Work
TELON, later renamed CA-TELON, is one of the first commercially successful application generators for building business applications.
Read and enrich the people, organizations and context referenced in case files.
Explore the cases that include this wiki entry.
No case files include this entry yet.
Investigate this subjectTELON, later renamed CA-TELON, is one of the first commercially successful application generators for building business applications.
TELON, later renamed CA-TELON, is one of the first commercially successful application generators for building business applications.
TELON is an application development system currently sold and maintained by CA Technologies (formerly CA, Inc. and Computer Associates International, Inc.). When it was introduced in 1981, it was one of the first computer-aided software engineering ("CASE") tools on the commercial market. The developer tools run on IBM's MVS operating systems using TSO (IBM's Time Sharing Option) and personal computers ("PCs") running MS-Windows and the target environments include IMS and CICS transaction processing systems. TELON supported multiple database technologies, including IBM's VSAM, IMS/DB, DB2, plus Cullinet's IDMS.
TELON is an application code generator that uses macros to generate COBOL, COBOL/II, or PL/I code that can run natively in the target environment without run-time proprietary code. Developers create screen designs in the TELON Design Facility (TDF) and define attributes for the screen. The design can then be run through a prototyper to test screen flow. Next, macros generate the code using the information created by the TDF. Lastly, the TELON Test Facility is used, in conjunction with code debuggers, to search for and fix bugs before the application is moved into production.
TELON was originally conceived and designed by Chris McNeil and Don Christensen in the late 1970s when McNeil was a software engineer at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and Christensen was an IBM Systems Engineer contracting with Liberty Mutual. During their tenure, Liberty Mutual installed an IBM 3790 minicomputer along with a claims processing system (CAPS) created by Insurance Systems of America. Christensen worked with McNeil on a project that customized the package for use at Liberty Mutual. This customization, which involved IBM's cumbersome Macro language, required an engineer to create multiple forms for each IBM 3270 screen and then to convert the screens for executing on the 3790. It was awkward to use (McNeil called it "distributed head-ache") and so Christensen used the Macro language to create a generator that could create each form from a single source. This was the first step leading to the development of TELON.
Christensen and McNeil spent the following few years working on the next claims processing application. McNeil designed the template COBOL programs and Christensen coded the macros to generate the actual COBOL programs. They created a system that could generate COBOL code from screen layouts created by users. The COBOL ran in IBM's TSO interactive environment and it allowed the users and engineers to test screen flow. When a user wanted a change, the layout was altered using a design tool and new COBOL was generated. This turned out to be a very successful way to prototype the new system. Liberty Mutual put out a bid to create the new system which the Digital Equipment Corporation won in 1979. Christensen then left IBM to work as a private consultant for Liberty Mutual. When Liberty Mutual moved their offices to New Hampshire in that year, McNeil left the company to study classical guitar on Cape Cod.
Christensen expanded the macros for the system (which he was calling ADS at the time—Application Development System) to generate COBOL for IBM's IMS transaction environment. He then tried to persuade Liberty Mutual management to use the expanded system to generate a new application that Liberty Mutual was working on. The conservative management balked at using an untried system for mission-critical applications and declined. In 1981, Christensen started to look outside of Liberty Mutual for potential customers for ADS.
In 1981 Don Christensen was introduced to Phil Stymfal, a software engineer who was in charge of technical decisions at New England Life Insurance (NELI). Stymfal immediately saw the advantages of ADS and was unafraid to try new products. He recommended that NELI purchase TELON and NELI became the first commercial customer by signing a license agreement for $30k in mid-1981.
When the system proved itself at NELI, Stymfal used his connections through The New England Productivity Group to generate more interest in TELON. Through these contacts Christensen was able to sign two more Boston-area customers to $30k license agreements: Raytheon and John Hancock Life Insurance. Christensen has stated that TELON might never have been successful without Stymfal's influence and his confidence in recommending an untried product.
Not long before the NELI contract, Christensen left Liberty Mutual to start his own company. Since ADS had been written on Liberty Mutual's mainframe, Christensen left with the understanding that if Liberty ever decided to use TELON it could acquire the software free of charge. Christensen Systems Inc. was created soon after the NELI signing and its first employee was Chris McNeil, who had worked with Christensen back at Liberty Mutual before moving to Cape Cod. His responsibilities included supporting NELI and to continuing work on TELON.
When it was obvious that TELON was becoming a successful product and that CSI was a stable company, Liberty Mutual became the fourth customer by the end of 1981. They were able to use the software for free but later signed a support agreement. In a fitting tribute, both the original Liberty Mutual CAPS system and second claims processing applications that McNeil and Christensen worked on while employed at Liberty Mutual were rewritten using TELON.
With four major customers by early 1982, CSI hired Stymfal as the second employee to work alongside McNeil. Stymfal's role was as Director of Development and he, together with McNeil, made most of the technological decisions regarding TELON until their departure in 1987. By this point, Christensen had moved into more of a sales and marketing position. An office was opened in Quincy, Massachusetts, and developer Gig Kirk was hire
Source: CA-Telon (CC BY-SA)
We label verified structured information, user opinions, and AI-discovered relationships separately.
Be the first to comment.
