Modernizing Applications for Tomorrow’s Demands
Application modernization is vital for businesses to stay competitive, ensuring applications deliver exceptional user experiences, operate efficiently, and adapt to future needs. For many enterprises, especially those in finance, this involves transforming applications written in legacy programming languages like COBOL. With more than 50% of global banking systems relying on COBOL for its stability and unmatched data processing capabilities, modernization is no small task. However, challenges such as monolithic codebases, low test coverage, scarce expertise, and outdated documentation make it a complex endeavor.
IBM watsonx™ Code Assistant for Z: A Game-Changer
IBM watsonx™ Code Assistant for Z leverages cutting-edge generative AI to simplify and accelerate mainframe application modernization. Its core components—Understand, Refactor, Transform, and Validate—provide a seamless, end-to-end solution for transforming legacy systems. Future components like Recommend and Observe will further enhance this suite.
Key Features:
- Understand: Combines IBM’s Application Discovery and Delivery Intelligence (ADDI) toolset with AI to analyze application structure, dependencies, and quality, offering detailed natural language explanations of code in COBOL, PL1, JCL, and REXX.
- Refactor: Enables incremental modernization by modularizing monolithic applications, disentangling business functionalities, and making code easier to maintain.
- Transform: Translates COBOL code to human-readable Java, avoiding rigid, line-by-line translations and ensuring maintainable outputs.
- Validate: Automatically generates unit tests to confirm the functional equivalence of translated code, ensuring accuracy and reliability.
Powered by IBM’s Granite LLMs
At its heart is IBM’s Granite-20B-Code-Base, a 20-billion-parameter model trained on licensed, ethically sourced data from 116 programming languages. The model is enhanced through extended pretraining (EPT) and specializes in COBOL-to-Java translation and natural language explanations.
IBM’s open-source approach and adherence to AI ethics have earned recognition from Stanford’s Foundation Model Transparency Index, showcasing its commitment to trust and transparency.
Proven Impact
Clients using watsonx™ Code Assistant for Z report significant productivity gains, reducing manual effort by 15–50%. For instance, a pilot project with Westfield developers reduced the time spent on application discovery by 80% and saved 150 hours during COBOL-to-Java transformations.
The Road Ahead
IBM watsonx™ Code Assistant for Z exemplifies how AI can transform legacy application modernization. By combining automation with generative AI, it empowers organizations to extend the lifespan of their software investments while embracing innovation for the future.
For businesses ready to unlock the potential of their legacy systems, IBM watsonx™ Code Assistant for Z offers a path forward.
