SITA Moves Flight Planning Application to Open Systems with Clerity

Chicago, IL – December 6, 2010 – Clerity, a full-service provider of mainframe migration, modernization, and optimization solutions, today announced that SITA, the world's leading air transport IT and communications specialist, has migrated a business-critical flight planning system to open systems using Clerity's UniKix Mainframe Rehosting software. By migrating off the mainframe, SITA streamlined deployment requirements and improved its ability to add new user functionality.

Guiding more than four million flights annually, or circa 12,000 flight plans each day, the SITA Flight Planning System performs complex analysis of aircraft performance, weather data, and air traffic control routing information to determine the most cost-effective flight routes for more than 170 airlines. In order to rapidly respond to changing market requirements and support more cost-effective future growth, SITA needed to migrate its mainframe IBM® CICS®, PL/1, FORTRAN, Assembler and VSAM-based environment to open systems.

Because fuel expenses can represent anywhere from one-third to one-half of an airline's total operating costs, maintaining precision is extremely important and there could be no loss of accuracy in a move from the mainframe. SITA needed a solution that would protect critical business logic, while enhancing the company’s ability to cost-effectively add new features in the future.

After reviewing alternatives, SITA decided to migrate using UniKix Mainframe Rehosting software from Clerity. UniKix technology enabled SITA to leverage its valuable business logic on open systems, while protecting existing skill sets and providing an evolutionary path forward for ongoing application development.

"Mainframe rehosting provided a better rate of return, I forecast a return on investment in 18 months, with lower risk than if we had rewritten our applications," said Toby Tucker, director of Flight Operations, SITA. "Simultaneously, we enhanced flexibility by streamlining program code and eliminating complex legacy integration requirements."

Moving the flight planning environment to open systems provided SITA with a nimble platform for ongoing operations. SITA's developers also experienced a significant productivity gain after the migration. Application build cycles went from several hours on the mainframe to just a few minutes on open systems.

"There was naturally some initial apprehension among the development team about moving off the mainframe, but the benefits we've gained made the process well worthwhile," said Tucker. "Rehosting the flight planning system provided the best option for SITA to retain existing development skills and bring our extensive mainframe knowledge to open systems."

The new platform handles a greater number of simultaneous flight plans than the previous system and SITA projects it is now well-positioned to address Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the next seven years.

"Clerity acted as a partner throughout the migration. Our entire team appreciates the experience and knowledge they brought to the project, helping us establish a scalable platform for future business growth," commented Tucker.

Learn more about mainframe migration and modernization solutions from Clerity.