Is Migrating Legacy Data Like Downsizing Your Home?

In this blog post, Michael Ratigan, President of Data Evolution, draws a compelling analogy between migrating legacy data for federal agencies and downsizing a home. He underscores the pressing need for agencies like the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize data consolidation, referencing insights from the Government Accounting Office and advocating for a timely migration strategy, using Archive360's product Archive2Azure (A2Z) as a successful example in addressing the challenges of legacy system management.

The surprising complex needs that face federal Agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security, are not unlike the challenges facing families as children grow and move out of the house.  Many families want to downsize, consolidate and preserve their valuable content (letters, photos, videos, treasured handmade gifts from years ago) along with other material things like furniture, tools, etc.  We face the daunting challenge of what to keep, what to store for our children, and what to get rid of. 

Federal agency data consolidation is very similar.  Most agencies, like DHS, put off the major task for a variety of reasons.   Cost, staffing, prioritization, and timing are just a few.    Recent federal mandates and the rapid acceleration of cloud storage platforms have forced reprioritization at all federal agencies.   But don’t take my word for it.   

How strongly does the Government Accounting Office feel about data retirement? 

In May 2023, Government Accounting Office (GAO) testified before the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and the House of Representatives.   The title of their briefing, “Information Technology: Agencies Need to Continue Addressing Critical Legacy Systems.   Or as I like to say, time to downsize and modernize and stay current with the times.   

Each year, the federal government spends more than $100 billion on IT and cyber-related investments. Of this amount, agencies have typically reported spending about 80% on operations and maintenance of existing IT, including legacy systems. Maintaining federal legacy systems has been a known issue for some time. In May 2016, GAO reported instances where agencies had systems with components that were at least 50 years old or vendors that were no longer providing support for hardware or software. Similarly, in June 2019, GAO reported that several of the federal government’s most critical legacy systems used outdated programming languages, had unsupported hardware and software, and were operating with known security vulnerabilities.  Further, federal agencies have struggled with appropriately planning and budgeting for modernizing legacy systems, upgrading underlying infrastructure, and investing in high quality, lower cost service delivery technology. The consequences of not updating legacy systems are constantly making headlines.  Does this ring true at your agency? 

Why move now?  Why not delay making tough decisions and let others take care of the problem? 

Downsizing your home and deciding what to keep and what to throw away is stressful.  For federal agencies delaying application and data retirement and cleanup has far more severe outcomes:  

• Security risks – legacy systems may operate with known security vulnerabilities that are either technically difficult or prohibitively expensive to address. 
• Unmet mission needs - legacy systems may not be able to reliably meet mission needs because they are outdated or obsolete. 
• Staffing issues - in order to operate and maintain legacy systems, staff may need experience with older technology and programming languages. 
• Increased costs - the cost of operating and maintaining legacy systems increases over time. 
• Support of mission critical systems – if legacy data cannot be accessed, it is worthless and can’t support the core mission objectives.   

How should I proceed with application retirement, knowing it’s a bit scary?  

I’ve always found that the obvious answer is sometimes the simplest answer.  Just like planning a move of a family home, begin the process of reviewing and organizing all of your things and then make decisions.  In the case of federal agencies, the simplest path may be to migrate all legacy content, applications, email archives, etc., to a common secure platform.   In the process, remove the clutter (we all have that in our homes), especially items that pose more risk than value. Once in the new home, index it, save the mission critical information and then make it available online, nearline or offline.    In my house, that means the kitchen (critical – I like to cook), basement, closet, storage unit, and safety deposit box.   Archive360 provides your federal agency family with all the tools to make this move painless, automating data retirement, mitigating risks and saving time and money. They also provide security, entitlements, 24/7 availability and a variety of ways not only to store but, most importantly, manage and access the data in accordance with legal, regulatory, and operational policies, all while leveraging the Microsoft Azure platform. 

Archive360 is currently supporting a DHS agency with their move/migration.  DHS is using Achive360’s award-winning product, Archive2Azure (A2Z). A2Z is a cloud-native data governance and archiving platform built with a Zero-Trust, cloud first approach, leveraging native cloud components within Microsoft’s Azure Government Cloud. A2Z uses Archive360’s advanced FastCollect data migration capabilities to migrate and onboard multi-petabytes of data in a highly scalable, secure, and compliant manner, with more than 280 different data file types supported. With Archive360’s A2Z platform, the SI partner and agency were able to meet the agency’s IT, governance and business requirements and now have a solution capable of onboarding and consistently managing a wide variety of disparate data types (i.e., email, collaboration tools, voice, video, text messages, files, legacy applications, and databases). Additionally, it reduced the costs and risk associated with cloud migrations and managing petabytes of data in the Cloud, preserving least privileged and policy-controlled access, with fully auditable data retention and disposition. The entire solution was deployed within the existing DHS tenant, creating a highly secure, infinitely scalable, valuable return on investment under the Department control. 

I guess DHS is now part of the Archive360 family.   I sure hope I get invited to dinner!  I hear they have good parties. So, you know where to find them, Archive360 has moved into the federal neighborhood in a big way.   Knock on their door and say, ‘Hello’.” 

If you have a migration story to share or would like some free advice on how to help you plan for your move, let us know at  info@archive360.com.