GT Software, Inc., a leading provider of rapid SOA development solutions, today announced an upgrade to Ivory VisualConnect, perhaps the easiest tool for modernizing legacy IBM applications for the Internet and intranet. Ivory VisualConnect version 5.3 brings Web Services and email integration to the system, which quickly and easily converts cumbersome and complex 3270 or 5250 screens into graphically intuitive Web front-ends, without any programming.

With Ivory VisualConnect, customers can reuse the familiar mainframe ôgreen screensö and all of the embedded logic, greatly simplifying the reengineering of manual processes such as data entry on forms. As a result, workflow is improved, and customers report achieving greater accuracy and reduced training requirements.

With the most comprehensive and flexible Web-enablement and superior advanced application integration capabilities available, Ivory VisualConnect 5.3 can be deployed in a variety of fashions to meet the architectural and business needs of zSeries and iSeries shops. It can either run natively, requiring no additional hardware or software, or reside in a Windows, UNIX or Linux n-tier environment, thereby eliminating the need to install software on the zSeries or iSeries. This new capability enables Ivory Service Architect-based Web services to be seamlessly integrated with Ivory VisualConnect applications.

ôIvory VisualConnect version 5.3 demonstrates GT SoftwareÆs commitment to continuing improvement in all our products,ö said Rob Morris, senior VP of marketing and strategy. ôDriven by customer experience, this latest release exemplifies GT Software's unique ability to combine simplicity and ease-of-use with sophisticated results, as can be seen across our entire Ivory product line.ö

The Ivory VisualConnect interface for the Java platform further extends and modifies Web-enabled 3270 applications, for more advanced integration requirements. In addition, the same installation of Ivory VisualConnect provides the flexibility to generate Java applets, or pure HTML, depending on end user requirements.

For more than 20 years, GT Software has been helping organizations derive the greatest business benefit from their mainframe investments, by bringing the value of mainframe-based business services to emerging architectures and applications across the enterprise.

GT SoftwareÆs product strategy is to continue to leverage the mainframe's proven functionality, power, stability, and performance to its fullest potential. The companyÆs products are consistently engineered to be powerful yet extremely intuitive, designed to be used by mainframe developers with minimal training and no consulting.

Pricing starts at $10,000 and is currently shipping to customers in North America and Europe.

About GT Software
GT Software (www.gtsoftware.com) is a leading provider of rapid SOA development solutions that leverage mainframe resources, making the mainframe an active participant in SOA initiatives. GT SoftwareÆs products enable a companyÆs mainframe developers to quickly and easily model, automate, and extend mainframe processes for deployment as key components of an enterprise SOA solution. With more than 2,000 installations worldwide, GT Software provides high-quality, innovative and cost-effective solutions for many Fortune 1000 companies. Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, GT Software is a privately held company represented in the US, Canada, Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa and South America.