Fujitsu, a Japan-based tech company, and IBM Japan said on June 17 that they are expanding their collaboration in Japan to modernize enterprise legacy systems by combining Fujitsu PROGRESSION with IBM Bob.

IBM Japan will be the primary provider, with Fujitsu providing technical support.

The work will focus on rewriting COBOL programs running on Fujitsu mainframes and UNIX servers into Java, followed by refactoring.

Fujitsu PROGRESSION is an automated suite for migrating legacy applications and restructuring them for modern platforms.

IBM Bob is an AI development tool that can analyze legacy codebases and support refactoring and modernization tasks.

Fujitsu said sales of its mainframes will end in fiscal 2030, and maintenance will end in fiscal 2035.

Sales of its UNIX servers will end in fiscal 2029, and maintenance will end in fiscal 2034.

The companies said the work builds on a collaboration announced in September 2025, but the June 17 release did not say whether that earlier announcement focused on legacy upgrades or Japan’s shortage of COBOL engineers.

🔗 Source: Fujitsu Limited