Relativity Enables Third-Party Integration With Software

The move, announced Monday, will allow Relativity's Modernization Workbench to transform applications written in a variety of legacy computer languages to more modern, object-oriented languages, such as Java or C++, said Charles Dickerson, vice president and marketing of product management for Relativity, Raleigh, N.C.

It also gives small ISVs a new revenue stream by allowing them to OEM their technology to Realtivity, he said. Additionally, they receive a 35 percent discount on Relativity software that they can then resell to customers.

Software Migrations Limited (SML) and Trinity Millennium are two ISVs that have signed up initially to integrate some of their legacy migration technology with Relativity's software.

The first wave of integration appears in the Application Analyzer, Business Rule Manager and Application Profiler components of Relativity's workbench, Dickerson said. Integration between the ISVs' tools and the other products in workbench, Application Architect and Transformation Assistant, is due by the second half of the year, he said.

Similar deals with other ISVs are in the works and will be unveiled soon, Dickerson added.

The Relativity Modernization Workbench previously supported repurposing of COBOL, Natural and PL/1 code for use with applications written in object-oriented languages. With the addition of SML and Trinity Millennium technology, the tools now support more than 60 different legacy programming languages, including Assembler and Powerbuilder, Dickerson said.

Modernizing legacy applications is definitely a problem for solution providers, but repurposing and transforming the code isn't the only option they have to allow these applications to work with new systems. Many opt to integrate legacy applications through middleware without actually diving into the systems and restructuring existing code, a job that can be complex.

Historically, the task of modernization, if undertaken, was done by solution providers who had their own custom ways of extracting and repurposing code, said Dale Vecchio, an analyst with Gartner Group. Tools like Relativity's can certainly help speed this kind of activity, but the market for them is tough because service providers are loathe to give up the revenue that such intricate work, done by a group of developers paid by the hour, provides them, he said.

Relativity has historically gone back and forth between wooing solution providers to use its software to help them provide application modernization services, and trying to sell directly to customers, Vecchio added.

The company recently is back on its channel kick, and Dickerson said the goal of providing ISV tool integration with the workbench is to "make lives simpler for SIs."

U.S. Technologies is one partner that has found Relativity's tools helpful, according to its vice president of technology solutions, Tony Velleca. Velleca said while it is sometimes difficult for solution providers to convince customers to go through the complicated process of modernizing legacy applications, tools like Relativity's can help drive that business.

This is because customers can save as much as 20 percent on project costs when the solution provider uses this kind of software to repurpose legacy code for use in new applications. "These projects can happen as long as we can make them cost-effective," Velleca said.

Another benefit to solution providers in addition to drumming up this new business is that they can finish projects more quickly and with less manpower, and then are free to take on more customers, Velleca said.