Golden Path Digital, a provider of enterprise modernization solutions, today announced the launch of AS/Forward, an intelligence and automated transpilation platform designed to address the impending Workforce Cliff in the IBM i ecosystem. The platform combines codebase forensics with automated migration from RPG to modern languages such as Python, Java, and C#, aiming to preserve institutional knowledge and reduce reliance on a shrinking pool of RPG developers. The average age of an RPG developer is now 55 or older, according to recent industry data, and as this workforce retires, companies risk losing the tribal knowledge required to maintain mission-critical systems that underpin global banking, logistics, and manufacturing.
AS/Forward distinguishes itself from traditional lift-and-shift tools by emphasizing codebase clarity before migration. The platform performs deep dependency mapping and impact analysis, generating natural-language documentation and audit-ready descriptions of business logic. This phase, which Golden Path Digital calls Codebase Clarity, provides IT leadership with a transparent view of their entire codebase, enabling informed decision-making. The CEO of Golden Path Digital stated, 'The Workforce Cliff is not a future risk; it is a present-day reality for thousands of enterprises. AS/Forward was built to ensure that decades of institutional logic are not lost when these experts retire.'
The platform supports automated transpilation into multiple languages, including Python, Java, Node.js, JavaScript, C#, and .NET. This multi-language flexibility allows organizations to tap into global talent pools and integrate legacy systems with modern DevOps, cloud-native architectures, and AI-driven workflows. By moving core business logic into widely-used languages, enterprises can break their dependence on dwindling RPG specialists and accelerate their IT agility.
AS/Forward advocates an incremental modernization approach to avoid the common pitfalls of Big Bang projects. Instead of a total system replacement, the platform enables a program-by-program migration strategy, validating each workflow in a production-like environment before decommissioning legacy components. This method reduces the risk of business interruption and provides a measurable path to full modernization. The financial benefits are significant: traditional consulting models typically cost between $5 million and $20 million per project, while AS/Forward delivers a cost reduction of 10x to 50x through high-fidelity automation. Modernization timelines shrink from 5-7 years to 12-24 months, allowing enterprises to realize ROI within the same budget cycles.
For regulated industries like banking, insurance, and healthcare, AS/Forward ensures data sovereignty by being provider-agnostic. Organizations can run the engine locally via Ollama or within secure private cloud environments like AWS Bedrock. This design ensures sensitive proprietary logic and customer data never leave the client firewall, and the platform does not require an external internet connection, protecting intellectual property. AS/Forward represents a paradigm shift in legacy system modernization, moving from high-stakes, multi-year gambles to strategic control and operational clarity as the window for a controlled transition narrows due to the aging workforce.
