Summary

IT organizations are under increasing demand to increase the ability of the business to innovate while controlling and often reducing costs. Legacy modernization is a real opportunity for these goals to be achieved. To attain these goals, the organization needs to take full advantage of emerging advances in platform and software innovations, while leveraging the investment that has been made in the business processes within the legacy environment.

To make good choices for a specific roadmap to modernization, the decision makers should work to have a good understanding of what these modernization options are, and how to get there. We have outlined five methods of modernization: SOA Integration, Re-architecture, Platform Migration, Replacement, and Data Modernization as well as some key factors to be considered for each option. We also explored the imperative that all modernization projects start with a legacy understanding phase.

Finally, this chapter exposed you to the advantages and considerations that need to be made when endeavoring to create a roadmap for modernization. In the following chapters, we will examine two of these methods in detail: SOA enablement and re-architecture, and how you can leverage the Oracle technology stack to achieve these goals. Now that we have built a foundation, let's get into the details.