Behavior-first, test-driven
Rewriting the risk equation for mainframe modernization
Mainframe modernization is stuck
Stopgap patches, code conversion, and cloud emulation amplify technical debt. But the pressure to adapt—whether it’s about cost, compliance, or staying competitive—is running into the hard limits of aging but essential systems.
Recreate and Deliver
Based on our learnings, we build a perfect replica of this component in a secure cloud environment where it’s subject to rigorous performance and functional criteria before it goes live. Now this component is modern, tested, instrumented and well understood. Most importantly, it’s ready for innovation—while running smoothly with the rest of the legacy system.
Repeat and Innovate
The process iterates with the next component until the entire system has deployed into the cloud environment. Each subsequent component could take progressively less time through applying our AI tools and organizational learnings.
Because we only work with a single component at a time, each one has a proven fallback method. This profoundly limits the risk to your living, breathing system at any given time.
“Having the ability to use tools like [Imogen] to automate testing and verify there is no difference in outputs quickly and efficiently with a high degree of confidence, there is just a ton of value in that. We spend all of our time on tech refreshes and it kills us” ⎯ Fortune 20 Automotive Company
“What was originally scoped as an 18-month effort was delivered in approximately five months.” ⎯ Fortune 100 Industrial Manufacturer (Read the case study)
“We spent years working around the constraints of an outdated system. Now, we have one that moves with us, not against us. With Mechanical Orchard’s approach, we’re set up to modernize faster while maintaining the same level of precision and quality. That’s a real game-changer.” ⎯ Fortune 500 Retailer
“Mechanical Orchard didn’t just modernize our system—they proved that mainframe rewrites can be done safely, without disruption. Their methodology ensures the highest quality, which is what truly matters.” ⎯ Fortune 500 Retailer
“I've been very impressed with the amount of rigor that Mechanical Orchard brought to this engagement.” ⎯ Fortune 100 Healthcare Company
“I'm really impressed with what the team was able to accomplish in a short number of weeks.” ⎯ Fortune 100 Automotive Company
About Imogen®
The conventional modernization model relies on large teams, a patchwork of vendor tools, some of which use AI, and a sequence of phases — analysis, code transpilation, then a long, uncertain stretch of integration and regression testing. After what are often years of effort, success hinges on a single, high-stakes moment to see if everything actually works. Most of the time, it doesn't.
Instead of focusing on code, Imogen captures how individual workloads actually behave — through real data flows — and rewrites that behavior into modern code. By creating a rapid loop of generation and validation against actual production data as each workload is rewritten, Imogen eliminates the long, uncertain integration phase that has defined — and derailed — conventional modernization efforts.
Rather than applying generative AI directly to code translation, Imogen first builds a precise behavioral specification from the running system, then applies a closed loop of rapid code generation and verification against those specifications. The result is software that is audit-quality, idiomatic, and genuinely ready for what comes next — not just syntactically modern.
While the methodology works for any legacy system, our data capture technology is optimized to automate the modernization process for the following mainframe technologies.
OL
Easytrieve
PL/1
Assembler
CICS
IMS
ISAM
IDMS DB
DB2
VSAM
IDMS ADS
An overview of the Imogen® Platform
Imogen Demo - April 2026 from Mechanical Orchard on Vimeo
Imogen® for industries
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Our insights
The problem of abundance
“Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”
by
Irene Sandler
May 28, 2026
Nine lives
The notion that AI makes migration trivially easy has done genuine damage.
by
Irene Sandler
April 21, 2026
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.
by
Rachit Awasthi
April 26, 2026
Your new legacy starts here.
We believe that every company deserves to realize their vision, free of constraints from the past. Our team's technology, and experience can help them move into this evolving version safely, reliably, fearlessly.