BluePhoenix Completes Application Modernization Project With Banking Giant BBVA

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - May 29, 2014) - BluePhoenix (www.bphx.com) (NASDAQ: BPHX), the global leader in legacy language and database translation, announced completion of a major application modernization project with global banking giant BBVA. The modernized application is currently in production and being used by BBVA employees and customers worldwide. As a result, the company is saving money while making corporate IT systems more efficient.

"Application modernization is becoming a high priority for banks across the world," says Rick Oppedisano, Vice-President of Global R&D and Marketing at BluePhoenix. "The ability to reduce costs while enabling data and business process integration is necessary for competing in today's global banking environment."

BBVA is the second largest bank in Spain. Since 2006 the bank has focused on overseas expansion, and now operates in 40 countries. VASS Consultoria de Sistemas -- one of the major consulting companies in Spain -- was selected to run the project as the prime contractor. BluePhoenix was subcontracted to perform migration of IDMS, ADS, COBOL, Easytrieve and JCL artifacts to modern enterprise technologies.

"BBVA's primary objectives were to cut licensing costs of the mainframe and free up data trapped in their IDMS database," says Oppedisano. "The target for the migration included Java and Oracle database. BBVA wanted the new system to be an exact copy of old system, as the legacy application's business logic and user interface were satisfactory to the business."

BluePhoenix's automated application modernization technology enabled BBVA to:

• Cut overall systems cost significantly: just considering direct license savings, BBVA project leaders predicted positive ROI for the entire effort would be achieved within 2 years
• Leverage highly available, cost-efficient resources:  additional strategic benefit of risk reduction around IDMS resources, which are expensive and difficult to find
• Maintain value of legacy systems:  BluePhoenix keeps business logic of legacy systems in place, reducing risk and maximizing IT investment

Read more about this engagement on the BluePhoenix website.

Customers Embrace Modernization Lifecycle Message

"Modernization projects are different from application to application and customer to customer," says Oppedisano. "We offer companies the option to modernize incrementally, starting with integrating their legacy database with the target modern environment. We have technology that can run batch processing off the mainframe if the objective is to maximize cost savings first. Then of course, we have the automated conversion technology when it's time for a migration. The goal is to provide value at each step of the application modernization process, so even if the customer has to stop or change, positive gains have been made."

Read more about this engagement on the BluePhoenix website.

About BluePhoenix Solutions
BluePhoenix Solutions Ltd. (NASDAQ: BPHX) is the leading provider of legacy language and database translation. The BluePhoenix portfolio includes a comprehensive suite of tools and services for automated database and application migration. Leveraging over 20 years of best-practice domain expertise, BluePhoenix works closely with its customers to minimize risk and provide a clear path from legacy platforms like COBOL, Natural/Adabas and others to modern solutions like SQL, DB2, Java and more. BluePhoenix customers come from diverse industries and vertical markets such as automotive, banking and financial services, insurance, manufacturing, and retail. BluePhoenix has 6 offices in the USA, UK, Italy, Romania, and Israel.

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