Trying to save costs by using an outdated platform is understandable, but consider the risks. Simply put, there’s no bulletproof way to run EOL software.

The potential financial, security and compliance risks typically outweigh the rewards, even if you’re tight on budget.

• Security vulnerabilities

No more security fixes being issued creates a minefield of security hazards. Cyber security risk is widely understood given that cyber-attacks and data breaches are reported in the press every day. In the worst-case scenario, your EOL system can be hacked, and data stolen. Such incidents are embarrassing, putting your reputation and customer trust on the line.

• Compliance risks can result in hefty fines

Regulatory scrutiny is on the rise, so compliance is no longer an option. By failing compliance mandates due to legacy systems, a business can face hefty fines, particularly in the event of a data breach.

• High operating costs, poor performance and reliability cause business interruptions. The costs of maintaining and bug-fixing any post-EOL software can be steep. Consider the high cost of a mission-critical application failing.

However, EOL does not have to spell disaster with advanced planning and the right service provider. Businesses that adhere to the EOL announcements and move away from legacy technologies save more than the investment costs. They may also save their reputations and customer loyalty. Remaining or relying on EOL technology is just not worth the risk.

Whether storing, migrating or finding archived email content, TrueSwift helps reduce storage and maintenance costs, and increase user transparency for compliance. As independent specialists, we are trained and accredited partners with most of the leading archive solutions, both on-premise and cloud.

Our EOL migrations have included the SourceOne predecessor, EMC EmailXtender which joined other legacy on-premise archiving solutions in failing to keep up with the demands of the modern world. Markets, regulations and technology have led customers to investigate corporate digital transformation initiatives with cloud-based solutions. Cloud-based archiving was a much more attractive prospect to handle historical archiving needs and unlock business potential.

In 2010, a large UK city council was faced with the challenge of extracting and migrating legacy data from two separate archiving solutions: the discontinued ATOMIC and the then soon-to-be discontinued EMC EmailXtender.  The platforms contained approximately 500 million business critical emails totalling over 21TB in size. The legacy systems were housed on out-of-date infrastructure and in a poor working condition.

As part of a successful, fully managed service, TrueSwift migrated the data onto a new archive platform, providing the business with risk-free access to their data and enabling them to decommission a significant footprint of outdated infrastructure. Significantly, the reduction in storage and management costs was considerable.

More recently, TrueSwift has seen an increase in clients migrating data away from  EMC SourceOne and have delivered successful migrations for clients across a range of sectors, including Healthcare and Financial Services.