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Classic hosting of legacy IT

Legacy systems continue to be a part of company IT. Classically hosted on the premises or in the provider's data center

Classic hosting of legacy IT

When it comes to legacy IT, there's life in the old dog yet. If you ask cloud proponents, these old IT infrastructures should have disappeared long ago. And yet legacy IT and mainframes are tenaciously clinging on, and companies are required to continue to host, maintain, and manage them. Where a legacy infrastructure is operated, an IT partner is needed who provides the data centers for the classic IT infrastructures.

Legacy continues to play an important role

Row of switchboards in a server room

According to the 2019 Lünendonk study “Fit for the transformation” (“Fit für die Transformation”), legacy has not outlived its usefulness yet, despite the pressure of the digital transformation. A full 13 percent of the larger medium-sized companies and corporations surveyed are not at this stage planning any legacy modernization at all, and a further 30 percent are only intending to develop a strategy for transformation over the next one to two years. Interestingly, the Lünendonk study also found that around half of the surveyed companies do not yet apply a cloud first strategy.

Cloud does not always work

What are the reasons behind the slow departure from legacy systems? One answer might lie in ERP systems which are deeply interwoven with company processes in large companies and groups and have been developed over many years to be company-specific. These systems often still run on legacy IT and cannot easily be replaced by cloud solutions.

Legacy modernization continues

Another study by IDG Research shows that mainframes still hold a large share in IT operations. According to the “Legacy Modernization 2018” (“Legacy-Modernisierung 2018”) study, over two thirds of surveyed firms still use mainframes in their IT and data centers. One fifth of companies are planning to replace their existing mainframes in the short or medium term; 46 percent of companies are only planning to do so in the longer term. At least 22 percent of companies intend to keep their mainframes in the long term; 8 percent have not yet made up their mind.

Classic hosting

High angle view of technicians in front of a series of server racks

Companies that still rely on their legacy IT or are only just planning a successive transfer to the cloud can be provided with server, storage and backup services by T-Systems. In customer locations and the DIN/ISO 27001-certified twin-core T-Systems data centers we operate x86 servers with Linux and MS Windows and Unix servers with IBM AIX for you. The T-Systems data centers fulfill all compliance requirements under German and European data protection law and comply with all prescribed IT security standards, with 99.8 percent minimum availability.

Computing power in all sizes

The standard server configurations are checked quarterly based on orders, latest hardware generations of suppliers and market analysis.

Sourcing mix of classic hosting and cloud

Sooner or later, companies will transfer or want to transfer the majority of their IT infrastructure to the cloud. For this purpose, T-Systems provides the whole range of options for extending classic hosting with any private and public cloud solutions to hybrid, multi- or future-cloud structures. Since T-Systems offers managed services for AWS and Azure alongside its own public cloud services from the Open Telekom Cloud on the basis of OpenStack, IT infrastructure really is without limits.

ESARIS minimized security risks

While an Enterprise Security Architecture (ESA) describes the security measures of a company, ESARIS (Enterprise Security Architecture for Reliable ICT Services) refers specifically to the security architecture of ICT service providers. An extensive collection of documents renders the ICT services of T-Systems secure and reliable – from design and operation to further development. The collection contains global guidelines, higher-order concepts and specific work instructions for all areas of security management:

  • Risk management 
  • Service management
  • Data centers, networks, workstations

What ESARIS offers 

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  • Easy participation in bids:
    Comprehensive, tried-and-tested security concept that can be applied to any sector and any company. 
  • Easier preparation of quotations:
    Detailed information on security standards and measures of the provided ICT services. 
  • Preventive risk minimization:
    The collaboration of the sales and the security management departments helps to detect risks at an early stage and minimize them using ESARIS guidelines. 
  • Smooth processes:
    The integration of IT service management and IT security prevents many security issues from the outset. Others are quickly and systematically solved. 
  • Faster product development:
    centrally collected and clearly structured best-practice approaches save time and money in the development of new ICT services. At the same time, ESARIS increases their security and therefore quality, even at design stage.
  • Efficient audits:
    centrally stored, easily searchable standards.
  • Guaranteed security:
    recording of vulnerabilities and the patches used, in addition to systematic update of ICT components. 
  • Effective rectification of issues:
    simplified error search through structured library.
  • Supports industrial production:
    basis for discussion and contracts with clients and suppliers. 

Advantages of classic hosting for legacy IT

  • Ready-made bundles of hardware, storage, and licenses
  • Secure, highly available, and managed infrastructure
  • More flexibility at noticeably lower cost (Opex instead of Capex)
  • Consistently high quality and modern technology
  • End-to-end security
  • Flexibly extendable
  • Worldwide hosting skill


We look forward to your project!

We are happy to provide you with the right experts and to answer your questions about planning, implementation, and maintenance for your digitalization plans. Get in touch!

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