling to meet peak load
requirements, purchasing more
MIPS seemed to be the only
remedy.
Instead, a team of EMC and
VMware consultants worked with
the firm to develop a solution
using VMware vFabric GemFire to
migrate data processing from the
mainframe to a low-cost
x86-based data fabric. Batch and
transaction processing continue
to run on the mainframe. When
the COBOL program calls for
data, the call is intercepted and
diverted to the GemFire Data
Fabric and the data is returned
transparently to the application.
The solution improves mainframe
processing performance,
eliminating the need to purchase
more MIPS. It also provides a
path for future modernization. By
separating the data from the
mainframe application and
serving it from a
next-generation, in-memory data
fabric, the application gains very
high throughput and no single
point of failure, and the company
reduces its dependence on the
mainframe platform moving
forward. The firm expects to save
millions of dollars from the
solution over the next five years
through cost-avoidance and
faster, simpler application change
processes.
PRIORITIZE USER EXPERIENCE
Traditional software development starts with functional and technical
requirements gathering. But software is no longer just a means to better product and business efficiencies. Today, software is the product—it’s where business gets done.
Digital business models change the way people work and customers buy. That’s why organizations and developers should preface application development and modernization projects with serious consideration about how an application is going to be used. By whom? On what platforms and devices? Where, when, and why?
User experience is more than an attractive graphical interface. It’s a personal, powerful, first-hand interaction that forms an impression and relationship with a business. It can demonstrate a unique understanding of a customer’s needs, distinguish a product in a crowded marketplace, deliver new kinds of services, boost productivity and customer satisfaction, and establish a competitive lead. Developing and delivering a superior experience starts with data-driven research. It requires iterative feedback and testing with real users, and technical
execution, as well as vision, inspiration, and creativity. It’s also an ongoing process. Good user experience solutions are designed to evolve, to capture usage data and feedback, and incorporate innovation and improvement over time.
Thoughtful service-oriented application development and deployment architectures can help organizations to meet the challenge of user experience design that evolves over time. By separating the user experience presentation and reference layers from underlying infrastructure and back-end systems, changes to the platform, branding, or the products themselves can be made quickly and easily without altering underlying business systems.
MODERNIZE THE SOFTWARE LIFECYCLE, TOO
It’s not only legacy applications that hold organizations back. Inefficient and outdated software development lifecycle (SDLC) processes add unnecessary risk, time, and cost—from initial design and development to testing and release and to production, ongoing maintenance, and change management.
It’s not unusual for different teams in different organizations to be responsible for different aspects of the software lifecycle, be measured differently, and be working in relative isolation with different tools and processes.
Divisions can persist even as organizations move from traditional infrastructure to a virtualized IaaS model. But the time-to-market and cost advantages enabled by PaaS service-oriented cloud application platforms lead to developers,
operations, and application owners collaborating in new ways.
By taking a more integrated “DevOps” approach to the software lifecycle, organizations can make the people, process, and technology changes required to be able to:
• Break down silos to create an integrated team
• Rationalize, integrate, and automate manual processes
BROKER GAINS
NEXT-GENERATION TRADE
PROCESSING APPLICATION
A global agency broker and clearing
firm had developed its trading system
on multiple core systems over time.
The system could not handle spikes in
trade volume. The frequency of trade
breaks and time-to resolve were high.
The complexity of the solution required
IT intervention for any change.
Provisioning new clients or adding new
products or exchanges took longer
than the business could afford. And
because trades weren’t being
replicated across systems, there was
no timely visibility into volume or
workflow.
EMC consultants worked with
stakeholders to design a streamlined
trade flow business process and build a
distributed staged event-driven
architecture (SEDA) for highly
concurrent events on virtualized x86
infrastructure. EMC application
developers used Agile development
techniques and the Spring Framework
to develop a solution that leveraged
VMware vFabric middleware, including:
tc Server for application server
services, GemFire for data services,
RabbitMQ for asynchronous
messaging, and Hyperic for enterprise
monitoring. EMC managed all aspects
of the program—from initial data
analysis and trade flow modeling to
requirements definition, process
re-engineering, sprint development
cycles, integration, testing, and global
production rollout. EMC also prepared
and trained in-house staff to take over
rapid application development and
management of the virtual platform.
The new solution reduces dependence
on IT. It scales dynamically by a factor
of 10+. Trade breaks occur less and
are resolved faster. Onboarding new
customers, products, or exchanges
takes weeks, not months. Role-based
dashboards provide real-time,
end-to-end visibility into all trades.
• Apply Agile principles such as sprints, continuous integration, and continuous deployment across the SDLC
• Simplify quality assurance by testing sooner and more frequently and automating testing for integration and function
• Accelerate dev/test and release management by creating standard virtual runtime templates and automating provisioning
• Enable collaborative agile team dev/test environments to be available in hours, not weeks, and tools to be configured in minutes, not days
START NOW
Just as cloud has revolutionized data center operations to deliver low-cost virtual infrastructure on demand, cloud is changing the way applications are built, deployed, and managed in production. Service-oriented cloud application platforms and powerful frameworks and middleware are freeing organizations to focus on the business logic that brings their unique value to market, and deliver it faster than ever before.
Rationalizing application portfolios and modernizing critical applications to be able to benefit from new data models and cloud application paradigms can sometimes seem daunting. But the best way to start is to begin. EMC application modernization consultants can help with an objective assessment of where you stand today, what’s possible, and how you can move forward to achieve your objectives.
SHOPPING GETS BETTER,
FASTER, ACROSS ALL
CHANNELS
A national department store wanted
to build on its in-store success and
drive up channel revenues with a
better, more consistent shopping
experience across the web, mobile
devices, in-store kiosks, and
third-party applications and sites.
EMC retail consultants and solution
architects worked with the company
to develop a multi-channel
optimization strategy, design a
service-oriented solution, and
develop it using the open source
Spring Framework. EMC
re-architected the company’s
eCommerce application to decouple
the front-end presentation from
back-end business logic and the
underlying eCommerce engine. They
developed the new channel
presentation service layer and
defined best practices to enable
internal staff to take over ongoing
development, maintenance, and
support.
The solution expands the retailer’s
channel presence, brings new
features to shoppers faster, helps
maintain brand consistency across
channels, and provides partners with
an open API that lets them build on
the same baseline set of services that
the in-house channels use, without
having to worry about complex
eCommerce technology. The solution
makes it easier to implement new
functions, such as an intelligent
360-degree view of customer purchases
and spending patterns. It enables
changes in channel presentation
without affecting back-end systems,
and changes to back-end functions
and platforms without affecting
channel presentation.
EMC GLOBAL SERVICES DELIVERS RESULTS
EMC Global Services provides the strategic guidance and technology expertise organizations need to address their business and information infrastructure challenges and derive the maximum value from their information assets and investments. We are committed to exceptional total customer experience through service excellence. Our 15,000+ professional and support service experts worldwide, plus a global network of alliances and partners, leverage proven methodologies, industry best practices, and experience and knowledge derived from EMC’s information-centric heritage to address the full spectrum of customer needs across the information lifecycle: strategize, advise, architect, implement, manage, and support.
ACCELERATING TEST AND
RELEASE
The Internet Services division of a
global banking and financial services
institution employs thousands of
programmers to develop and maintain
web applications for its private,
commercial, and retail banking
customers. The bank’s software
development life cycle (SDLC)
standards require that each application
pass through seven different testing
environments on its journey from initial
development to release to production.
The process required the manual
creation and submission of an image
for each application version as it
progressed from one testing phase to
the next. The slow and complex
process added months to the release
process and hindered both developer
productivity and business agility.
EMC DevOps consultants worked with
stakeholders to simplify and automate
the process by leveraging cloud-based
virtualization and collaboration. They
developed an automated private cloud
application development environment
with virtual templates of all of the
SDLC testing environments, using
VMware vCloud Director to orchestrate
the process.
Now, developers can select any
template from a single portal
witha
single click, and vCloud Director
automatically provisions the virtual
system resources needed to run that
series of tests in the cloud. Test
environments are provisioned in
minutes instead of weeks. Developers
maintain better control of their
applications and are more productive.
Tested, quality-assured applications
are released to production months
faster, improving time to market and
business agility.
CONTACT US
To learn more about how EMC products, services, and solutions can help solve your business and IT challenges, contact your local representative or authorized reseller—or visit us at www.EMC.com.www.EMC.com
EMC2, EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the
United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. © Copyright 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA. 3/13 White Paper H11608
EMC believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.
