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ArticlesIs your organization struggling with escalating data center costs and maintenance demands? How much energy and physical space are your traditional data centers consuming?
As someone who has been leading data center exit projects for 10 years, I’ve seen firsthand the growing pressures enterprises face to manage these challenges. In my experience, the primary issues with legacy data centers are technology integration and staff turnover.
Additionally, data centers require ongoing, adaptive management and effective problem-solving. Therefore, businesses need a team for developing infrastructure and implementing effective practices for managing data centers.
But finding and retaining the right skilled workers is becoming increasingly challenging today. And all these operational challenges are prompting enterprises to look beyond their traditional data centers.
In this article, I will share a proven path to move your heavy data center to modern alternatives like the cloud. So, get ready to gain real insights that can help you execute a risk-free and cost-effective modernization.
I frequently receive requests from decision-makers seeking to close their on-premises data centers. From my observations, these outdated systems impact organizations in two significant ways: time and feasibility.
Time delays hurt businesses the most. Manual processes and lagging infrastructure make it impossible to respond swiftly to market shifts. An old DC can cause significant lag in processes as well. This makes automation and real-time decision-making almost impossible, prompting the need for manual intervention.
Does your technology roadmap contain the phrase “we can’t because our systems won’t support it”? This indicates severe infrastructure limitations. Yes, I’m talking about the feasibility crisis. Traditional DCs prevent the coexistence of old and new technologies. Newer technologies often can’t function alongside outdated hardware. This leads to friction between legacy infrastructure and emerging digital solutions.
This incompatibility not only can make a company’s development plans unfeasible but prevents progress and even causes significant operational bottlenecks.
One of the clearest signs that it’s time to transition away from a legacy data center is the out-of-maintenance status of your infrastructure. Consider what “unsupported” truly means. No security patches. No critical updates. No expert assistance during failures.
Another important sign is unexpected behavior in your environment. Pay attention to those “minor glitches” your team overlooks. They speak volumes. Nothing fails randomly in technology. These seemingly isolated incidents form a pattern. Each anomaly signals deeper structural problems within your infrastructure that will inevitably cascade into larger failures.
For some businesses, I have seen hardware issues can lead to unusual behavior in the software stack, even due to minor and temporary faults.
Legacy infrastructures struggle to support the demands of future-ready businesses. They fail to keep pace with modern platforms and evolving customer needs.
Meanwhile, your competitors are harnessing agile, modern solutions, leaving you lagging behind.
The consequences are clear: lost opportunities, slower development, and diminished competitiveness.
Worse, businesses often face tough choices. Stick to obsolete systems and risk stagnation or invest heavily in temporary upgrades with limited benefits. Neither option is sustainable. Neither keeps you competitive in a competitive market.
As businesses transition from on-premises data centers to cloud or hybrid environments, they face a crucial decision: how to handle the complex and often critical legacy applications that have powered their operations for years?
The stakes are high, and the right approach can make or break a successful migration.
Technically, this involves assessing the current architecture and its compatibility with cloud infrastructures.
On the commercial side, businesses need to evaluate the costs of cloud adoption: licensing, storage, and bandwidth.
Transforming a legacy architecture to the cloud allows you to replace some outdated technologies and maintain the same service-level agreements (SLAs) you currently have in your on-premises setup.
The data housed within legacy applications is incredibly valuable from both legal and commercial standpoints.
Decommission without strategy? Think again.
It is essential to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the data before migration – particularly in light of regulatory frameworks such as GDPR and industry mandates.
A thoughtful evaluation helps prevent catastrophic data loss during the process.
Make sure historical data remains accessible and usable in the cloud.
The best results stem from selecting the right modernization strategy. But it’s important to recognize that your infrastructure is unique.
What has worked for others may not be suitable for you. Therefore, don’t restrict yourself to the most popular options. Instead, thoughtfully consider the relevance of each choice, its use case, and whether it aligns with your long-term goals.
| Approach | Effort | Cost | Results | When to Choose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rehost/Lift and Shift | Minimal work centered on system transfer and environment setup. | Cost-effective approach avoiding deep code modifications. | Minimized downtime, reduced risk and maintenance costs, improved scalability, and infrastructure optimization. | When your on-premises legacy hardware becomes risky and costly, you don’t want to replace your mission-critical legacy applications. |
| Retain/ Encapsulate | Moderate implementation requiring protective layers and interface development. | Economical relative to complete system replacement. | Core functionality preservation with incremental modernization pathways. | When critical legacy functions must remain intact while new technologies need integration. |
| Replatform | Moderate technical work requiring compatibility adaptations. | Mid-range investment covering migration and necessary adjustments. | Enhanced performance metrics, better scaling capabilities, and operational efficiencies. | When current platform limitations restrict growth and modern infrastructure benefits are needed. |
| Refactor | Substantial development effort modifying code architecture. | Variable investment based on code complexity and modification scope. | Enhanced maintainability, improved system flexibility, and better extensibility. | When addressing complex, difficult-to-maintain code that creates scalability barriers. |
| Rearchitect | Significant undertaking involving structural redesign. | Considerable investment in architectural transformation. | Modernized technical foundation aligned with contemporary best practices. | When foundational architecture requires complete revision to meet evolving business demands. |
| Rebuild | Extensive development creating entirely new system implementations. | Major investment for complete system redevelopment. | Fully modernized solution incorporating latest technical standards and patterns. | When existing systems have fundamentally diverged from business requirements. |
| Replace | Complex implementation including data migration and infrastructure creation. | Substantial investment, particularly for custom or premium solutions. | New system deployment with enhanced capabilities and improved business alignment. | When current systems cannot be effectively upgraded and require complete replacement. |
Among the available options, lift and shift is the quickest and least risky method. As it allows legacy applications to run just as they do in Linux and Windows environments – it’s often the most cost-effective choice. This approach ensures similar levels of scalability and protection to modern environments. So, it can be an ideal choice unless re-platforming or rearchitecting has a clear migration path.
Proper execution of the migration is the fine line between disruption and transformation.
Every successful migration begins with a crystal-clear understanding of the current environment.
Factors to keep in mind:
Without proper execution, you’re flying blind. That’s why legacy experts rely on tools like Stromasys’ automated scripts to extract configuration and performance data.
These tools produce reports on CPU and memory usage, disk I/O, and more. They create a blueprint for your infrastructure needs, migration processes, and realistic timelines.
Key takeaway: Know your system inside-out before you touch a single workload.
The apprehension of downtime is one reason many enterprises remain mired in older tech.
But here’s the reality: with modern tools and a clear-cut strategy, you can move legacy systems and applications while production is still in operation.
A legacy environment can be migrated, tested, and put into production without stopping the current production, allowing for a cut-off to be executed without significant downtime.
How can companies adequately support their teams during migration to manage both old and new systems?
It’s essential to collaborate with individuals who possess strong legacy knowledge, particularly regarding the legacy OS.
The migration doesn’t stop there. Make sure your new infrastructure is not only running but thriving.
What actions should businesses take if they encounter performance issues?
As already mentioned, accurate technical analysis is pivotal to protect potential performance issues. Here are the key Pillars for long-term optimization:
Ensure your system operates efficiently under real-world conditions.
Checklist:
Fine-tune workflows to align with the new system.
Checklist:
Empower employees with effective training.
Checklist:
Secure sensitive data with rigorous protocols.
Checklist:
Ensure long-term system health and scalability.
Checklist:
Having a team of experts who are experienced in similar projects is incredibly helpful.
Stromasys has extensive knowledge of legacy technologies, understanding how these processors function and how their emulation operates on x86 systems.
Our engineers have an average of 20 years of experience, enabling them to enhance performance by fine-tuning the virtual environment and adjusting emulation parameters.
The best way to transition to a new environment, such as the cloud, is to align legacy systems with the overall IT strategy and practices. This approach can transform a growing problem into reduced costs and lower risks.
Expert Insights: Integrate legacy systems into your new infrastructure by upgrading the backup solution, reinstating monitoring, and updating the asset inventory database.
Additionally, review all related contracts, including insurance and maintenance agreements, and decommission any old hardware or network components, if applicable, to save energy by powering them off. Also, claim your credits for the Green Credit Policy.
One significant advantage of Stromasys emulation is that it simplifies moving applications from one architecture to another, such as moving from on-premises to the cloud.
Unlike application migration, there is no need for reinstallation or replatforming. By emulating legacy hardware, you can replicate the exact same environment and manage a cutoff seamlessly and in a very flexible manner.
Over the years, we have assisted many customers with data center exits: a publishing company with hundreds of geographically dispersed bookstores, a large university with numerous applications, and many more.
No one in the industry has the legacy experience we possess, covering five different legacy hardware platforms (PDP-11, VAX, AlphaServer, PA-RISC, SPARC) across various verticals, from mission-critical environments to long-term archiving. We also have a worldwide presence and provide 24/7 support in every region.
Are you ready to close your heavy data center while keeping your familiar legacy applications?
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