CHICAGO, IL -- Results of a recently-completed study by DePaul University's Laboratory for Software Metrics conclude that companies looking to Web-enable mission critical applications can do so up to three times faster with Micro Focus' COBOL reuse technology, and at one third of the salary expense, than manually rewriting applications in Java. As businesses seek alternatives to expensive, time-consuming overhauls of critical systems in order to modernize their legacy applications, COBOL reuse technology becomes a strategic business consideration. Micro Focus' Net Express(R), a COBOL development environment for Windows and UNIX platforms, provides the most appropriate path for extending and deploying reused COBOL assets as well as separating key business functions into components or services and integrating the application with contemporary systems written in Java, COM or .NET. By Web-enabling existing applications, companies are able to extend the return on investment of legacy technologies and better compete through simplified access to business critical information. In addition, using renewal technology such as Net Express, companies are better able to comply with time and budget constraints while allowing programmers to pursue corporate growth projects. Dr. Howard A. Kanter and Dr. Thomas J. Muscarello, directors of DePaul University's Laboratory of Software Metrics, led a team of researchers to compare a full manual rewrite of a legacy system in Java with a project deployed using Net Express renewal software. The results proved that, even with a test application, extending the existing COBOL application took only one third of the time required for a Java rewrite. According to the study, COBOL renewal technology allows for quicker analysis and understanding of data in addition to minimizing the need for testing and debugging. "Functional and information technology management together face a critical decision in determining whether to adopt a reuse or a rewrite strategy," said Dr. Kanter. "If you apply the problems we identified in the study to real-world applications, the difference in risk and cost between rewriting and reuse becomes very significant." Because of the increased level of competition created by the Internet, companies are forced to be particular regarding their application development strategies. Indeed, as the business benefits are realized, reuse is an increasingly popular strategy among companies with legacy applications. According to Gartner Inc.'s research evaluating Java and the mainframe, "an evolutionary approach must be taken, because we do not believe it is currently possible to replace yesterday's most mission-critical, industrial-strength applications in Java application environments. Java should be treated as an extension/integration approach, and existing systems should be restructured, where appropriate." This DePaul study demonstrates the potential magnitude of difference between the two strategies. The DePaul study, entitled "An Empirical Analysis of Alternative Software Strategies for Migrating Mission Critical Legacy Applications to the World Wide Web," is now available from Micro Focus at www.microfocus.com or DePaul University by contacting Dr. Kanter at hkanter@depaul.edu. In addition to assessing Net Express, this study analyzed Micro Focus' EnterpriseLink software; results of this component of the study may be found at www.enterpriselink.com. For more information visit www.microfocus.com.