Newly-established Center of Excellence hosts specialists to guide customers in seamless shift to modernized platforms

Sep 01, 2022 10:00 JST

Source: Fujitsu Ltd

Newly-established Center of Excellence hosts specialists to guide customers in seamless shift to modernized platforms

TOKYO, Sep 01, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu today announced a comprehensive update to bolster its modernization services offerings, boldly reimagining its approach for customers' existing information systems to realize their digital transformation (DX). Fujitsu will work with customers to visualize their current assets including business processes, data, applications, and IT infrastructure to design the ideal DX platform, while providing guidance in streamlining and modernizing systems.

Figure 1: Strengthening Modernization

Figure 2: Process of modernization

To launch this effort, Fujitsu is establishing a new center of excellence (CoE), the Modernization Knowledge Center, which will serve as a focal point for technical information and expertise essential for modernization. This center will begin offering support for customers in the Japan market from September 2022, with global service support to follow.

With this move, Fujitsu demonstrates its commitment to delivering an optimal experience for customers with a comprehensive suite of modernization services, encompassing robust specialist support, bolstered by leading-edge technologies to help guide customers on their modernization journeys with confidence and peace of mind.

Resilience and agility in information systems for an unpredictable era

As companies continue to grapple with an increasingly challenging and unpredictable world, the pressure to adapt to changes with agility and resilience grows more intense along with the need to preserve business competitiveness and achieve sustainable management. Traditionally, information systems have been built for the public and financial sectors and for the separate operations that comprise a company's business activities, like production, distribution, sales, and accounting. In many cases, the lack of uniformity in techniques for building systems and data structures means that migration to modern systems can become time consuming, costly, and disruptive to businesses.

Fujitsu has been working with customers to modernize legacy systems to overcome the "2025 Cliff" revealed by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's DX Report.

Fujitsu announced end of life and end of maintenance dates for mainframe and UNIX servers (1) as part of its Hybrid IT roadmap in February 2022. To guide its mainframe and UNIX server customers as they navigate the modernization of their systems, Fujitsu draws on end-to-end specialist expertise as well as its world-class technological capabilities in key areas including Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies to deliver robust, comprehensive modernization services.

Fujitsu anticipates that 3,000 customers globally will use its Modernization Services, with 35,000 people engaged with delivering these capabilities, drawing from resources including Fujitsu's network of Global Delivery Centers by fiscal 2025.

Strengthening modernization services

Fujitsu's modernization services consist of four key elements: (1) Business and asset visualization; (2) Grand design; (3) Comprehensive information system streamlining; and (4) Modernization. Fujitsu also provides technical assistance for customers who wish to modernize on their own.

(1) Visualization of operations and assets
Fujitsu leverages a range of process mining tools including "Celonis EMS" (2) and "SAP Signavio" (3) to visualize business processes, inventory master data, data through data analytics, and applications.

For application visualization, Fujitsu will conduct structural analysis of applications, working asset analysis, similarity analysis, asset characteristic analysis, and system correlation analysis using its software map (4).

(2) Grand Design
In collaboration with Ridgelinez Ltd. (5) and consulting partners, Fujitsu will create a grand design using frameworks such as the TOGAF Standard (6), a standard of The Open Group, which is one of the methodologies for EA (Enterprise Architecture) (7).

(3) Comprehensive information system streamline
Some information system assets are maintained and operated even though they are rarely used. Through visualization, Fujitsu can help customers strategically streamline operating systems assets.

(4) Modernization
Fujitsu will help modernize and systems by rehosting, rebuilding, conducting service migration, as well as leveraging a variety of tools for rewriting (including "PROGRESSION" (8)) along with other appropriate measures according to individual information system parameters within customers' assets. For IT infrastructure, Fujitsu will support the transition to public cloud and private cloud based on Fujitsu Uvance Hybrid IT offerings.

Establishment of new CoE: "the Modernization Knowledge Center"

The Modernization Knowledge Center was newly established on September 1st and will serve as a nexus for the collection of technical information and expertise related to modernization. The CoE offers customers access to resources essential to the modernization process, including technical information on mainframe UNIX server open systems, cross-enterprise and cross-industry migration best practices and experience, as well as other information on useful tools, services, and specialized partners.

The CoE will draws on a full suite of capabilities and resources, to offer customers support including: (1) collection and organization of internal and external knowledge, (2) promoting information sharing, (3) collaboration with specialized partners that provide various tools and services, (4) providing support for business deals and technical matters, (5) providing feedback on knowledge gained through delivery practices, and (6) insights into the status of modernization of customer systems.

(1) End of sales and end of maintenance for mainframe and UNIX servers: Sales of mainframes will end in FY2030 and maintenance will end in FY2035. Sales of UNIX servers will end in FY2029 and maintenance will end in FY2034.
(2) "Celonis EMS": Celonis Execution Management System is a solution platform with process mining technology provided by Celonis SE, a cloud software vendor headquartered in Munich, Germany and New York, USA.
[3) "SAP Signavio": The product brand name for the process management solution provided by SAP SE.
(4) Software map: A mining technology that automatically discovers functional components that implement functions and roles for business, and a tool that visualizes the entire application based on the discovered functional components as a map, available for domestic users in the Japan market.
(5) Ridgelinez Ltd.: Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Toshiya Imai
(6) The TOGAF Standard: The TOGAF Standard, a standard of The Open Group is a proven Enterprise Architecture methodology and framework used by the world's leading organizations to improve business efficiency. The Open Group is a global consortium that enables the achievement of business objectives through technology standards.
(7) Enterprise architecture: A design method to create an efficient organization by standardizing and globally optimizing the allocation of resources, business procedures, and information systems of large companies and government agencies.
(8) "PROGRESSION": A rewrite solution from Fujitsu North America, Inc.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu's purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers in over 100 countries, our 124,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$32 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share. Find out more: www.fujitsu.com.

Sectors: Cloud & Enterprise