» VIEW ALL POSTS Jun 23 2009   4:17PM GMT

RPG as a service



Posted by: Leah Rosin
AS/400, IBM i, RPG on System i, RPGAAS, cloud computing, IBM System i staffing, IBM System i programming

Beyond the world of IBM i, the hottest topic in IT right now is “Cloud Computing,” which is essentially a mix of platform and software-as-a-service (PaaS and SaaS) offerings that are available on-demand. So it was with a little amusement and some interest that I read the press release from vLegaci offering RPGAAS. That’s right, RPG as a service.

“… designed for companies who don’t always have an RPG programmer available, or need quick, cost-effective programming results…”

After a year of reading emails from readers inquiring about a variety of topics, I have to think that there is a market for such a product, and vLegaci’s President, Steve Kilner, says that Gartner’s findings support this supposition.

“Consensus is emerging from IT thought leaders such as Gartner Group and Capers Jones that maintaining and modernizing legacy systems gives the best possible return on IT dollars,” said Kilner. “For businesses with legacy RPG systems, the dwindling pool of RPG programmers poses the challenge of how to get unfamiliar programmers up to speed rapidly on complicated legacy code. vLegaci addresses this through the use of its innovative program comprehension tool, Codelyzer. This static and dynamic analysis tool enables new programmers to quickly assess unfamiliar RPG programs, thereby enabling the concept of a service such as RPGAAS.”

What do you think? Is this a service your company could use?

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Sas3142  |   Jun 26 2009   4:06AM GMT

can i know more about thie service. We as an organisation have Iseries server with one croe application running on it. But we do not have RPG experties in house.


 

Fabergent  |   Jun 26 2009   5:53AM GMT

We provide service on AS/400 aplications and do mordenise the applications of existing RPG codes, the above topic is very intresting as RPG as service, We are located in India and provide good service with quality on time, contact at  <a href="mailto:suresh@fabergent.com" title="mailto:suresh@fabergent.com">suresh at fabergent.com</a>


 

Victxprog  |   Jun 29 2009   3:44PM GMT

If an outside party will be working on your code, they will need access to your data to do testing. If you can provide them with test files that don’t contain confidential data, fine. Otherwise, they will have access to everything on your customers and can download it in minutes. Something to think about when chossing a vendor.


 

Therealmc  |   Jun 29 2009   3:57PM GMT

I too can offer RPGAAS sevices, I am based in Ireland and can be contacted at  <a href="mailto:Michael_Carroll@IOLFREE.IE" title="mailto:Michael_Carroll@IOLFREE.IE">Michael_Carroll at IOLFREE.IE</a>


 

Runelf  |   Jun 29 2009   4:25PM GMT

As there become fewer and fewer RPG programmers, we are slowly forcing employers to either use a RPGSAAS (whether here, Ireland or India), or eliminate the RPG platforms and applications over time and convert to other systems.

There are many employers that have a lot invested in these RPG platforms and applications. They are having a very hard time to find qualified programmers. For them the RPGSAAS makes sense to get a longer lease on their investment.

I would like to see a push to have RPG taught in the Universities and Community College. Let’s get some more and newer RPG programmers into the system. If we don’t we are forcing its obsolescence.


 

Eag0217  |   Jun 29 2009   6:20PM GMT

In this economic environment I cannot imagine a dearth of RPG programmers. I myself am a 20 year unemployed veteran of the language looking for opportunities anywhere in the US and in my search I’ve noticed quite a few others out there in my same boat. However, given the nature of technology and human nature to look for the next best thing, it’s no wonder rumblings for change is occurring. Is this a good thing, absolutely, if it saves on costs and continues to provide quality solutions businesses require.


 

Jgsnsbt  |   Jun 30 2009   7:10AM GMT

I do share the opinion with [victxprog]. We are on RPG and ILE for about 20 years now and all the experiences with AS/400 customers show, that they are very sensitive when it comes down to the data. One thing is having someone on your box you even haven’t seen before, the other thing is long-term maintainability of anonymously written code. I’ve seen all kinds of programmers and all kinds of code. It’s not always what it should be and it’s not always maintainable.


 

Rohit11  |   Jun 30 2009   1:32PM GMT

We are into giving support to AS/400 ERPs, currently working on various projects and this product really sounds good.. can we also know about this please?
Also those who need support for their AS/400, we can help… our office is at NJ in US and at MUMBAI, Banglore, Pune in India
you can reach me at  <a href="mailto:rshinde@cdcgs.com" title="mailto:rshinde@cdcgs.com">rshinde at cdcgs.com</a> or  <a href="mailto:rohitrup@gmail.com" title="mailto:rohitrup@gmail.com">rohitrup at gmail.com</a>
Thanks


 

Bhop  |   Jun 30 2009   3:35PM GMT

I have worked on the S/34 S/36 S/38 AS/400 iSeries and RS6000 in RPG II III IV(with/without ILE usage), Free(with/without ILE usage) and RPGII through UNIBOL.
To me this just sounds like off-site programming. Any qualified RPG programmer could do the same thing for a company. ( I do this a lot on top of my normal contracts ) But then again I have built up a trust/relationship with each one of my Clients.

But for this to work you still have to be able to contact each business areas as needed to ask questions or have a committed contact at the company for those questions. And YOU WILL HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR UNIQUE WAY OF DOING THINGS. Example…. no two Warehouses will work “exactly” the same and a lot of times that is within the same company. Detail Design Specs, even written by the “company expert”, will always be lacking in some way or another.

Communication is the key.

I would like to know more about their “state of the art program comprehension tools” because I can not see why the same quality work can not be produce with a good programmer and the existing tools available now.

 <a href="mailto:williamjhopkins@yahoo.com" title="mailto:williamjhopkins@yahoo.com">williamjhopkins at yahoo.com</a>

Please note…. I know my rates would be cheaper also. Interested just contact me. Incorporated, Insured, and Bonded