The MVS Migration System (MVS-MS) - 5787-MVS

The MVS Migration System (MVS-MS) was distributed by IBM to its world-wide VSE customers as a Field-Developed Program (FDP) from 1986 to 1997. MVS-MS was based on Cortex-MS and until 1992, there were almost no differences between the two products.

There were several steps in the evolution of the MVS-MS product:

1. October 1986, IBM announces V1R1 (286-489); the price for an 18-month license in the U.S. was $65k.
2. May 1987, IBM announces the IBM SOLUTIONPAC VSE/MVS Migration Assistant (287-197) for its MVS-MS customers.
3. May 1989, IBM announces V1R2 (289-163); the licence fee for U.S. customers was increased to $75k.
   Our recollection is that V1R2 included only two noticeable elements:
   1. Tool to generate VSE and MVS file transfer JCL; this was based on a technique we invented in 1985
   2. Sample CCCA jobs (MVS JCL) for customers using VS COBOL II in MVS
4. The MVS-MS product received no functional enhancement after V1R2.
5. In 1997, IBM discontinued marketing and support for MVS-MS (997-358), along with many other IBM offerings which were considered "not year 2000 ready".

MVS-MS is mentioned several times in GG66-3113 - VSE to MVS Differences and Migration Guide and SG24-2043 - VSE to OS/390 Migration Workbook.

The MVS-MS Library

Here is a complete list of the documents available with the MVS-MS product: