Hello! Fixed cost of 25› per LOC for COBOL, 400K lines per week, and a 99% success rate. Hmmmmmm. "....maximum use of automation....", I should hope so. It looks like the competition is heating up.
Bond
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Catch/21 From TSR Offers Fast Year 2000
Compliance for Only 25 Cents Per Line of Code
Business Wire - July 09, 1997 15:52
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 1997--Year 2000/ IT executives
worried about selecting the right tool for Year 2000 conversion can breathe a little
easier. Today there is a solution from TSR that not only does the job at one-third
the cost of other approaches, but in less than half the time as well. Called Catch/21,
it is an integrated software and conversion process for legacy-based COBOL systems.
Catch/21 costs only 25 cents per line of code -- substantially less than the going
rates, and it cuts implementation time by two-thirds, with TSR turning around at
least 400,000 lines per analyst team per week. Companies using the Catch/21
solution from TSR include Schering-Plough, ADP, United HealthCare,
McGraw-Hill, Newsday, AIG-AIU, Fiserv and LILCO. The Catch/21 solution takes a
different approach from existing Year 2000 conversion methods. Rather than
expanding, reformatting or windowing date fields, it uses a Sliding Century
Adjustment Routine (SCAR) to slide the whole century to a new span. Upon entry
to program logic, date fields pass through the Sliding Century Adjustment Routine
(SCAR), and are dynamically changed, or slid, according to a designated base year.
The slid dates are then SCAR-restored to their original value, after logic has been
executed. With Catch/21, program logic and file formats are left unchanged. "What
sets Catch/21 apart is that it is significantly less expensive and works faster than all
the other Year 2000 conversion approaches. And it's a proven solution," says
Joseph Hughes, CEO of TSR. "We believe once people see for themselves how
quickly and easily Catch/21 works, their minds will be made up." To that effect,
TSR is offering the No-Risk Catch/21 Pilot: provide TSR with 100,000 lines of
COBOL code, and their analysts will convert it at TSR's conversion facility, and
have it ready for testing in about a week. Time and cost are two of the most
important factors companies consider when deciding on a conversion process.
Catch/21 helps beat the millennium clock because it requires no changes to file
formats or program logic, reducing implementation time. (The fact that a TSR
analyst team can easily convert more than 400,000 lines of code per week is an
unheard of rate in the industry.) And the overall testing process that must occur
after the conversion takes place is considerably diminished, going from what could
be for some companies a year-long, labor-intensive process, to a streamlined
procedure that takes only weeks. Even before testing begins, converted programs
are already 99 percent bug-free. At 25 per line of code, Catch/21 is by far one of the
most cost-effective conversion services available. Even for companies with modest
legacy systems, the savings can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. TSR is
able to charge less per line of code because Catch/21 makes maximum use of
automation, eliminating the potential for human error and reducing the amount
of labor involved. The 25 cents per line of code is a fixed cost as well, so IT
executives can provide accurately predict conversion costs. TSR expects to support
other legacy platforms besides COBOL systems by the third quarter of this year.
Headquartered in Hauppauge, N.Y., TSR is a technology services company that
provides consulting and Year 2000 solutions to a variety of industries. It has the
capacity to produce an estimated 40 million lines of converted code each month,
and expects to double that output by the end of third quarter '97. For more
information about Catch/21, contact Lisa Amoroso or Annette Jenkins at
1-888-4-CATCH21.
CONTACT: Media Contact:
Wireless Words
Meg McDonald, 516/565-1392 |
