As an IT executive, you are probably considering options for modernizing your business-critical AS/400 applications. These applications have probably been supporting your business for 10 to 20 years, and represent years of internal development and proprietary intellectual property. Modernization includes an updated browser interface and support for Service-Oriented Architecture applications. It also includes greatly reduced costs for infrastructure administration, servers, and storage. The ideal approach must be low risk, proven, cost-effective, and can yield solid business results in six to twelve months.

This paper provides you with a direct cost and schedule comparison of the two leading alternatives. It examines the development costs, ongoing staffing costs, and hardware costs associated with a five-year project lifecycle. It will also discuss how the resulting environment can assist organizations to deliver new and competitive business services as well as reduce IT administrative costs.