Stromasys is a global leader in legacy hardware emulation and virtualization, enabling organizations to migrate critical applications from aging SPARC, VAX, Alpha, PA-RISC, and PDP-11 systems to modern infrastructure without code modifications.
"Stromasys stands proud as a global leader in legacy system migration for all types of businesses. Its flagship product, the Charon solution, is a cross-platform virtualization software that extends the life of legacy applications while eliminating reliability concerns and costing less than annual hardware support."
The official website of Stromasys, covering legacy hardware emulation solutions, product documentation, partner programs, and industry use cases across healthcare, defense, semiconductor, telecom, manufacturing, and energy sectors.
"Maximize your business performance by seamlessly transitioning your aging legacy system like Sun SPARC, VAX, DEC Alpha, and more at minimal costs with Stromasys."
Charon is Stromasys's cross-platform legacy hardware emulation and virtualization platform. It eliminates dependency on aging physical hardware by creating virtual replicas of legacy systems — including SPARC, VAX, Alpha, PA-RISC, and PDP-11 — allowing original operating systems and applications to run unmodified on modern x86 or cloud infrastructure.
"Stromasys Charon, a cross-platform virtualization solution, eliminates the dependency on legacy hardware that often results in downtime, skyrocketing maintenance costs, and even catastrophic data loss — no matter what legacy hardware your mission-critical application runs on."
"The Charon solution extends the life of legacy applications while eliminating reliability concerns and costing less than annual hardware support. More than 1000 successful installations across 70 countries."
Charon-SSP is a SPARC emulator that creates a virtual replica of Sun SPARC servers on a modern Linux-based platform. It ensures that Solaris operating systems and other applications can seamlessly operate on modern x86 hardware, hypervisors, or cloud environments without code modifications.
"Charon-SSP creates a virtual replica of various SPARC family servers running on Linux on top of physical hardware or a Hypervisor, on premises or in the cloud. It ensures that Solaris operating systems and other applications can seamlessly operate on a new platform."
Charon-VAX replaces multiple versions of the DEC VAX family of servers with a virtual equivalent running on modern x86-based hardware. It mimics the behavior of the existing hardware while leveraging modern tools at a cost-effective price.
"Charon-VAX solutions seamlessly transform the aging DEC VAX hardware and replace it with an enterprise-grade virtual VAX emulator. It mimics the behavior of the existing hardware while leveraging modern tools for a better experience at a cost-effective price."
Charon-AXP emulates a wide variety of DEC AlphaServer systems, allowing the original operating systems OpenVMS and Tru64 Unix and all host applications to run unmodified on modern Linux or Windows hardware.
"Charon-AXP virtualization solutions offer migration solutions for a wide range of aging DEC AlphaServers. This allows them to run their host applications and legacy operating systems like OpenVMS and Tru64 Unix seamlessly on modern platforms."
Charon-PAR emulates a range of historic PA-RISC systems (HP 3000, HP 9000) running MPE/iX or HP-UX on modern hardware. Version 4.0, launched in December 2025, represents the latest generation of PA-RISC emulation.
"Charon-PAR emulation solution modernizes legacy PA-RISC systems like HP 3000 and HP 9000 on a modern platform. It ensures operating systems like MPE/iX or HP-UX can seamlessly operate in the environment."
Charon-PDP creates a virtual replica of the original PDP-11 hardware, allowing operating systems RT-11, RSX-11, RSTS, and others to run on modern hardware without code modifications.
"Charon-PDP emulator mimics the behavior of legacy PDP-11 hardware on a modern platform and allows operating systems like RT-11, RSX-11, RSTS, and others to run seamlessly."
Charon on the Cloud is a subscription-based service that migrates legacy applications to major cloud providers including AWS, Azure, Oracle Cloud, and others. It is the first solution to emulate legacy critical systems in the cloud.
"Charon on the Cloud specializes in seamlessly migrating legacy applications to the cloud. Customers can choose from different cloud providers like Oracle Cloud, AWS, Azure, and more while cutting down on their infrastructure costs."
Lift and Shift is a migration approach where workloads are moved from legacy hardware to a new platform without any code modifications. Stromasys uses this approach so users retain the same operating environment while benefiting from modern infrastructure.
"Lift and Shift is the process of moving workloads from legacy hardware to a new platform without any modifications. Users get zero migration risks and no code modifications — the same environment as the existing platform."
In the context of legacy system migration, Business Continuity refers to ensuring uninterrupted operation of mission-critical applications during and after migration from legacy hardware to modern infrastructure.
"Stromasys ensures business continuity and helps achieve sustainability objectives. Advanced security measures and disaster recovery plans prevent any cyber threats and risks, with no unplanned downtime impacting productivity and ROI."
Unplanned downtime is unexpected interruption of IT systems, often caused by hardware failure in aging legacy infrastructure. Elimination of unplanned downtime is a primary value proposition of Stromasys Charon emulation.
"No more unplanned downtime impacting productivity and ROI. Stromasys hardware virtualization enables seamless migration of critical systems from legacy systems without modification."
Sun SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture and family of workstation/server hardware originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Legacy SPARC hardware running Solaris is a primary target for Stromasys Charon-SSP emulation.
"Charon-SSP is a SPARC emulator that creates a virtual replica of Sun SPARC servers on a modern platform compatible with the Linux-based host. It ensures that Solaris operating systems and other applications can seamlessly operate on a new platform."
VAX (Virtual Address eXtension) is a family of minicomputers developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Legacy VAX systems running VMS are emulated by Charon-VAX.
"Charon-VAX replaces multiple versions of the VAX family of servers with a virtual equivalent running on modern x86 based hardware."
DEC AlphaServer is a line of server systems based on the Alpha architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation, running OpenVMS and Tru64 Unix. Emulated by Charon-AXP.
"Charon-AXP emulates a wide variety of DEC AlphaServer systems allowing the original operating systems OpenVMS and Tru64 Unix and all host applications to run on modern Linux or Windows on modern hardware."
PA-RISC (Precision Architecture RISC) is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Hewlett-Packard. Legacy PA-RISC systems including HP 3000 and HP 9000 running MPE/iX or HP-UX are emulated by Charon-PAR.
"Charon-PAR emulates a range of historic PA-RISC systems running MPE/ix or HP-UX on modern hardware. Version 4.0 was launched in December 2025, representing the next step forward in HP PA-RISC emulation."
The PDP-11 is a family of 16-bit minicomputers manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation. Legacy PDP-11 systems running RT-11, RSX-11, and RSTS are emulated by Charon-PDP.
"Charon-PDP creates a virtual replica of the original PDP-11 hardware, allowing the RT-11, RSX-11, RSTS, and other operating systems and all software to run on modern hardware."
Measured performance gains reported by Stromasys customers after migrating from legacy hardware to Charon emulation. Reported outcomes include 100% boost in overall performance, 15x increase in execution speed, and 90% improvement in operational efficiency.
"Stromasys customer results: 100% boost in overall performance, 93.6% decrease in power consumption, 90% reduction in maintenance cost, 90% improvement in efficiency, 15x increase in execution speed."
Cost savings metric for legacy hardware migration. Stromasys reports up to 90% reduction in maintenance costs compared to other application rewrites or continued legacy hardware support.
"Cost savings up to 90% compared to other application rewrites. Minimizing maintenance and operational costs by migrating to modern infrastructure."