McNulty said Schwan expects to save about US$1 million in annual operational costs. The company also cut its code base by about 85 percent, she said.

Schwan declined to disclose the project cost.

Among the things that made the effort successful, said McNulty, was business backing for the changes required by the system migration, which included adapting to new interfaces and reporting processes.

When it comes to a decision about using mainframes, said IDC analyst Steve Josselyn, users aren't following any particular path. Some companies are moving away from them, while other are moving to them.

Migration decisions often depend on the culture in a company and its skill sets, said Josselyn, adding that there is no certainty of savings from moving to Windows. He noted that the cost of managing a Windows environment can sometimes turn out to be higher than expected.