Mainframe users looking to bring legacy applications into the public or private cloud world have a new option: LzLabs, a mainframe software migration vendor.
Founded in 2011 and based in Switzerland, LzLabs this week said it's setting up shop in North America to help mainframe users move legacy applications – think COBOL – into the more modern and flexible cloud application environment.
At the heart of LzLabs' service is its Software Defined Mainframe (SDM), an open-source, Eclipse-based system that's designed to let legacy applications, particularly those without typically available source code, such as COBOL, run in the cloud without recompilation.
The company says it works closely with cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, and its service can be implemented on Microsoft Azure. It also works with other technology partners such as Red Hat and Accenture.
Legacy applications have become locked into mainframe infrastructures, and the lack of available skilled personnel who understand the platform and its development process has revealed the urgent need to move these critical applications to open platforms and the cloud, according to Mark Cresswell, CEO of LzLabs.