How will integrated environments for multi-tiered Java development evolve during the next five years?
A U.S.-based insurance company undertook a pilot project to determine the efficacy of wrapping legacy OS/390 applications with Java. Although the results were positive, work is still in progress. AFLAC is a U.S.-based insurance company whose primary line of business is supplemental health and life insurance. Its IS organization maintains an application portfolio built on the foundation of the Life/70 product. The aging Life/70 system was originally implemented in IBM 370/Assembler with a fair degree of modularity. Problem: AFLAC’s Life/70 portfolio lacks the flexibility necessary for the evolving demands of the insurance industry. The problem of having to hire 370/Assembler or COBOL programmers makes the system difficult to evolve in a timely, cost-effective manner. Although the system is somewhat modular, it cannot leverage the advantages of OO architecture, design and construction. It is time-consuming to modify or enhance, and it lacks visual development tools that would support pro
