How Two Software Firms Help Their Clients, & Each Other, Reach New Heights…

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June 25, 2018 (Great Neck, NY) – In our competitive work environment, it’s nice once and a while to see a sense of cooperation and esprit de corps exhibited. Companies in the world of NonStop Modernization, who work towards keeping HPE NonStop systems operating smoothly and integrated with the latest technology, often work together to help clients reach their goals and maintain a competitive edge. Canam Software Labs Inc. and TIC Software have found that by working together, the sum of what they bring to their clients can be greater than its parts.

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Canam Software Labs develops and distributes software solutions that focus on XML and JSON application integration. The firm’s flagship offering is its “Thunder” product line of automated source code generation software – XML Thunder, JSON Thunder and Thunder Suite – which consists of both the XML and JSON Thunder products. These productivity tools automatically generate code to read and write XML or JSON messages enabling new and existing COBOL, C and TAL programs to do things such as:

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• consume or provide APIs (including SOAP and REST web services)

• read and write XML/JSON files in batch

• assist with web-enablement of applications

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TIC Software was founded to provide NonStop Modernization solutions for HPE NonStop servers – to keep these systems up-and-running with the latest technology integrated into, and communicating with, the NonStop operating architecture. ‘Modernizing’ applications means ensuring accurate and timely data, report and transaction processing and delivery - to keep information and business operations moving efficiently and effectively.

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John Russell is the Product Manager for Canam Software and is in charge of a broad range of responsibilities from product development, coding and release management, to pre-sales and support team assistance. John describes the firm as having two “arms:” the first as an off-the-shelf software development company and the second providing consulting services to address unique client challenges. “Some of the custom solutions become, or enhance mainstream products as well,” John explained, “and become part of our growing product suite.”

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The partnership was formed when the two firms discovered each other at an HP conference about ten years ago, and began to explore how they might help one another. “The first client challenge we addressed together was when TIC’s Phil Ly came to us with a client need that XML Thunder would solve,” John explained, “we’ve been working together ever since.”

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John describes the synergistic relationship between the two technology companies: “Our Thunder product line is not platform-specific, so we don’t have a lot of NonStop expertise – which TIC happily provides. Conversely, TIC has clients with needs outside of NonStop, which we’re able to assist them with. We partner to provide services for clients together, for example, for website or Windows technology that needs to interact with NonStop server data. The partnership is very beneficial for both firms, as well as for our mutual clients.”

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The Thunder suite of products, developed by Canam, and sold by both Canam and TIC; are designed to get NonStop applications working with XML or JSON to provide newer modernized ways of storing information and extend the life of applications. Platform independent automated code conversion enables data stored in older formats to be accessed by modern systems without rewriting source code by hand.

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NonStop modernization firms like Canam and TIC continue to develop solutions for the latest technologies like OpenAPI (formerly Swagger) and AWS (Amazon Web Services). OpenAPI is a specification for machine-readable interface files for describing, producing, consuming, and visualizing RESTful web services – to generate code, documentation and test cases given an interface file. AWS provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments, on a paid subscription basis.

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“This partnership works really well, by addressing similar challenges, pooling resources and drawing on each other’s expertise – we are stronger together,” stated John. “Two firms helping each other, opening doors for each other, and augmenting both staffs – all to help clients. For ten years and counting – we’ve established a mutually beneficial relationship!”