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Mechanical Orchard team members.
Ledger, interrupted
Dharmesh Mistry has spent four decades building banking technology — at Lloyds, NatWest, and as chief digital officer of Temenos, where he had a hand in the UK's first mobile banking app. His new book, The Intelligent Ledger, argues banking is nearing its own version of a smartphone moment.
Mechanical Orchard Achieves ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Certification
Mechanical Orchard has achieved ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, following an audit of our Information Security Management System (ISMS) by Schellman, an independent, ANAB-accredited certification body.
The Cutover Checklist
A modernization program can be on time, on budget, staffed by people you trust, and you might still wonder: is this going to work?
Pane relief
Every dollar of AI ROI an enterprise is chasing runs through that brittle, Winchester Mystery House of a system, that same one keeping vital organizational organs pulsing and alive.
Less is more
Doing something well rarely means doing more of it.
Mechanical Orchard releases Imogen platform improvements
Mechanical Orchard's latest release lowers the risk and shortens the timeline of mainframe modernization enough that organizations running aging yet critical systems can now afford to replace them.
When reimagining mainframe systems, Imogen users now have the choice to start with AWS Transform domains and rules
The Software Dark Factory: modernizing legacy systems with no humans in the loop
Maps vs territory
Business logic alone isn't enough to reimagine a legacy system
The problem of abundance
“Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”
We rebuilt that COBOL migration calculator
A LinkedIn post recently estimated how long it would take to convert the world's 800 billion lines of COBOL to Java. The post was well done — sliders, scenario modeling, a full SDLC phase breakdown. It also made the problem feel insurmountable.
Nine lives
The notion that AI makes migration trivially easy has done genuine damage.
Mechanical Orchard’s Federal IT Modernization Platform now available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft’s GSA Schedule Contract
Chasing the bottleneck
Three levels of AI maturity for mainframe modernization
AI improves the economics of modernization; it doesn’t change the risk
The wave of AI-driven code modernization tools is here.
Immortality
Figure out orchestration, and the world is your oyster.
Hope, actually
Finally, some downtime for holiday reflections about the state of affairs in mainframe modernization.
Mechanical Orchard’s mainframe modernization platform now available in AWS Marketplace
Mechanical Orchard’s mainframe modernization platform now available on Google Cloud Marketplace
Something wicked this way comes
Mainframe modernization exemplifies the wicked problem: it resists precise definition, has no clear end point, and every attempted solution reshapes the challenge itself.
Proof, not hope: “in production” as the modernization benchmark that matters
Mainframe anthropology
Systems are the living records of the people who built and maintained them.
Maintainable for whom? Rethinking idiomatic code in the age of AI
Mechanical Orchard enhances product leadership team
Ingo Wiegand joins Mechanical Orchard as VP of Product
Life, death, and modernization
“The continuum is that which is divisible into indivisibles that are infinitely divisible.”
Mind the Gap
Even on the way to that glorious outcome, lifting thine eyes from mere code conversion yields perhaps an even greater value: control in undertaking a highly uncertain task.
On a Limb: The evolving complexity of business risks with Alastair Levy
How AI and a test-first approach can tackle modernization trade-offs
Go Live or Go Home
We must have some sort of way to measure value, especially, say, when making a multi-million dollar, possibly years-long commitment.
Mechanical Orchard delegated ‘Awardable’ for Department of Defense contracts on Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace
Tale of Two Complexities
A good craftsman knows how to use a tool; a great one knows when not to.
Credible, confident, and now, cool: the new way to modernize
Mechanical Orchard Named a 2025 Gartner® Cool Vendor in AI Code Assistants
“Verify, then trust”: A closed-loop method for AI-powered legacy modernization
Faith-Based Modernization
It’s easier to have faith when things work in non-mysterious ways.
Rewriting the outcomes: How Thoughtworks and Mechanical Orchard are transforming mainframe modernization
Common sense vs status quo
Quick: what’s the formula to calculate the volume of a cube?
Mechanical Orchard ignites major shift in enterprise IT transformation with Imogen
The need for speed
Bolting GenAI onto a sub-optimal approach is like putting a jet engine on a Conestoga wagon.
On a Limb: The risk of the status quo with transformation expert, Dr Leda Glyptis
I Scry with My Little Eye
Five predictions about legacy modernization in the year 2035.
On a Limb: Retail modernization special with leading retail technology analyst, Paula Rosenblum
Inconvenient truths, part 2 of 2
Quality and malleability of software matter to everyone, but in the face of immediate demands (triage modernization, shortcuts for political expediency), they’re often an afterthought. Until tech disruptions—like AI—come along.
On a Limb: The Risk of Inequality with the Right Honourable Liam Byrne
Triage, transitional, true
When it comes to modernization success, the objective is as crucial as the approach. End-goals that focus on stopping the pain or ticking boxes can only get so far… if they get anywhere at all.
On a Limb: Expect the Unexpected—Lessons in Boardroom Risk with Margaret Exley, CBE
Inconvenient truths, part 1 of 2
This issue explores how software’s original purpose became recalibrated to just another cog in the production line—and how a path forward might lie in socio-technical design.
On a Limb: Trust and reputation in a digital age with Peter Donald, Arena Advisory Group
Flying vs gliding
Like early attempts at human flight, successful digital transformation requires understanding the forces at play. Master those forces, and the sky’s the limit.
On a Limb: A path to joyful modernization with Paul Gaffney, Transformational Technology Leader
“Confidently”
Three-fourths of all legacy modernization projects fail. How can Mechanical Orchard feel confident in the face of a record like that?
Comprehension > Code
Modernizing legacy systems should begin with comprehension: in this vast monolith of tens of millions of lines of code, what does what? The more critical the system, the more important comprehension is.
Mechanical Orchard Secures $50 Million to Safely Transition Large Organizations Off Risky Legacy Software
First, then
Many companies view “digital transformation” as a chance for a gut remodel of a house. But systems aren’t static: they’re moving, living systems that, btw, are working.
On a Limb: The risk of poor quality software with Professor Herb Krasner
On Confidence
In last month's newsletter, we discussed the difficulty of getting started with modernization projects despite the empirically low confidence level for success.
Mechanical Orchard appoints Edward Hieatt to lead customer experience
Following our successful Series A round, we’re proud to announce that we’ve appointed Edward Hieatt as Mechanical Orchard’s Chief Customer Officer.
Mechanical Orchard Raises $24M in Series A Round to Solve the Legacy IT Modernization Challenge
How to Eat an Elephant?
“There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.” Attributed to notables ranging from St. Francis of Assisi (whose elephant-related credentials are a bit suspect, tbh), to Desmond Tutu, the meaning is obvious: any task, no matter how challenging, can be tackled bit by bit.
$13 Trillion of the US GDP Rides on Mainframes
Mainframe computers are still widely deployed. At the time of their adoption (in some cases over half a century ago), mainframes were cutting edge technology.
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