VP SECURITIES A/S cuts costs with modern development tools

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1 VP SECURITIES A/S cuts costs with modern development tools IBM Rational software and EGL technology facilitate migration and modernization Overview The need VP SECURITIES A/S needed to replace its CA Gen software from CA Technologies with a new solution that would support its mission-critical, mainframe- based Central Securities Depository (CSD) service. The solution It converted to IBM Rational Business Developer software with EGL technology, which provides high availability for the CSD service and delivers modernization options not previously available in one development tool. The benefit VP cut development costs of the CSD service using technology that facilitates mainframe and distributed development, and it consolidated newer and experienced developers into a single environment. VP SECURITIES A/S is a financial services company offering innovative solutions and expertise in the field of securities and investor administration. A privately held company, VP is one of the leading providers of securities and investor services in Denmark and also offers its services globally. The company is an approved Central Securities Depository (CSD) in Denmark and Luxembourg, providing access to a long line of international markets through collaboration with other securities depositories. VP quickly put the converted version of the CSD service into production. And VP developers found it easy to adopt the Rational solution. Normally, these transitions take a long, long, long time for people. But the acceptance of this new environment was measured in weeks, and that impressed us all, says Kim Reinert, head of methods and architecture for VP.

2 Solution components Software IBM InfoSphere Data Architect IBM Rational Business Developer IBM Business Partner Xact Consulting A/S Finding a platform to support a mission- critical application The core of VP s business is its CSD service, which the company uses to process USD8.8 billion in transactions per year. Until recently, the company used CA Gen software from CA Technologies to support its CSD service. However, VP had determined that the CA Gen application would not continue to meet its needs. VP therefore began to look for a new technology platform. It s crucial for VP SECURITIES that our technology and services are able to support our business functions with solutions that are secure, stable and scalable and have the capability to adapt and support new technology opportunities, says Kim Reinert, head of methods and architecture for VP. The company needed the new platform to support its CSD service and provide excellent scalability to maintain critical high-volume batch and online operations on the IBM z/os operating system, support open standards and newer technologies such as native support for Extensible Markup Language (XML) and services, work with automated migration capabilities, provide multiplatform execution capabilities, and support a flexible and agile approach to development. VP also needed to identify a supplier that would focus strategically on application development and deliver greater flexibility in development and execution, leading to greater economic benefits. 2

3 Adopting a multiplatform development solution VP worked with IBM and IBM Premier Business Partner Xact Consulting A/S to migrate its CSD service using IBM Rational Business Developer, IBM InfoSphere Data Architect, Xact Xtool and Xact Xref software. Rational Business Developer software provides an Eclipse technology-based integrated development environment (IDE) that simplifies the development of traditional, web-oriented and serviceoriented architecture (SOA) applications using Enterprise Generation Language (EGL). With EGL, developers can create web applications, services and traditional applications without having to learn Java and SOA programming, which lets them create, test and debug EGL applications while generating Java, JavaScript or COBOL code for deployment. VP uses the InfoSphere Data Architect application to perform data modeling, the Xtool application for source code management and the Xref application for managing cross-references. Rational Business Developer software and its EGL technology provide a modern IDE that programmers can use for developing solutions for host-based and distributed platforms. Because the EGL platform gives developers the ability to build GUI/RUI applications, it gives them greater productivity than when using Java, says Reinert. The same developer is able to carry out the overall responsibility for the application end to end. Developers can also test their code locally even though the application will be deployed to a mainframe, which helps save time and improve productivity. 3

4 Improving productivity, cutting costs By migrating to Rational Business Developer software, VP reduced the cost of the software technology for its CSD service while maintaining the required service levels for customers. After migrating more than 1.8 million lines of code to the new solution, VP had just one minor issue in production. In addition, VP has gained greater flexibility through EGL. Because EGL is a multiplatform technology, users can choose where to deploy their applications. So although VP is currently deploying the CSD service to the z/os platform as COBOL code, the company has the option of moving the application to a distributed, Java technology-based system in the future, without having to rewrite the application. Using Rational Business Developer software, the company also has the potential to enhance developer productivity by giving it the option to consolidate the development teams for mainframe and distributed platforms into a single team. In the old days, we had the dedicated mainframe developers and dedicated Java developers, and our plan is to migrate these two profiles into one, says Reinert. VP anticipates that it will drive down development costs by enabling the same developers to do all the required work for a new program, from the user web interface to the back-end application development. Plus, the IDE provided by Rational Business Developer software offers a modern point-and-click model for development that s easy to learn and use. This ease of use helps bring newer developers up to speed quickly and also speeds adoption by more experienced developers. So the source code that the developers are looking at in Rational Business Developer is not exactly the same as they were used to looking at in CA Gen software, 4

5 but it s familiar in the way it s built, the way it s structured, and they are able to recognize some of the old programs, says Reinert. Even though many of the VP developers had been working with the old solution for years, they adopted the Rational Business Developer software in just a few weeks. Normally, these transitions take a long, long, long time for people. But the acceptance of this new environment was measured in weeks, and that impressed us all, says Reinert. For more information To learn more about IBM Rational Business Developer software, please contact your IBM marketing representative or IBM Business Partner, or visit the following website: ibm.com/software/products/en/busdeveloper 5

6 Copyright IBM Corporation 2014 IBM Corporation Software Group Route 100 Somers, NY Produced in the United States of America April 2014 IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, InfoSphere, Rational, and z/os are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at Copyright and trademark information at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in every country in which IBM operates. The performance data and client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only. Actual performance results may vary depending on specific configurations and operating conditions. THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided. Please Recycle RAC14319-USEN-00