14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has applauded the fact that the Windows solution ecosystem continues to flourish as more and more organizations are abandoning mainframe infrastructure and are embracing the Redmond Company's platform. The migration from legacy system to the Windows operating system is backed by an organization spawned in 2004 and dubbed Mainframe Migration Alliance. On May 29, 2007, the Alliance has celebrated passing the 100 members milestone. Microsoft is one of the stronger supporters of mainframe migration, as it also offers the alternative solutions in Windows Server.
"Listening to market trends, we heard many concerns about the lack of agility and costs of maintaining legacy, mainframe solutions," said Spyros Sakellariadis, director of Legacy Modernization at Microsoft Corp. "Working with other vendors, system integrators and OEMs, the MMA was born to help customers understand that existing options can deliver value and competitive advantages. The MMA recognizes and thanks all the outstanding members for their participation and willingness to help facilitate the transition of its common customers from mainframe systems to the Microsoft Windows Server platform."
Microsoft's position on mainframe migration is that legacy systems are obsolete in terms of the next generation's business and technical challenge, but that Windows Server is more than able to resolve the problem. Mainframe Migration Alliance has been growing in size since its debut, with 40 new members added just over the past year.
"We see the breadth of membership as essential to offering a full range of choices to organizations as they decide how to integrate, re-host, re-platform and rewrite their legacy applications," said Susan Tauzer, Itanium marketing director at Intel Corporation. "The MMA represents the leading edge of a larger community that delivers and deploys workloads on Windows that were historically the domain of big iron."