Google Cloud has bought Cornerstone Technology, a mainframe cloud migration service firm, with a vision toward helping Big Iron customers move workloads to the public and private cloud.
Cornerstone is an industry pioneer in breaking the mainframe monolith programs into Java microservices or Java monoliths. It allows different enterprises to leverage advanced services on the Google Cloud.
In a statement, Google said the Cornerstone technology, which is found in its G4 platform, has the potential of shaping the foundation of its future mainframe-to-Google Cloud offerings. It was also added that the Cornerstone technology will help mainframe customers modernize applications and infrastructure.
Howard Weale, Google’s director, Transformation Practice, commented the tools of Cornerstone through the use of automated processes can break down your Cobol, PL/1, or Assembler programs into services and then make them cloud native, such as within a managed, containerized environment. Weale added many customers want to break their mainframe monolith programs into either Java monoliths or Java microservices as the industry increasingly builds applications as a set of services.
The Cornerstone service of Google Cloud will:
- Convert any language to any other language and any database to any other database for preparing applications for modern environment.
- Automate the migration of workloads to the Google Cloud.
- Develop a migration roadmap where Google will be assessing the mainframe environment of a customer and creating a roadmap to a modern services architecture.
In a statement, Matt Eastwood, senior vice president, Enterprise Infrastructure, Cloud, Developers and Alliances, IDC, remarked that easy mainframe migration will go a long way as Google attracts large enterprises to its cloud.
This move by Google is a part of its efforts to stay competitive and relevant in the face of mainframe offerings from IBM/RedHat, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services.
