High-tech mining company MIBRAG have chosen Transoft, the business systems transformation experts, to assist them in migrating their OpenVMS applications to a Windows operating system.

MIBRAG, one of the largest brown coal producers in Germany, was running critical lignite mining, modelling and data processing systems on an ageing HP OpenVMS Alpha server hardware. The applications were written in Fortran using the Rdb database and DCL scripting language, and supported the production processes and the accounting functions of the open cast mining operations.

Transoft migrated the applications to an open and flexible Microsoft Windows Server environment using Oracle 11g to replace the Rdb database. Transoft utilised the Open Libr8 and Open DCL products to support the OpenVMS system. Transoft used their Legacy Liberator toolset for OpenVMS, automating the majority of the migration process, reducing the delivery time, minimising the cost yet ensuring the quality of the migration.

Transoft’s Sales and Marketing Director, Ed Jones, commented: “We were delighted to have been chosen for this significant project and it further consolidates Transoft’s position as the premier OpenVMS migration company. More and more companies with mature mission-critical applications on older platforms view migration as the most cost-effective and least risk replacement option.”

Rainer Waldbauer, CIO of MIBRAG, explained the decision to use Transoft. “We chose Transoft for this complex and demanding migration as it had both the technical expertise to convert our OpenVMS applications to Windows and also its well-established migration methodology. They delivered on time and on budget.”

By taking advantage of Transoft’s expertise, MIBRAG will be able to reduce its operating cost while achieving greater reliability and flexibility for the future.

Further information (external website)