Subject: CM evolveIT January 2026 Newsletter

The modern state of static analysis, refactoring, and digital transformation

January 2026

In this issue...

  • Webinar: Gen Test Data for Legacy Modernization with CM evolveIT

  • Featured: Removing Dead Code with Confidence - CM First

  • Article: Your Engineering Metrics Are Lying: AI’s Hidden Impact - High Velocity Blog

  • Video Vault: Next-Gen Pair Programming: AI Collaboration on IBM i and IBM z Systems - CM First

  • Intelligence: News to think about...

Webinar

Register Now for "Gen Test Data for Legacy Modernization with CM evolveIT"


Legacy system modernization fails when your test data doesn't reflect reality. Missing documentation, retired experts, and decades of embedded business logic make it nearly impossible to create accurate test cases—until now.


What you'll take away:

  • Automated test data generation – Learn how CM evolveIT analyzes COBOL, RPG, and mainframe code to identify critical data relationships and create realistic test datasets

  • Risk reduction strategies – Discover how comprehensive test coverage validates new functionality before deployment, preventing costly production issues

  • Business rule preservation – See how AI extracts and maps business logic across program boundaries to ensure nothing gets lost in translation

  • Faster modernization timelines – Understand how quality test data eliminates guesswork and accelerates transformation projects by up to 67%

  • Practical implementation steps – Get a roadmap for deploying AI-powered testing in your modernization initiative

Gen Test Data for Legacy Modernization with CM evolveIT
Thursday, February 5th, 2026
10 a.m. CT - 30-minutes with Q&A


Learn more or register now →

Featured

Why Removing Dead Code Is Critical


Every legacy system has it: code nobody understands, nobody owns, and nobody dares to remove. It sits there quietly, bloating the system, slowing teams down, and daring someone to break production.


With modern analysis tools, you can identify which programs, paths, and business rules are actually in use and which ones aren’t. It also shows how carrying this dead weight increases security risk and makes testing and modernization more difficult than necessary.


When you can prove what your system actually uses, dead code stops being scary. And cleaning it up becomes one of the smartest moves you can make.


Read the full story here  →

Announcing CM evolveIT 11.7


Available for Streaming: Join us for informative, hands-on sessions focused on the new CM evolveIT 11.7 release. 


Tailored for future-minded developers, these sessions showcase groundbreaking enhancements aimed at revolutionizing your code analysis and transformation workflows. Expect hands-on demonstrations that you can take to your development workflows right away.

Watch one of these two webinars now...

Mainframe

Latest Advances in Mainframe COBOL Code Analysis and Transformation

Learn about cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools that promise streamlined analysis and transformation processes, automated tools that convert legacy COBOL code to Java, and advanced code slicing.


IBM i

Latest Advances in IBM i Code Analysis and Transformation

Learn how to cut your analysis costs by up to 80% with new capabilities. We'll demo new CA 2E (Synon) and CA Plex superpowers, AI and Code slicing innovations, and improved support for DB2 and COBOL and more.


Heads Up

Your Engineering Metrics Are Lying: AI’s Hidden Impact


AI is accelerating certain aspects of the SDLC, but traditional engineering metrics don’t indicate whether it’s actually enhancing team performance. Faster commits and shorter cycle times can appear impressive on a dashboard, but they may also conceal new risks, increased cognitive load, or quality trade-offs.


By looking beyond surface-level numbers, this explores why old metrics fall short in an AI-assisted world and highlights what leaders should track to see AI’s real impact on productivity, quality, and collaboration.


Without rethinking how you measure engineering work, it’s easy to mistake speed for meaningful progress.


Read the full article on the High Velocity Blog →

 Broadcom Support 


Many enterprises struggle with obtaining Broadcom support for their CA 2E (Synon, COOL:2E) or CA Plex systems


If you're working with an older unsupported release, upgrading your IBM OS, or otherwise under the shadow of lapsed maintenance, we can get you back on Broadcom support based on your unique situation. We specialize in all sizes of customers.


Fill out our 2 minute form and schedule a no-committment fifteen minute conversation with CM First Group tech.

CM First Support

Current CM First Group customers can access tutorials and submit support tickets at support.cmfirstgroup.com.

CM evolveIT current version is 11.7.

You can read more about CM evolveIT in our white paper CM evolveIT Data Lineage, or get in touch with us directly to learn about these new features and more.

We upgrade CM evolveIT customers to the newest versions continuously. If you have any questions just send us a note to info@cmfirstgroup.com.


Other CM First Releases


CM WebClient 1.8.8 (with nightly builds) For details, go here.

CM Matchpoint ALM 7.0 Build 004. For details, go here.
CM M3 2024 Edition
CA Plex 7.3, last supported 7.2.1 (as of October 31, 2024)
→ Details can be found here at Broadcom (login required)
CA 2E 8.7.4, last supported 8.7 (as of October 31, 2024)
→ Details can be found here at Broadcom (login required)
Contact CM First to learn more: info@cmfirstgroup.com

Intelligence