ARCAD Software,, a leading vendor in software solutions for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) on IBM Power, and Business Computer Design (BCD), a market leader in IBM i and multi-platform application modernization solutions, announced today a strategic technology partnership aimed at extending automation in the modernization process. This partnership will give IBM i shops an enterprise-level capability for accelerated and continuous delivery of high quality web applications to their customers and users.

The latest Version 9.3 of the ARCAD-Skipper solution for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) integrates support for BCD’s rapid IBM i and multi-platform web development solutions, WebSmart ILE and PHP. Both WebSmart editions help IBM i and other programmers develop new desktop and mobile web applications while leveraging their RPG skills and minimizing the web development learning curve through the use of templates and wizards. The ILE edition generates IBM i-centric RPG web applications whereas the PHP edition produces customizable open-source PHP web applications that run on IBM i, Windows, Linux or Unix. The web applications can access databases such as DB2/400, MySQL, MS SQL and Oracle.

“Both BCD and ARCAD Software are highly experienced players in modernization on IBM i who have designed solutions specifically with programmers in mind,” says Philippe Magne, CEO and president of ARCAD Software. “The integration of ARCAD-Skipper ALM and WebSmart is a non-intrusive solution that automates the entire change process and web development lifecycle, from request tracking through change control up to synchronous deployment to test and production environments. WebSmart developers can retain their familiar IDE while ARCAD-Skipper manages changes behind the scenes, keeping an audit trail throughout the process.” Indeed, with ARCAD, developers can benefit from the best of both worlds with access to the features of both WebSmart IDE and Rational Developer for i (RDi).

According to Marcel Sarrasin, one of BCD’s Product Managers, “We chose ARCAD Software as a technology partner because of their commitment to unified ALM support across open and multi-platform systems, which fits well with WebSmart, and their long-proven application analysis technology that’s unrivalled in the IBM i market.”

“WebSmart is about making programmers more productive,” says Sarrasin. “The integration with ARCAD-Skipper is set to bring automation and even more productivity gains to our WebSmart customers on multiple levels.” First, ARCAD offers detailed impact analysis between heterogeneous languages such as RPG, PHP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, helping developers scope their work and ensuring the accuracy of updates. Second, the dependency knowledge stored in the ARCAD repository enables complete recompilation (build) of application artifacts in a single pass, which shortens time to delivery. Finally, ARCAD technology synchronizes application deployment to multiple platforms – IBM i, UNIX, Linux and Windows – in a single, automated process, with traceability and rollback on error. These three features help control IT costs and secure the continuous reliability of applications in production.

“Automatic recompilation of dependent components is especially valuable in the case of database upgrades,” states Magne. “Changes in database structure are a tough challenge in most modernization projects, and ARCAD simplifies the whole process, while ensuring the integrity of the delivered application.”

At a management level, the increased automation from integrated WebSmart and ARCAD solutions can significantly reduce development costs and shorten delivery cycles. IT managers also gain a clear view of project advancement and cross-platform traceability for compliance reporting.

“ARCAD guarantees a common, coherent solution for managing hybrid applications along the path to modernization,” concludes Magne. “Our solutions manage the full lifecycle of mixed WebSmart sources, their generated code, together with existing legacy components, all in one single, secured process.”

“We are excited to release this technology integration with BCD and advance our mission of accessible and enterprise-wide modernization for the IBM i platform.”

Founded in 1992, ARCAD Software develops and markets a complete, integrated software suite dedicated to automating and ensuring the reliability and traceability of application changes in multi-platform environments. The ARCAD solutions are modular, covering software configuration and release management, data configuration management, test automation, application modernization and user relationship management. Each solution can either be adopted as part of a package or implemented separately. All solutions are integrated via a shared multi-platform metadata repository, allowing progressive adoption of best practices and regulatory constraints (e.g. ITIL, SOX, CMMi). ARCAD’s product offering has been developed over the last 20 years by the same R&D team and provides functional coverage that is unequalled in the international market. ARCAD has over 1000 licenses deployed in 34 different countries, including internationally-known clients such as IBM, HSBC, NASDAQ OMX, ABN AMRO, GE Capital, etc. Visit our site for more information: www.arcadsoftware.com.