What does Application Modernization really mean?

@cbdi #SOA My friends at the CBDI Forum have been applying their expertise in Service-Oriented Architecture to the question of Application Modernization. See David Sprott's blogpost The meaning of life and application modernization (Jan 2010) See also Application Modernization Special Issue (CBDI Journal December 2009).

Of course, people have been talking about Application Modernization for many years (see note), but David's approach is strongly based on his favourite architectural principles - not just SOA principles (loose coupling, abstraction, and so on) but also model-driven development.

In general terms, modernization contains two opposing ideas - separation (Latour calls this "purification") and mixture ("hybridization"). In application modernization, separation of concerns is a well-established architectural notion, related to modularization and encapsulation. Hybridization refers to things that are neither one thing nor the other - for example, the creation of processes and systems that are neither wholly automated nor wholly manual, neither wholly inhouse nor wholly outsourced, but some complex and potentially volatile mixture. This means creation of highly reusable components and services, that can be redeployed and repurposed in unforeseen ways.

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Bruno Latour, We have never been modern (trans Catherine Porter, Harvard University Press, 1993)


Peter J. Leithart, Semi-Modernism (November 2006) We Have Never Been Modern (October 2013) "We Have Never Been Modern" (December 2014)

Wikipedia: Separation of Concerns

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Note: In October 2006, HP, Intel and Oracle jointly launched an Application Modernization Initiative (HP Press Release. See also Dana Gardner, Not just a nip and tuck, application modernization extends the lifecycle of legacy code assets, October 2006). During 2008, a couple of niche application modernization companies were acquired: Jacada by Software AG (ebizQ, January 2008) and Relativity Technologies by Microfocus (Press Release, December 2008). IBM's webpage on Business application modernization services is dated October 2008.

from SOUP to SOAP

Dealing with legacy systems is like one of those word games, where you have to get from SOUP to SOAP by changing one letter at a time.

SOUP represents legacy. SOAP represents fully compliant service-orientation.

SOA allows for a progressive decoupling of legacy systems - from SOAPY SOUP (legacy systems with some service interfaces) to SOUPY SOAP (service-based architecture with some outstanding legacy areas).

CBDi best practice report - http://everware-cbdi.com/public/downloads/D-R7G/journal2003-11.pdf

CBDi commentary - http://www.cbdiforum.com/public/news/index.php3?id=1341