Legacy Integration

Tie legacy systems into newer applications using trusted, industry-standard techniques...

Due to reasons like budget constraints and competing priorities, many organizations end up with more legacy than greenfield software. For the short run, rewriting this software is often not worth the cost or risk.

From ancient mainframe jobs to antiquated SOAP services, legacy applications are commonly tricky to access from external sources. Typically, older application code doesn't implement the communication protocols, such as REST, that modern software expects, thus closing it off from the outside.

At Ronin, we frequently have to solve the legacy integration problem when building new solutions, such as web or mobile applications and microservices. Below is a list of technologies, techniques and best practices we employ to tie legacy systems into new software:

  • Web Services

    • Add a web service layer (typically REST) on top of the legacy software to expose certain pieces without having to perform major rewrites.
    • Allows for greater agility in the future if the legacy code is replaced.
  • Asynchronous Communication & Data Extraction

    • Subscribe the legacy system to an async mechanism, such as a queue, extract its data into a separate data store.
    • Then the data store can be accessed by multiple systems, or better yet, a set of microservices.
  • Data Access Layer

    • For systems which cannot go through a service layer, add a layer that can access the legacy system's data directly.

Core Frameworks & Technologies

Below is a list of core technologies & frameworks we use for legacy integration.
(We are always flexible, however, and willing to learn new stuff!)