The company offers services for the Dutch automotive sector in the areas of information, communication, and data processing.

• IBM Mainframe with the operating systems z/VM and z/VSE
• Linux Server, UNIX, and Windows workstations
• Database system IDMS, MS SQL Server, and Db2/LUW

The network-oriented database system IDMS is to be replaced by the relational system Db2 (Unix) and MS SQL Server (Windows) at the same time as the migration of the IBM mainframe to the Unix and Windows platforms.

Before the migration, new applications were developed to access the IDMS databases with the help of tcACCESS and the use of ODBC from Windows and UNIX applications using SQL. To implement the migration, tcVISION was used to automatically determine all changes in the IDMS in real time and to synchronize them with Db2 / LUW and Microsoft MS SQL Server databases. The IDMS network topology was mirrored in the relational world. It is important that the different systems are at eye level and that changes can be carried out in parallel. Organizational measures were implemented to ensure parallel use. This affects applications running under UNIX / AIX and Windows.

Since all applications can make changes at the same time, it must be ensured that changes to a system are not replicated back into the source system after the adaptation. This is very specific and complex, especially in connection with IDMS. However, tcVISION's loopback process ensures error-free processing.

All applications were migrated to the new platforms and databases much faster than originally planned. Through the use of tcVISION, the parallel operation between the 3 involved platforms was ensured, which ultimately also enabled a problem-free - and shorter than planned - migration.