By Jack Vaughan
It may not be the favorable alternative, but, very often, the alternative to application integration is the large-scale applications rewrite. Such rewrites, for example, redo .NET applications as Java ones, or vice versa. This very often turns into a very drawn out process.

Like others before it, Opal Future Technology considered a rewrite of its .NET applications when the IT infrastructure provider was charged by the Israeli government to consolidate eight government pension funds into a single unified system. In this case, however, Opal ultimately decided to use integration software from IBM and Mainsoft to consolidate a $20-billion pension fund serving 3 million participants.

Opal used Mainsoft’s Portal Edition to deploy .Net applications natively on an IBM portal. Opal integrated six .Net applications and more than 30 Java services into the portal and deployed the new system in four months. In the process, the team changed less than one-half of one percent of the .Net code base, according to an IBM statement.

Rewriting .NET applications in Java was considered, but this was judged to be too time consuming, said Alex Libis, Information and Data Security Manager of Opal. By Libis’s estimates, it would take about 18 months to redo the needed .NET applications. Instead, Libis used Mainsoft’s Portal Edition to cross-compile .NET code into JSR-168 compliant portlets that run natively on WebSphere Portal.

“We made the decision, instead of rewriting those applications, to translate .NET applications into [portal environments.], said Libis.

Libis indicated that both Java and .NET developers can now access the same Java classes and Java Server Faces objects to “deliver Java deployments.” The developers do not need to be fluent in the language of the components with which they may be working. 

“In terms of surfacing .NET applications, this gives .NET developers the ability to keep using their own Visual Studio development tools with Websphere Portal,” said Jason Anderson, product manager for Websphere Portal, IBM.

Anderson noted IBM’s arsenal of integration tools includes Web Services, interface adapters and business integration techniques and Web services. He said the company recognized Web services were not necessarily the answer for all .NET customers. It has been working with Mainsoft for over a year.

Said Anderson:, “Whenever customers approach any type of portal product there is some concern about having to migrate applications or alter application that are in place.”

“Opal is an example,” he said. “They can use a portal like ours with a minimum of retouch to their application base.”

For its part, Mainsoft continues to expand its interoperability offerings. Earlier this year, the company began to support use of the Visual Studio .NET IDE and Grasshopper to Deploy .NET Apps on Linux, As well, it announced a SQL Server Reporting Services Connector for IBM WebSphere Portal.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Interoperability, Applications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.