Clerity announced that it has entered into an agreement to invest and take controlling interest in Veryant, a software technology firm focused on COBOL development and Java deployment solutions.

"Veryant products and technology significantly extend and enhance the modernization offerings Clerity can deliver to the market," said Clerity President Brandon Edenfield. "Veryant's isCOBOL technology uniquely blends COBOL and Java functionality, enabling a future-proof path forward for customers interested in extending their valuable application assets."

"Veryant has spent several years developing our technology and has a growing customer base in Italy," said Massimo Bertoli, President of Veryant. "After reviewing ways to maximize the potential of isCOBOL, we believe aligning with Clerity is in the best interests of our current and future customers. I am confident our innovative products, talented employees and vibrant customer base will be key contributors to the success of the company over the long term."

With an estimated 200 billion lines of COBOL in use today, there is opportunity to enhance and integrate COBOL applications through Web Services and Service Oriented Architectures. All COBOL development and debugging tasks are performed in a COBOL environment, so no retraining or rewriting code is required. Since key isCOBOL technology such as the Compiler, Debugger and Runtime Environment is implemented 100% in Java, extending applications and delivering true cross-platform portability becomes a reality. The association of COBOL innovation with Clerity's professional services organization and industry partnerships will further extend the market reach of Veryant's offerings and improve its value proposition.

Clerity and Veryant will operate as separate businesses going forward. Veryant's President, Massimo Bertoli, will continue in his lead role within Veryant. Clerity's professional services and support teams will also play valuable roles in introducing and supporting COBOL solutions outside of the Italian market.