Companies want to update the applications and move the data onto Web servers and thus to the Internet where they, their customers and their partners can make better use of it. Among other things, this is creating a spike in demand for programmers versed in the lost art of Cobol.
Industries leading the Web-enable charge include financial services, insurance and real estate.
Alliant wanted to let customers log onto the Web and find out exactly what was in stock and what could be delivered when. That's where LegacyJ Corp., a San Jose, Calif., software company that does Web-enabling, came into the picture. It's cheaper to Web-enable than to build and buy new systems, says Vecchio. What modifying can mean is rewriting or translating the original system into another programming language. Some 50 U.S. companies provide Web-enabling.