Software migration

Legacy Transformation, or legacy modernization, refers to the rewriting or porting of a legacy system to a modern computer programming language, software libraries, protocols, or hardware platform. Sometimes referred to as software migration, legacy transformation aims to retain and extend the value of the legacy investment through migration to new platforms.

A legacy code is any application based on older technologies and hardware, such as mainframes, that continues to provide core services to an organization. Legacy applications are frequently large and difficult to modify, and scrapping or replacing them often means re-engineering an organization’s business processes as well. However, it is important to note that more and more applications that were written in so called modern languages like java are becoming legacy. Whereas 'legacy' languages such as Cobol are top on the list for what would be considered legacy, newer languages can be just as monolithic, hard to modify, and thus, be candidates of modernization projects.

Re-implementing applications on new platforms in this way can reduce operational costs, and the additional capabilities of new technologies can provide access to functions such as web services and integrated development environments. Once transformation is complete and functional equivalence has been reached the applications can be aligned more closely to current and future business needs through the addition of new functionality to the transformed application. The recent development of new technologies by software modernization enterprises have made the legacy transformation process a cost-effective and accurate way to preserve legacy investments and thereby avoid the costs and business impact of migration to entirely new software.

The goal of legacy transformation is to retain the value of the legacy asset on the new platform. In practice this transformation can take several forms. For example, it might involve translation of the source code, or some level of re-use of existing code plus a Web-to-host capability to provide the customer access required by the business. If a rewrite is necessary, then the existing business rules can be extracted to form part of the statement of requirements for a rewrite.

When a software migration reaches functional equivalence, the migrated application can be aligned more closely to current and future business needs through the addition of new functionality to the transformed application.

The migration of installed software from an old PC to a new PC requires a software migration tool like SoftRescue Pro Edition. See [http://www.softrescue.com SoftRescue web site]