The .NET Center of Excellence (CoE) at Cognizant is one of Cognizant’s key horizontal practice groups. The CoE aims to drive the technology leadership and adoption of new technologies in the Microsoft space across the organization and providing value-added solutions to its customers.

The CoE focuses on building up expertise on the Microsoft stack in key solution areas:

• Web 2.0: Cognizant is working on PoCs and Solution Frameworks that provide Collaborative and Online Information Sharing services using the Web 2.0 architecture for its clients. Clients can use the dynamic, feature-rich Internet applications that enhance productivity and performance.
• Service Oriented Architecture Reference Implementation: Cognizant’s blueprint for SOA Reference Implementation which include baseline architecture, reusable components, guidance packages and best practices to ensure that the client’s enjoy the benefits of accelerated implementation, flexibility, greater agility, reduced development costs and unique solutions while using SOA.
• Vista / WinFX: Cognizant’s migration guidelines for Vista will help in setting up the right environment for migrating the client’s applications from legacy (Window XP/2003 and other technologies) to Vista platform and leverage WinFX for building connected systems.

Broadly the .NET CoE has proven expertise in the areas of Custom Application Development, Business Process & Integration, Portal & Content Management, Migration & Re-engineering and Architecture Consulting, all centered on the Microsoft technology stack. Cognizant was involved in the largest Mainframe to .NET Re-Engineering project. Our service offerings span a wide spectrum including

• Consulting Services: Providing clients with high-end consulting services: SOA, Architecture Definition, Proof of Concept, Performance Engineering, Capacity Planning etc.
• Full Cycle Implementation: Delivering end-to-end development of .NET based projects/products from conceptualization to certification through a variety of tasks.
• Application Value Management: Cognizant supports existing .NET applications and preserves their value through enhancements.
• Application Migration/Upgrade: Exhaustive migration services enable clients to migrate their applications from older technologies (Windows DNA, DNA 2000, Legacy systems, PowerBuilder, etc.) to .NET.
• Application Integration: SOA based seamless integration of existing systems.
• Product Development: Solutions using Cognizant’s custom Agile Development process – – ProdIgy 2.0 aimed at Product Innovation and Engineering Methodology

The Microsoft Partnership
The .NET CoE also handles Cognizant’s alliance with Microsoft. Cognizant was awarded the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status which demonstrates highest level of competence in working with Microsoft technologies.

• Cognizant is part of the Mainframe Migration Alliance (MMA) to work closely with Microsoft to enable customers to migrate legacy applications to .NET.
• Cognizant is part of the Microsoft RFID Partner Advisory Council
• Cognizant is part of the Visual Studio Industry Partner Program and as part of this added Cognizant’s Feature Driven Process Development Process template as part of Visual Studio Team System.

Cognizant keeps a close watch on technology roadmaps from Microsoft and other industry leaders to enable customers to make the right technology decisions and assist project teams to deliver future-proof solutions. Cognizant has been part of various programs like Ascend programs, Technology Adoption programs and BETA programs arranged by Microsoft which are aimed at building skills in upcoming technologies and be better prepared to serve customer needs. As part of its relationship with Microsoft, Cognizant is aware of future product roadmaps and changes.

There are periodic seminars from Microsoft experts regarding the technology changes in Microsoft products. Cognizant has successfully managed technology changes in several long-running projects which migrated from the DNA platform (ASP, COM/.COM+.) to the .NET platform. This has been achieved by systematically creating a migration plan and defining an architecture that aligns well with industry trends in technology. A lot of industry-standard tools or internally developed tools also have helped to speed up the migration processes to ensure business continuity and low costs of migration. Cognizant also has defined the “ImpliNet” process for migrating from Legacy applications to .NET.