August 2005

Eloquence, AcuCOBOL extend migration tools

Database, compiler alternatives extend HP 3000 features

Even while HP and its user group took downturns over the past 30 days with layoffs and closings, a pair of software companies continued to work on lifting the resource levels for 3000 customers moving on to other HP computing platforms. Marxmeier Software AG and Acucorp both rolled out new versions of their flagship products for database and development work.

Marxmeier is releasing version 7.10 of Eloquence, the database that works like the native IMAGE/SQL database included with HP 3000s. Eloquence runs on HP-UX, Windows and Linux platforms, the three most popular destinations for 3000 sites working on migrations. But the latest Eloquence release pushes an HP 3000 tool even further into the non-3000 environments.

Query, the fundamental database search tool that’s wired into many HP 3000 jobstreams and processes, now runs on Windows and Linux systems as a result of Marxmeier’s new release. Marxmeier AG had created QUERY3K, based on HP’s source code from the MPE/iX version of Query, for PA-RISC HP-UX systems last fall. Now the entry-level tool runs on new platforms.

“We have converted QUERY3K to the C language and ported it to additional platforms,” said Michael Marxmeier, the company’s founder and chief developer. “We now provide a release for Linux, Windows and HP-UX — both for PA-RISC and Itanium-based HP-UX servers.” The previous version of QUERY3K was only available for PA-RISC-based HP 9000s.

The 7.10 release also improves database migration procedures. A new bulk load option “provides much better data migration performance, especially with sorted chains,” Marxmeier said, “and it will retain path order for all paths.

The database has also been enhanced to support auditing of database changes. Individual changes may now be attributed to specific application processes or users.

In order to enhance performance of a database which already outperforms Oracle and SQL Server, Eloquence now detects and optimizes some common IMAGE specific access sequences. “Specifically, this has the potential of improving performance for a number of reporting utilities such as QUERY3K,” Marxmeier said, “without requiring any changes.”

The 7.10 release can now manage volumes four times larger than in prior releases. With previous versions the overall size of all databases managed by a server instance was limited to about 500 GB. “The storage available to a server instance is now a few TB,” Marxmeier said. The release also includes some minor indexing enhancements to respond to customer enhancement requests.

For more information or to receive a free trial download of Eloquence, contact Marxmeier at marxmeier.com/eloquence.

ACUCOBOL extensions

Acucorp, the company which created a COBOL compiler that processes HP 3000 COBOL II intrinsics, has built up its extend suite of COBOL development tools with better Java, C and C++ interoperability. These new facilities in extend7 make it possible to call COBOL from Java and Java from COBOL. As a result, customers can now support systems written in both languages, maintaining COBOL business rules alongside the Java capabilities and support functions.

The new release removes an ACUCOBOL customer’s need to use the Java integration tools from migration software provider Transoft. Those tools became available earlier this year when Transoft entered the migration software tools business.

Acucorp’s top developer said the new release features continue to offer new ways to carry COBOL applications forward after a migration.

“We have always viewed extend as a road forward for existing COBOL applications,” said Drake Coker, Acucorp’s chief scientist and co-founder. “With Version 7, developers can continue to enhance the COBOL applications that run their companies without the costs and risks of replacing these business-critical systems.”

Version 7 also introduces a greatly expanded interface for calling ACUCOBOL-GT programs from C and C++. This improved functionality simplifies the integration between ACUCOBOL-GT and application servers like BEA WebLogic or IBM WebSphere, which often use interfaces written in C to facilitate their integration with different applications.

For more information on extend7, contact Acucorp at www.acucorp.com.