ASNA proudly announces Monarch 11 for .NET, the latest iteration of its IBM i RPG migration suite. Monarch 11 migrates IBM i RPG applications (RPG III or RPG IV) to Microsoft .NET.

By ASNA

Monarch 11 creates MS ASP.NET Core Web applications with Razor pages. Introduced with Monarch 11 is ASNA Encore RPG. Encore RPG facilitates RPG migrations by producing either a .NET-based free-format version of RPG or Microsoft C#. ASNA Monarch 11 for .NET is available now.

Game changing application migration technology

The pending retirement of RPG programmers drives most of ASNA's IBM i migrations today. Businesses are quickly realizing that without their RPG team, they cannot maintain and enhance the decades-old, large estate RPG application that drives the business.

Encore RPG is a game-changer for IBM i application migrations. Encore RPG has a free-format RPG syntax and compiles to .NET. That's great for shops who have RPG programming teams who plan to work for three or four more years before retiring. But longer-term, an RPG migration to an RPG target isn't strategic for most shops. Encore RPG's super power is that not only can it compile to a .NET executable, it can also produce a C# version of the application--on demand at anytime.

This enables the RPG team to work with the migrated application for a period, teaching and training the C# team about the application. When the RPG team is ready to hang up its keyboard, the project can very simply be saved, with no other special preparation, as a C# application. Encore RPG provides a seamless transfer of power to the C# team.

Encore RPG also mitigates risk. It takes a leap of faith to go from green-screen RPG to C# overnight. Encore RPG empowers RPG/C# transition at a safe and calculated pace. Should your IBM i shop be confident its C# team is 100% ready to assume control of the migrated application, then you can bypass Encore RPG's RPG to migrate the application directly to C#.

Monarch 11 migrates both hand-coded or Synon/Cool:2E/CA-generated applications. The green-screen user interface is transformed to HTML 5 Web pages (driven by ASP.NET Core and Razor pages). The RPG and CL is transformed into either Encore RPG or C#. RPG applications don't depend solely on RPG source; they also need many IBM i idioms and facilities. Monarch 11's sophisticated runtime engine (for which the source is available) brings forward IBM i idioms such as program calls, activation groups, QTemp, library lists, and many more.

Deliberate and comprehensive methodology

ASNA has been migrating IBM i RPG applications since 2005. Through our rich and deep migration experience, we've created the best RPG migration methodology in the business. Before the first line of code is migrated, our team has investigated and evaluated your application, looking for every potential migration roadblock (such as, third-party dependencies, antiquated RPG practices, missing RPG source, and job workflow dependencies). Our goal is to ensure a surprise-free migration. Migrating a large RPG application is tough, hard work. Our thoughtful and complete migration plan makes the work easier, minimizes risks, and provides full migration transparency through a clear roadmap.

Next generation application migration

"RPG programmer retirement gets more critical with each passing month. ASNA Monarch 11 and Encore RPG offer a unique and very capable solution for crafting a plan to get your mission-critical RPG application into younger programmer hands. We are very excited and proud to deliver our new generation of ASNA migration products," says ASNA President and CEO Carlos Valero.

ASNA has provided innovative enterprise computing solutions for the IBM midrange community since 1982. Headquartered in San Antonio since the mid-90s, with additional offices in Spain, ASNA specializes in the modernization and migration of IBM midrange RPG applications. ASNA offers a full suite of integrated software and services designed to maximize the value of IBM i RPG assets.