IBM Commercial and Professional Services Morocco

rKube

Application Refactoring

rKube needed to accelerate Java modernization for customers because manual refactoring of enterprise WebSphere applications was slow, costly, and difficult to validate across outdated codebases and tests.

10 participants
6 weeks
Increased Java unit test coverage to 90%
Transformed 80% of traditional WebSphere application code automatically

Reported impact

Business outcome

rKube improved modernization speed and quality, increased automated test coverage, and built a stronger service proposition for customers needing large-scale Java upgrades.

  • Cost Reduction
  • Productivity Improvement
  • Speed to Market

Solution

rKube worked with IBM Client Engineering on a six-week proof of concept using IBM watsonx Code Assistant to automate key steps in enterprise Java modernization. The assistant was inserted directly into rKube's workflow so teams could generate transformation-ready code changes, produce unit tests, and review explanatory summaries of what had changed. Because the product is tuned specifically for modernization, the team used it to convert traditional IBM WebSphere application code toward IBM WebSphere Liberty targets while preserving quality controls. The PoC also emphasized transparency, with summarized explanations that helped teams validate the automated changes before moving on. By turning application analysis, transformation, and testing into a more integrated workflow, rKube reduced the manual bottlenecks that typically slow modernization programs and created a faster path for taking customer Java estates into more contemporary frameworks.

Data flow

Existing WebSphere application code enters the watsonx Code Assistant workflow, the assistant generates code transformations, tests, and summaries, and developers validate the output before moving the application toward WebSphere Liberty.

Solution architecture

2 components · 2 layers
  1. Compute
    • IBM watsonx Code Assistant Generates modernization-ready code changes, unit tests, and explanations for enterprise Java transformations.
  2. Serving
    • IBM WebSphere Liberty Serves as the contemporary runtime target for transformed WebSphere applications.

Architecture clues

  • The PoC combined transformation, unit-test generation, and explanatory analysis in one workflow.
  • The assistant was used specifically for enterprise Java modernization rather than generic code generation.
  • The target state moved traditional WebSphere code toward WebSphere Liberty frameworks.

Evidence from the source

"Increased Java unit test coverage to 90%"
"These steps included generating precise code transformations"
"creating comprehensive unit tests"
"transforming 80% of the in-scope WebSphere application code automatically into contemporary frameworks for IBM WebSphere Liberty"
Transparency Evidence & methodology 90/100 reference value · 89% confidence · 1 source

Review how this reference was scored and trace each normalized claim back to its documented source.

01

Scoring methodology

How scores are calculated

Customer Reference Value measures usefulness as a customer reference. Evidence Confidence measures the quality and traceability of available evidence, not independent verification.

Customer reference value90/100
  • Problem clarity20/20
    Measures whether the customer's operational problem is specific enough to compare.
  • Implementation depth20/25
    Rewards named components, data flow, integrations, and architecture detail.
  • Outcome specificity20/20
    Measures whether the reported benefit is concrete rather than a generic claim.
  • Quantified impact25/25
    3 metrics describe measurable impact.
  • Deployment scale5/10
    Rewards evidence of a live or scaled deployment and meaningful integration scope.
Evidence confidence89%
  • Source authority20/25
    The main evidence is an official vendor-published customer story.
  • Claim traceability21/25
    10 of 12 key fields link to a named source.
  • Direct evidence20/20
    4 direct source quotes retained.
  • Date provenance10/10
    The publication date comes from the source page or publisher.
  • Source transparency8/10
    1 source reference document publisher, URL, authority, retrieval, and supported fields.
  • Implementation specificity10/10
    Rewards source-backed components, data flow, quantified impact, and a specific outcome.
02

Traceability

Sources & provenance

Field coverage shows which facts each source supports. Dates are shown only when documented by the source.

  1. IBM

    rKube customer story

    First-party
    https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/rkube
    Source type
    Vendor-published customer story
    Published
    Oct 17, 2024
    Supports
    • Customer
    • Business problem
    • Solution
    • Products
    • Solution components
    • Data flow
    • Integrations
    • technical area
    • use case category
    • Business outcome
    • outcome category
    • Metrics
    • Architecture
    • evidence quotes
    • Publication date

Date evidence

Not separately sourced Industry, Region, Company size. Treat these normalized attributes as lower-confidence until a dedicated source is added.