Fujitsu Software Helps Ancor Save Time and Money With Migration From Mainframe to Windows.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Fujitsu Software's NetCOBOL for Windows and Migration Tools Reduce Hardware, Software and Software Support Costs and Facilitate Painless Cross Training for Staff Working on Older and Newer Applications

Ancor, an information management company that transforms data into effective customer communications, is using Fujitsu Software's (TOKYO:6702) NetCOBOL for Windows and Fujitsu's migration tools to move more than 1500 COBOL programs and 1700 batch jobs from the mainframe to Windows servers.

An example of the high volume, quick turn-around and high quality of Ancor's tailored customer communications is the sticker on every new Ford automobile. Every customer-friendly label displayed in the car window is JIT (just in time) printed for all 21 Ford plants nationwide and 4500 dealerships by Ancor within a 10 hour window with 6-sigma quality (less than 6 errors per million parts).

"With the increasingly competitive price-performance ratios of Windows servers we decided it was time to take a serious look at removing the burden of IBM mainframe costs from our IT budget," said Kelly Colohan, executive director of information technology at Ancor. "Since some application development was performed on the Windows platform in recent years, we were beginning to experience the challenges of maintaining applications on two different platforms, often requiring two distinct skill sets. Although the business understanding behind the applications is the same, the individuals working on the applications are not necessarily able to apply their knowledge on both platforms."

With their operations relying on such a large number of batch jobs, Ancor had to find a way of migrating mainframe JCL to the Windows environment that was highly reliable and involved a minimal amount of effort. Initially it appeared that none of the standard batch or scripting solutions could offer these qualities because they didn't feature a simple mapping from mainframe JCL to their commands.

Ancor researched COBOL vendors who offer Windows-based solutions and explored the possibility of converting to Visual Basic. The Fujitsu Software solution stood out because its zBatch migration tool supports a minimal-effort migration of IBM JCL.

"Fujitsu Software was the best solution for Ancor because, with its batch migration tool it offered an optimal JCL migration option," Colohan explained. "This was backed up with a COBOL compiler (NetCOBOL for Windows) that delivered excellent performance and has a reputation for producing reliable code."

Ron Langer, senior director, languages, Fujitsu Software, said, "Initially, trial versions of NetCOBOL for Windows, zBatch and PowerBSORT, which slashes execution times for data merges and sorts, were used to convert and execute several COBOL programs, confirming the required level of compatibility. This was followed by two days of on-site training to help Ancor set up the target environment and procedures for the migration. Then the software and procedures were put to the test in a pilot conversion that selected a reasonable sized application to be fully migrated and put into production on a Windows server."

Ancor's goal is to be completely off the mainframe early in 2005.

For more information please visit www.netcobol.com.

About Fujitsu Software Corporation

Fujitsu Software Corporation, based in Sunnyvale, California, is part of the Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) family. The wholly owned subsidiary delivers one of the world's broadest lines of application infrastructure software products, including the Interstage(R) Suite and NetCOBOL(R). Fujitsu Software Corporation leverages Fujitsu's international scope and expertise in developing and providing information technology solutions, including more than 4,000 software developers worldwide. To learn more about Fujitsu Software Corporation, visit www.fsw.fujitsu.com.

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