Though Internet applications have taken center stage, and nobody's building new Cobol and CICS green-screen apps, it's clear that the mainframe isn't dead. Prices have gone up in the last two years; IBM's mainframe business grew 15% last year; and companies don't want to waste the billions of dollars they've already spent on mainframe hardware and applications.

Micro Focus International Ltd. this week is unveiling technology designed to help IT managers blend the Web and the mainframe. EnterpriseLink with Component Generator is Micro Focus' newest version of its legacy-to-Web integration and transformation tool that automatically loads legacy information onto the Web or graphical-user-interface-based LANs. The tool relies on interfaces to which programmers are accustomed; it requires no programming because Micro Focus engineers have already built algorithms into Component Generator.

The tool also can be used to get legacy information out to some 200 handheld devices, including units from Research in Motion and Palm, with help from Novarra Inc., whose software handles all the different handheld interfaces.

EnterpriseLink with Component Generator makes it easier to transfer legacy information to newer systems, says Mark Haynie, VP of enterprise extension. Equally important, Haynie says, are the security mechanisms built into the software. The tool lets IT managers map the digital IDs used for mainframe access, known as Resource Access Control Facility, to Internet devices and other systems.

"CIOs trust that security system with a single password controlling all mainframe access, not immature Internet protocols," Haynie says.

Extending mainframe security, which is recognized by many as tough protection that's withstood the test of time, to Web applications is as important as transforming legacy applications into Java or VisualStudio.Net for the Internet, Hurwitz Group analyst Tyler McDaniel says. But he also says some companies may want to keep their legacy applications just as they are. That's because legacy apps can be 20 years old and central to the company's business process, McDaniel says. If companies change their legacy applications, he adds, they might have to change the business process, and "then they might have to reorganize the company."