Verastream Bridge Integrator offers the ability to rapidly expose and use CICS applications in a way that traditional approaches, including message queues and middleware, cannot. Here are some of the qualities that make Verastream Bridge Integrator unique:
- Exceptional scalability and high performance.
- Implementations in a fraction of the time taken by traditional message-queue solutions.
- Service level capabilities such as fault tolerance that mirror a CICS application’s native attributes.
These qualities are delivered via a unique architectural framework that includes a lightweight CICS-resident communication engine. While most on-host solutions require modifications to the target CICS applications, Verastream Bridge Integrator takes a different approach. It provides easy-to-use tools that allow for direct interaction with CICS applications as they exist.
Because this implementation process is so fast, it’s particularly useful for projects that require quick turnaround. It’s also ideal for situations where direct modifications to the CICS application would result in unacceptable risks or costs. Here are some product highlights:
Design Tools
With Verastream Bridge Integrator, it’s surprisingly easy to obtain essential control over your CICS applications. Intuitive design tools, which give you complete insight into the target applications, provide three task-specific capabilities:
- Decipher even the most complex copybook structures and (using a drag-and-drop visual layout) let you turn them into web service operations for use across the enterprise.
- View the entire extent of a CICS application by leveraging BMS maps (pre-defined or automatically generated on the fly) and then create services accessing the application COBOL through this view.
- Orchestrate custom processes out of these services (using a visual process tool), letting you apply controls or create compound services before publishing them for use across the enterprise..
Direct CICS Participation in SOA
Because you can expose Verastream-generated services and make them available to other applications, you get a standard way to communicate across systems, inside and outside of CICS. It’s done via an HTTP service call that points to a web service in the CICS application. The web service runs a given operation and returns needed information.
That means any application visible to Verastream can participate in SOA. Composable services pave the way, and anyone familiar with web services can use them. For IT organizations moving to the architecture model of the future, this truly distributed approach—requiring no embedded code—is a step in the right direction.
Problem Solving In the Real IT World
The job of modernizing native business processes on multiple, disparate systems can present some unique challenges for application development. Some typical host-integration requirements are stated in bold below. They are paired with Verastream-specific solutions.
- Remove usage complexities. The Verastream transaction designer captures COBOL copybooks with drag-and-drop ease so there is no hand coding. Because developers can isolate the tasks that are needed (including “redefine” and “occur” statements), they maintain granular control.
- Deliver mainframe-resident code that works in the IBM architecture, for web-enabling CICS applications. Verastream Bridge Integrator strictly adheres to the IBM CICS Web Support and CICS Link3270 bridge architecture for seamless integration of existing systems in a CICS application environment.
- Access CICS applications whether they were written to leverage COMMAREA communications or not. In addition to DPL access, Verastream Bridge Integrator allows low-level access to applications based on BMS maps and 3270 Terminal Control Programs that do not provide BMS maps, while still delivering enhanced performance over traditional Telnet access.
- Use existing business logic, data systems, and security without modifying CICS 3270 applications. Verastream Bridge Integrator enables the reuse of host data and business processes from existing CICS applications without changing host code.
- Create front-end applications that mirror current business processes. Verastream Bridge Integrator helps you meet your business needs by creating new applications that access the data and logic from CICS applications. As an added bonus, you leverage the speed, security, and reliability of the mainframe.
- Generate rapid ROI for new applications. Verastream Bridge Integrator provides an easy-to-use API for making calls directly into the CICS application with mainframe performance. This approach is on par with COMMAREA access, which typically yields a tenfold performance increase over traditional screen-scraping approaches.
- Manage change-control and performance issues associated with HLLAPI and Telnet. Verastream Bridge Integrator enables interaction with CICS applications via symbolic names or row/column positions. You get access to the entire CICS application through the native CICS HTTP interface. You do not have to go through VTAM® or create sessions, so you can reduce overhead on the mainframe and enhance throughput.
- Manage terminal IDs directly in CICS. Now you can control state management and track application use directly from the CICS environment within Verastream Bridge Integrator. This feature ensures top performance and fault tolerance of MRO interactions.
Because developers need to meet the above requirements without disrupting existing processes or rewriting host application code, the Verastream method becomes especially compelling.