SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - September 03, 2014) - Modern Systems (NASDAQ: BPHX), the leading legacy modernization company, announced a partnership with IBM SoftLayer to deliver new services.

Modern Systems offers the most options for transforming legacy technologies on the market today, including the option to have the modernized applications fully supported and managed. IBM SoftLayer will be used as the cloud-based infrastructure component for Modern Systems' Mainframe DataShare, Batch Off The Mainframe, Mainframe Rehosting, Automated Conversion and Target State Management services.

"This new relationship with IBM Soft Layer extends the relationship that we've had with IBM for 15 years, and enhances our unique position in the legacy modernization market," said Rick Oppedisano, Modern Systems VP of Global R&D and Marketing.

Partnership Targets Large Enterprises, Governments With Unique Modernization Services

The partnership will target Fortune 1000 and US Government entities seeking to modernize legacy systems. Modern Systems' legacy modernization technologies enable these customers to upgrade applications and databases in full or incremental steps. Modern Systems and IBM have a history of teaming up on successful modernization efforts, including recent projects with Walmart and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

According to IDC, 80 percent of federal cloud deployments are expected to be of the hybrid and private cloud variety. SoftLayer cloud services data centers are aimed specifically at supporting hybrid and private cloud infrastructures for government clients and the channel partners that specialize in serving them.

"Government clients will find SoftLayer services delivered via these new centers give them the ideal platform for the mission critical workloads they are moving to the cloud, or new Web-centric workloads," said Anne Altman, GM of the U.S. Federal unit at IBM. "We've designed these centers with government clients' needs in mind, investing in added security features and redundancies to provide a high level of availability."

IBM SoftLayer virtual infrastructure will be used to deliver the following Modern Systems services:

• Mainframe DataShare: enables sharing of mainframe data across the enterprise, without additional mainframe footprint or migration
• Batch Off The Mainframe: allows batch processes to be run with off-mainframe processing resources, reducing MIPS and cost while leaving applications and end users undisturbed
• Mainframe Rehosting:  reduces cost by moving infrastructure from mainframe to open systems, reduces risk by maintaining legacy applications and codebase
• Automated Conversion: applications and databases that are converted to Java and DB2 leverage SoftLayer infrastructure as target environment
• Target State Management: modernized applications monitored and managed remotely by Modern Systems and IBM SoftLayer

"Our success with IBM has been driven by goals of risk mitigation, cost reduction and data accessibility," says Oppedisano. "Customers have the choice of moving to open systems entirely or modernizing existing applications on the mainframe -- either way, we can help."

About Modern Systems

Modern Systems (NASDAQ: BPHX) provides legacy modernization services. Formed by a merger between industry leaders BluePhoenix and ATERAS, our portfolio includes a comprehensive suite of tools and services for automated mainframe modernization. Leveraging over 20 years of best-practice domain expertise, Modern Systems works closely with its customers to minimize risk and provide a clear path from legacy platforms like COBOL, Natural/Adabas and others to modern solutions like SQL, DB2, Java and more. Modern Systems customers come from diverse industries and vertical markets such as automotive, banking and financial services, insurance, manufacturing, and retail. Modern Systems has 6 offices in the USA, UK, Italy, Romania, and Israel.

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