OpenConnect Systems has launched soa-Solution, amainframe-to-service-oriented-architecture (SOA) suite designed totransform business process knowledge used throughout the extendedenterprise into secure and complete mainframe services.

Western Reserve Group (WRG), a property/casualty carrier locatedin Wooster, Ohio, was involved in beta testing the product. DanPitcher, the carrier's vice president of IT, explains WRG has beenseeking a common service to leverage across what the insurer viewsas completely separate and distinct applications but with similarcore activities.

OpenConnect's soaSolution consists of three core componentsdesigned to improve return on legacy investment while eliminatingthe risk of migrating mainframe information and applications toSOAs. The components are soa-Comprehend, soaConfigure, andsoaConnect.

WRG has been testing the Comprehend solution to establish thedata, the maps, and the navigation routes of the carrier's back-endsystems as well as systems the carrier has already Web enabled.Pitcher believes this component ultimately will improve thecarrier's performance. WRG also has an auto reconnect script to beused when users get disconnected before they establish an onlinesession. "It really was surprising to us 41 percent of the timethere is an [online] disconnect," Pitcher says.

Speed and connections are going to become increasingly importantas Web applications get more complex, contends Pitcher. "Inessence, [the product] allows you to visualize the process andmonitor it," he says.

There are other advantages that may not be in the forefront ofwhat WRG is doing right now, explains Pitcher, but they will proveto be beneficial. "Because of the way the Open-Connect productworks, [users] don't have to maintain [everything] in memory," hesays. "We feel it is a resource efficiency issue for us."

The soaComprehend component is the cornerstone of the new suiteas it captures and exploits the latent business process knowledgeexercised daily in the enterprise to automate the creation ofmainframe-to-SOA services. soaComprehend applies business processlogic to observe user interactions with an organization's mainframeassets in a secure, noninvasive environment, revealing a detailedunderstanding of real-world application- and information-usepatterns, OpenConnect explains. The resulting application use-mapenables organizations to focus on SOA-enablement efforts on onlyhigh-use, high-opportunity areas of business processimprovement.

The soaConfigure component allows organizations to harnessbusiness process logic to build better services and ensure rapiddevelopment and deployment. By leveraging business processknowledge available through the soaSolution, any developer, evenone lacking either mainframe or Web experience, can createautomatically appropriate SOA services based on either screen logicinterfaces (SLI) or advanced direct-access methods using CICSdirect interfaces (CDI), OpenConnect claims. The soaConfigurecomponent eases implementation by reconciling the IT skill gapsthat exist within organizations' business groups, which often donot house both the mainframe and Web expertise necessary to ensureseamless deployments.

Security is a value proposition of mainframe architectures, andthe financial implications of security and regulatory complianceare growing concerns for corporations. Opening mainframeapplications to SOA platforms has the potential to diminish anorganization's ability to prevent unauthorized access andfacilitate audit trails needed for security and complianceinitiatives, the company notes.

The soaConnect component allows companies to access mainframeapplications and information through an SOA delivery model whilemaintaining security. Whether this access is created through SLI orCDI, soaConnect allows for highly scalable, run-time access andemploys strict security parameters, including access administrationbased on end-user credentials, source IP, and time-of-dayconsiderations.

"Everything we do at OpenConnect–from R&D efforts throughdeployment–is focused on one key competitive differential:providing the best customer value on the market," says Edward M.Peters, CEO of OpenConnect. "While solutions providers are floodingthe market with so-called mainframe-to-SOA offerings, OpenConnecthas pioneered the specific business process logic and securityinnovations necessary to ensure customers can leverage theefficiencies and savings of SOAs with lowest possible risk."

The OpenConnect product can simplify matters for carriers,according to Pitcher. "It can define and generate the XML templatesdirectly from copy books," he says. "If we make a change to themainframe system in one of the copy books, [the system]automatically can discover that change and dynamically generate anupdate to the data dictionary."