In 1993, PipeSoft Corporation ported 250,000 lines of FORTRAN code in 600 subroutines written for IBM 370 mainframes to the PC. This process produced PipeSoft's PC-based multiphase fluid flow simulator, PIPESOFT-2. The original simulator was developed by Chevron between 1976 - 1992. The new PC-based simulator, PIPESOFT-2 provides the same functionality as the mainframe version.

The wide acceptance and power of the PC makes porting legacy mainframe systems a realistic alternative to designing and building software from scratch for the PC. Porting not only extends a program's useful life, but also increases distribution opportunities. And, once ported to a mainstream platform the software can continue to be improved without loss of the original investment.

Keywords:
make file, platform, dimensioned array, serialization, memory management routine, society of petroleum engineers, fortran compiler, mainframe, compiler, spe 030222
Copyright 1995, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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