Software AG to buy Sabratec

In a bid to expand Software AG's legacy modernization capabilities, company officials plan to acquire Sabratec. Sabratec developed ApplinX, a legacy conversion tool that integrates applications written in Cobol and other legacy languages with contemporary, service-oriented architectures.

ApplinX allows the integration without requiring users to rewrite source code, said Joe Gentry, vice president for enterprise transaction systems at Software AG.

"Our customers have clearly indicated that the long-term value of their legacy systems resides in the ability to quickly and easily integrate those systems with service-oriented architectures via Web services," Gentry said. "With the addition of ApplinX, Software AG's legacy modernization strategy will fully address this critical enterprise requirement by encompassing all major legacy system platforms."

ApplinX captures business logic at the presentation level. The system can analyze the steps required to get particular points of data into or out of a legacy system and create a Web service to accomplish the needed task. The Web service can then be invoked as needed to allow the existing system to interact with other parts of the agency's architecture.

"Service-oriented architectures will increasingly become the preferred method for integrating existing mainframe applications into more modern business technology environments," said Dale Vecchio, research director at Gartner.

The acquisition is part of an ongoing strategy at Software AG to strengthen the company's legacy modernization capabilities.