A CDE Definition

(Micro Focus International Ltd., Rockville, MD, Newbury, England, www.microfocus.com) Founded in the U.K. in 1976, the company became known for its COBOL programming tools that enabled both developing on client/server platforms for the mainframe and migrating from mainframe to client/server. A shift in objectives and a corporate name change to MERANT in the late 1990s did not derail the core of the COBOL executive team, which spun off again as an independent company in 2001, retaining its leadership in transforming legacy systems from the mainframe to Internet-and client/server-ready applications. See MERANT.

(MERANT plc, St. Albans, England, www.merant.com) Originally founded as Micro Focus Group in 1976 in the U.K., MERANT is a software and services company focusing on enterprise change management, Web content management and its PVCS products. Historically, Micro Focus/MERANT built its reputation on COBOL programming tools.

In 1998, the company acquired INTERSOLV, Inc., a development tools company, and launched its MERANT corporate identity with facilities in both England and Hillsboro, Oregon. The COBOL part of the team became a private, independent company in 2001, named, appropriately enough, Micro Focus. In 2004, MERANT was acquired by Serena Software, Inc., San Mateo, CA (www.serena.com), a specialist in application lifecycle management software. See Micro Focus, PVCS and INTERSOLV.