RetroCode and geqo.io combine their expertise to support companies in one of the central challenges of digital transformation: business-critical data from mainframe and legacy systems securely, efficiently and almost in real-time for modern applications, data platforms, regulatory requirements, and AI.
With the strategic partnership, the two companies combine deep mainframe and legacy expertise with modern data integration. RetroCode brings years of experience around COBOL, IBM z/OS, DB2, IMS, as well as IBM i / AS400 and RPG. geqo.io complements this expertise with its Intelligent Data Management Platform (iDMP).
Together, this creates a bridge between established core systems and the modern data world.
Legacy systems are not the problem – access to their data is.
Banks, insurance companies, and large industrial companies still operate a significant part of their business-critical processes on mainframe and other legacy platforms.
These systems are often in use for decades, high-performance, stable, and deeply integrated into the business processes of companies. At the same time, the requirements for fast and flexible use of the data contained within them are increasing.
Digital customer portals, cloud platforms, partner ecosystems, analytics, artificial intelligence, and regulatory requirements require an increasingly fast and standardized access to data that often lies deep within existing core systems.
However, a complete replacement of these systems is not always necessary – and is often associated with significant costs, long project durations, and operational risks.
The partnership between RetroCode and geqo.io therefore focuses on a different point:
Existing systems can continue to operate while their data is made available for the requirements of a modern IT and data architecture.
Mainframe expertise meets modern data integration
RetroCode has extensive experience in the development, maintenance, integration, and modernization of mission-critical legacy applications – particularly in complex mainframe environments of banks and insurance companies.
geqo.io provides a platform with iDMP that integrates, processes, and makes data from different source systems available for modern target systems and applications.
The combination of both competencies enables a seamless approach:
from the mission-critical legacy system to the modern data, API, cloud, or AI application.
It is not only about the read access to existing data. Depending on the specific use case, modern systems and legacy worlds can be connected and data flows can be designed bidirectionally.
Companies can thus continue to use their existing IT investments while gradually establishing a modern data architecture.
FiDA: A concrete use case for banks and insurance companies
How relevant this connection will become in the future is illustrated by the Financial Data Access Regulation (FiDA).
FiDA aims to create a framework for the controlled access to financial data, thereby laying the foundation for new data-driven services and a European open finance ecosystem.
For banks and insurance companies, this creates a central technical challenge:
A large part of the relevant customer, contract, inventory, service, and transaction data is not located in modern cloud platforms or API-based applications, but in core and mainframe systems that have developed over decades.
Fully modernizing or replacing these systems for FiDA would neither be necessary nor economically sensible in many cases.
Together, RetroCode and geqo.io can enable an alternative architecture here.
RetroCode provides the necessary expertise for accessing mainframe, COBOL, and other legacy systems. Through the iDMP platform, the relevant data can then be controlled, processed, and made available to modern interfaces, applications, and data ecosystems.
This creates a pragmatic path to FiDA Readiness, without having to make deep interventions in business-critical core systems.
FiDA is just the beginning
The technological challenge behind FiDA is exemplary of a much larger development.
Companies increasingly want to access data that has so far been bound in individual systems and technological silos.
The joint solution from RetroCode and geqo.io can therefore be used far beyond regulatory requirements – for example, for:
- digital customer and service portals
- partner and platform ecosystems
- cloud and SaaS integration
- business intelligence and analytics
- real-time data provision
- SAP and ERP integration
- data migration and gradual legacy modernization
- AI, GenAI, and agentic AI applications
In particular, the increasing use of artificial intelligence changes the requirements for existing data architectures.
Because powerful AI applications require not only models – they primarily need access to relevant, current, and trustworthy business data.
Many of these data still reside on the mainframe today.
From Legacy to AI-ready
With the partnership, RetroCode and geqo.io pursue a common goal: companies should be able to maintain the stability of their existing core systems while also unlocking their data for the next generation of digital applications.
Instead of a risky "Rip & Replace" strategy, we rely on a gradual modernization approach.
Existing systems will continue to be used where they reliably fulfill their purpose. At the same time, their data will be made available for new applications, regulatory requirements, modern platforms, and AI.
This also changes the perspective on legacy modernization.
The crucial question is no longer exclusively:
"How do we replace our legacy systems?"
But increasingly:
"How do we use the data and knowledge from these systems today for our digital and AI-driven future?"
This is exactly where the partnership between RetroCode and geqo.io comes in.
RetroCode × geqo.io – From Legacy to AI-ready.