Second Generation Legacy to Web Strategies via XML Part Two: Disenfranchised Middleware - Providing IDMS, SQL Server, DB2, ADSO, Java, C#, CSP, and COBOL migration, conversion, and modernization services.

Second-Generation Legacy to Web Strategies via XML
Part 2: Disenfranchising Middleware

by
Don Estes

2.3 Modernizing Legacy Assets

The bolt-on approach of middleware reduces the incentive to address structural issues within the application itself. That is one of the attractions of middleware: no changes to the underlying software, just add another layer. Yet, a significant part of the value of adopting XML derives from a comprehensive improvement in the robustness of module interfaces, along with other modernizations of program logic and data organization.

Although certainly not necessary, adopting XML could be the catalyst to review the organizational data model for form and integrity. Given the longevity of applications in many IT shops, the accumulation of decades of compromises in data stores is certain to inhibit planned initiatives. The native implementation of XML documents validated against XML schema will expose these compromises in a way that will encourage their proper resolution.

We define 3 steps in the structural modernization of legacy applications for web integration:

As we learned in Y2K, there are over 500 languages in use in legacy systems. This includes legacy mainframe applications, and what is now being called legacy client server. This may prove a caution to some of the new language enthusiasts, particularly those who were quite young when the last wave of new language enthusiasm swept the industry. Will we be speaking of legacy Java 10 years from now?

Regardless, but the business will frequently demand that we extract the value in tried and true legacy applications. Despite our deep affection for the specific technical advantages of many legacy hardware and software platforms, the business climate requires standardization to avoid falling behind the competition. Therefore, our tactical approach is to rescue the business logic from dead-end languages and dead-end databases and to migrate the applications into standardized platforms.