Ryz mainframe modernization teams take business functions off the mainframe and rebuild them as modern Python services your team owns. Our senior engineering teams capture the interfaces the mainframe already exposes (CICS transactions, batch file layouts, IBM MQ messages and copybook data structures), re-implement each one as an API-first service behind the same contract, run old and new side by side, and cut over slice by slice once the outputs match. Every engineer comes from the top 1% of the tens of thousands we interview and works on US business hours.
Most mainframe modernization companies offer one of two routes: conversion tooling that turns COBOL into generated Java or C#, or managed services that keep the mainframe running. Ryz is the third route, a rebuild; we have been taking companies off legacy systems, mainframes included, for a while now. Mainframe estates run in financial services, insurance, retail, logistics, manufacturing, utilities and the public sector: anywhere a COBOL, CICS and DB2 core still processes the transactions the business depends on. For LLM-assisted translation by AI pods, see AI legacy modernization.
What happens after you contact us: We'll sign your NDA first, since mainframe code tends to hold pricing rules and customer data. The first conversation covers what runs on the mainframe, what calls it, where the data lives and which batch windows cannot slip, and ends with a written scope for the first slices, a price and the names of the people who would do the work.
Talk. We learn why the exit is on the table now: capacity and licensing cost, retiring staff who hold the knowledge, or a product the mainframe cannot support.
Match. We propose a tech lead, engineers who read COBOL, JCL and CICS, Python service engineers and a data engineer for the DB2 and VSAM migration.
Join. The team works in your repos, cloud accounts and mainframe test regions, with access you control and can revoke. You own all code and IP the team produces.
Grow. Add engineers as more slices move, or hand the finished system to your team with its tooling and runbooks.
Week 1 is typically access, the interface inventory and reading the programs with the most change alongside the people who support them. By month 1 the usual picture is a validated inventory, a first slice with a cut-over and rollback plan, and characterization tests capturing its behavior. By month 3 the first slice is often running in parallel with the mainframe and the next slices are sequenced from what it taught. Each stage depends on the size of the estate and how quickly access and test data arrive.
A mainframe cut-over fails in quiet ways: a total off by a cent, a report sorted differently, a downstream job reading a field that moved. Senior engineers plan for those:
Our case studies are new builds live in production, not mainframe migrations.
Typical Ryz cost is $7,000 to $15,000 per engineer per month: mid-level $7,000 to $10,000, senior $10,000 to $15,000, leads $15,000 or more, quoted per team (see rates by role).
Project cost is team size × months × monthly rate, so a rebuild team from $65,000 per month costs that much for every month the plan runs. To compare against hiring in-house, use the talent cost savings calculator. Every quote is scoped per team, and you get a plan, a price and names before you start.
A dedicated development team fits most mainframe exits, because parallel runs and cut-overs need one team that owns the outcome. If your architects already own the plan, staff augmentation adds engineers who join your sprints and report to your leads: mainframe developers for the rebuild and COBOL developers to maintain and document the programs while the move happens. Either way, the engineers work on your team, in your repos and environments, on US business hours. Most are based in Latin America, so parallel-run reviews and cut-over rehearsals happen during your working day.
Ryz does not sell conversion tooling and does not operate or host mainframes. If you want an automated COBOL-to-Java converter, a conversion-tool vendor fits better. If you plan to keep the mainframe and want someone to run it, you need a mainframe operator. A board-level transformation program belongs with a large consultancy, and a team on European or Asian hours will get better overlap from a global network.
No. A rebuild captures the interfaces the mainframe exposes and re-implements them as modern services, with parallel runs proving the outputs match. Conversion tooling leaves you with generated code; a rebuild leaves you with Python your own team can read and maintain.
Cost is team size × months × monthly rate. Typical Ryz rates are $7,000 to $15,000 per engineer per month; a tech lead plus two senior engineers starts at $35,000 per month, and a rebuild team of six starts at $65,000. The number of months depends on how many slices the estate has.
After the scoping call we propose a team with names. Most of the timeline depends on scope and on your onboarding: access to source, test regions, sample data and the people who support the system.
Python is fast to build in, readable for the people who will own the system, and ships with a decimal module and the codecs for packed-decimal and EBCDIC data. If your standard is Java or .NET, our teams build in that instead; the method is the same.
It moves slice by slice with the programs that own it: a target schema, change data capture while both systems run, reconciliation of counts and totals per table, and a rollback path until the slice has run clean.
Questions we didn't answer? Email info@ryzlabs.com.
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