Sugar Land, TX (September 20, 2004) - NEON® Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEON), a leader in enterprise-class mainframe integration, today announced the availability of Shadow z/Services, a SOAP-based mainframe integration solution that allows organizations to rapidly transform CICS, IMS, and Advantage CA-IDMS applications into Web services. Increasingly organizations are turning to a modern Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) as a foundation for re-purposing mainframe investments within new composite application development.
Shadow z/Services' easy-to-use, single-step configuration can accelerate the development of mainframe Web services by eliminating the additional programming typically required with competing mainframe Web services products. Shadow z/Services' Studio interface eliminates the complexity of creating and implementing mainframe-based Web services, allowing Java and .NET developers to use existing skills and tools, increasing productivity and accelerating the ability to re-use mainframe resources in support of new business requirements.
"Organizations pursuing application strategies that include the mainframe platform should consider a services-oriented architecture for integration with new more modern platforms," said Dale Vecchio, Research Director, Gartner Research. "The realities of today's economic conditions and the failures of massive migrations to new platforms are causing companies to leverage their existing install base -- SOA is seen as a great way to do it."
Holland America Lines, a provider of luxury and exotic cruises, deployed Shadow z/Services as an interface to their Voice Response System, which allows customers to call in and check their reservation information. "The use of NEON's Shadow z/Services gave us a very convenient and straightforward way to re-use existing mainframe application code in order to provide a higher level of service to our customers," said Jerry Fica, Project Lead DBA, Holland America Lines.
"With the accelerated adoption of Web services, organizations with significant investments in mainframe technology now have a real opportunity to use the resources of the mainframe to drive new business value," said Mark Cresswell, president and CEO, NEON Systems. "NEON's new Shadow z/Services delivers an industry-leading mainframe Web services solution for organizations that need to respond quickly and cost effectively in order to meet changing business requirements. This product enables the mainframe to participate more rapidly and cost-effectively in composite application development."
Web Services Support for Business Logic and Screens
Shadow z/Services allows developers to easily expose mainframe application logic and application presentation environments as Web services. Utilizing the product's Introspection technology, developers are able to dynamically parse the application program and screen definitions and generate the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). Additionally, for screen-based applications, Shadow z/Services allows developers to orchestrate a logical flow between multiple screens to support a business process. The resulting microflow can be published as a SOAP-based Web service. To improve response times to the Web services consumer, the microflow executes from within the Shadow z/Services Address Space thereby eliminating the network latency typically associated with screen navigation solutions.
External Mainframe Web Services Support
In order to support a comprehensive Services Oriented Architecture approach, organizations need support that allows the mainframe to participate equally as both a Web services provider and Web services consumer. Shadow z/Services' Web services client component enables mainframe application developers to invoke external Web services from CICS/TS, Advantage CA-IDMS, and Batch. The mainframe application developer does not need any familiarity with SOAP or WSDL and can continue to operate within a traditional application development framework with one key difference - the easy availability of external Web services functionality.
Industry Support for Shadow z/Services
"Customers need solutions that reduce the cost and complexity of integration, particularly when it involves building composite applications that include mainframe resources. Using NEON's Shadow z/Services in combination with WebLogic Platform 8.1 allows organizations to leverage existing IT assets within Service Oriented Architectures in order to accelerate services delivery and increase business responsiveness," said Bobby Napiltonia, vice president and general manager, worldwide channels and alliances, BEA Systems.
"Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture are offering a faster and simpler approach to application and data integration," according to David Clarke, Senior Vice President of Products at Cape Clear Software. "NEON Systems' Shadow z/Services is enabling organizations to extend their mainframe applications as standards-based services which can be quickly integrated with other internal and external services via an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). Once integrated, those mainframe applications can then be combined with other IT assets to deliver new services inside the organization and out across the Internet to customers and trading partners. Cape Clear is working with NEON Systems to provide full ESB support for Shadow z/Services."
"NEON's Shadow z/Services delivers on the imperative need to simplify how proven mainframe investments can participate in new solutions to meet new business needs while still maintaining enterprise scale performance and security requirements," said Roger Sippl, CEO of Above All Software. "Above All Studio easily leverages the services generated by Shadow z/Services for rapid integration with the packaged, custom and desktop applications within the enterprise."
Shadow z/Services Technical Features:
Shadow z/Services includes several components and features designed to accelerate the development and deployment of mainframe Web services:
Availability
Shadow z/Services is generally available now through NEON’s direct sales organization and NEON’s worldwide network of distributors and resellers. For additional product information call +31(0)78 673 6341 or send an e-mail to mailto:info@formulaopensoft.com
About Shadow
NEON’s Shadow technology reclaims the value of mainframe-based services and events, providing scalable, real-time legacy integration with security across a broad range of data, applications and presentation environments. Shadow is designed to enhance mainframe integration on both a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Event-Driven Architecture (EDA). With a strong commitment to industry standards, Shadow can dramatically reduce integration complexity and accelerate application development for systems based on J2EE, .NET or Web Services. Delivering the flexibility to meet customers’ unique implementation needs, Shadow can be cost-effectively deployed as either an infrastructure-based, programmatic integration server or a suite of mainframe adapters.
About NEON Systems
NEON Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEON) is a leading provider of enterprise-class mainframe integration solutions, delivering a unified mainframe integration platform to support the entire range of requirements for modern Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) and emerging Event-Driven Architectures (EDA). NEON’s Shadow technology is designed to reduce the complexity of mainframe integration allowing large organizations with significant commitment to mainframe systems to streamline incumbent technologies and lower total cost of ownership. With decades of mainframe expertise, NEON is uniquely qualified to reduce the risk organizations face when supporting new business initiatives that integrate with mainframe systems. For more information on the future of mainframe integration, see our website at www.neonsys.com.
Media Relations Contact:
Calvin Fudge
NEON Systems, Inc.
(281) 491-4200 (U.S.)
Fax (281) 634-8274
calvin.fudge@neonsys.com
The NEON logo, Shadow, Shadow Direct and Shadow Web Server are registered trademarks, and Shadow Connect, Shadow Event Publisher, Shadow Event Connect and Shadow Console are trademarks of NEON Systems, Inc. in the USA and in other select countries. All other trademarks, service marks and product or service names are the property of their respective owners.