Unisys Vertical ClearPath Solutions: A Study in Application Enrichment
By Bob Tillotson, Vice President and General Manager, ClearPath Worldwide, Unisys TCIS and Bill Maclean, Vice President, ClearPath Programs, Unisys TCIS

Unisys has a rich portfolio of vertical industry solutions that run on ClearPath systems, including voicemail and messaging, airline reservations, cargo logistics management, mortgage processing, and other geography-specific solutions.

Our development teams are identifying new ways to deliver more value with less risk in our proven ClearPath hosted vertical applications. The approach is to incrementally expand the solution environment by evolving, enriching, and supplementing current application platforms to meet the needs of the marketplace.

More important, our vertical industry teams are looking to use Unisys ClearPath technology advances to propel these large-scale, enterprise-class solutions forward – and as ClearPath customers, you have the opportunity to do the same for your applications.

Contemporary Application Modernization Capabilities

In discussions with customers across many industry segments, some common themes are emerging. These are confirmed by industry analysts and commentators:

• Organizations face increasing competition that drives the need to offer new and enhanced services, including web and mobile-based capabilities. It's also imperative that these services be delivered very quickly to meet fast changing market demands
• Organizations must improve efficiency on all fronts – from application development and new-hire training to customer care and self-service. They want to leverage existing application investments to do so – providing targeted new features that take advantage of contemporary development tools, as appropriate, and using available, pre-built services where it makes sense.

And, companies must do all of this without compromising anything in the way of security, scalability, and reliability.

Thanks to our ongoing investments, ClearPath hardware and software solutions are state-of-the-art and well-positioned to support fast provisioning of new services and improve development efficiency.

In fact, ClearPath technologies are leading the industry and provide the foundation for a new generation of innovative solutions. Today, these capabilities include:

• Smartphone and tablet integration with ClearPath applications, enabling an innovative human interface for mobile workers and customers, using the most current devices (Apple® iPhone® and others that conform to the WebKit development standards)
• Open development technologies, such as Java and PHP, which allow open source applications and application extensions to be supported on ClearPath systems transparently, addressing application development speed and controlling costs
• Web Services development capabilities that can easily be applied to existing ClearPath applications, extending their reach
• ClearPath foundation attributes that assure scalability, reliability, security, and management support for mission-critical solutions

These features are there for ClearPath developers to leverage right now, and provide a path to better services for customers and staff and improved organizational efficiency – quickly and at low cost.

Fast, Efficient Mobile Device Integration

Consider the value of Web Service and mobile device integration with an airline solution. ClearPath ePortal provides the opportunity to mobile enable a ClearPath application – allowing supervisors to access information anywhere and at any time, and enabling travelers to perform a range of self-service functions. There are many technologies to expose ClearPath based applications and transactions as Web Services or invoke outside services that provide needed functionality.

Unisys approach to mobile device integration is to generate applications that conform to WebKit – an emerging industry standard for mobile apps. This approach means that we are able to quickly support new devices that leverage WebKit, because the effort is a qualification, not re-development. Therefore, our customers can use this< technology with the confidence that it will support new devices as they become available.

A "ClearPath Way" to Augment Existing Applications with Java and Web Services

Most ClearPath applications represent years of development effort and significant intellectual property. Yet, there's an unrelenting requirement to add functionality to address new or emerging business requirements. Frequently, such demands can be met by buying or building a Java-based solution to enhance the existing vertical application.

Unisys investments in the ClearPath OS 2200 JProcessor and MCP JProcessor support the decision to buy or build Java-based applications and services or use Java-based open source solutions. These specialty engines offer a cost-effective deployment platform that tightly integrates with, and is under the control of, the ClearPath OS 2200 or MCP operating environments. The result is the ability to bring Java into your ClearPath application portfolio with the confidence that the deployed system fits within the reliable, secure, and scalable ClearPath environment.

Application Enrichment has Never Been Easier

The ClearPath hardware and software environment is in step with industry trends – and Unisys is taking excellent advantage of these investments. Now it's your turn. You have a major investment in your ClearPath applications and you're likely to be facing the same demands to offer new and better services as quickly and efficiently as possible. New ClearPath technology, services, and solutions are here today to help.

To learn more about ClearPath ePortal, ClearPath OS 2200 JProcessor, ClearPath MCP JProcessor, and other ClearPath innovations, ask your Unisys sales executive or visit the eCommunity.