Experts from the Karsun ReDuX team recently joined the Fed to Fed podcast. Badri Sriraman and Judewin Gabriel joined Zack Schwartz, former CIO for the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Susan Sharer, CEO of GOVTECH CONNECTS and host of the Fed to Fed podcast. In this new episode, they discussed the use of artificial intelligence agents for rapid modernization. That includes legacy system challenges, overhyped AI, and crafting effective solutions given operational challenges.
An Urgent Need for Rapid Modernization
As they observe, the need for modernization is pervasive across government agencies. Driven by an expectation for faster, more robust, and bigger and better capabilities, today’s agencies demand speed and efficiency. Meanwhile, public expectations, shaped by advancements seen in the news, push government organizations further.
At the same time, federal leaders must balance the rise of overhyped AI solutions. These may not be fully vetted, lack support and fall flat in production environments. How then can systems integrators build trust while providing the rapid modernization solutions government agencies need?
ReDuX: The AI-First Modernization Platform Answer
To meet this demand for efficiency, agility, and accuracy, Karsun Solutions developed ReDuX, an AI-first platform that rethinks how modernization happens. It brings rapid modernization to legacy systems that have evolved over decades and often lack institutional knowledge. Even though this complexity increases risk, ReDuX moves beyond manual assessments to provide transparency and generate high quality, production ready code that requires less rework, speeding time to delivery.
How ReDuX Enables Rapid Modernization
- Multimodal AI agents build knowledge graphs from various inputs, including source code, documentation, schema information, and system demonstrations.
- Agents extract logic (APIs, batch jobs, user flows, calculations) and convert it into human-readable summaries, backed by citations.
- Agile teams review and assess legacy domains, then uncover user behaviors, business rules, data flows, and system architecture.
- Agents and teams translate business requirements into Given-When-Then (GWTs) for behavior-driven development (BDD).
- Teams reimagine the modernized systems, generating new software capabilities while preserving required functionality and supporting automated testing, ensuring functional equivalence between old and new systems.
- Teams then mobilize agents that take this information and other inputs as they generate purpose-fit, production-ready code.
The result, two times reduced effort, two times improved quality, and four times reduced time to implementation. Moreover, ReDuX takes several steps to improve the trustworthiness of the outputs produced by its AI agents. That includes using human-in-the-loop to validate outputs, automated reprocessing, implementing formal methods that specify software behavior, and active learning. If mistakes slip through, the system enables teams to trigger automated reprocessing based on feedback, making the blueprint agents smarter and more reliable over time.
The Next Evolution: Autonomous AI Agents
Karsun Solutions has a 15-year history of large-scale modernization work for federal agencies, and Redux emerged from this experience. Now the ReDuX team is applying that experience by evolving their platform to use the latest technological development. Autonomous AI agents link together forming a digital workforce capable of handling everything from product user stories to technical and production tickets. These agents learn from feedback, adapt to priorities, and collaborate like a real team. This enables precise, focused micro tools and facilitates moldable development.
Listen to the podcast for a deep dive into their process. Ready to get unstuck? Connect with our team to start your AI-powered rapid modernization journey.
As we enter the fourth quarter of a turbulent federal technology market, our Karsun experts are adapting to meet the evolving needs and missions of our agency customers. At the same time, meeting the demand for artificial intelligence enabled tools, our Karsun Innovation Center developed ReDuX, a comprehensive, end-to-end AI-accelerated modernization platform for the entire software development lifecycle. Today, as we close out the first half of 2025, we summarize some of the insights shared by experts in our Innovation Center and from our teams serving our U.S. government partners.
Bringing Thought Leadership to the IT Industry
Karsun thought leaders joined the AWS Mainframe Modernization Forum, the Federal Tech Podcast and other forums to share their experience with our ReDuX platform. In short, they observed, government modernization faces significant challenges from shrinking workforces and reliance on decades-old, mission-critical legacy systems which are difficult to maintain and often lack up-to-date subject matter expertise as veteran employees retire. This directly impacts federal customer experience, with only 23% of Americans finding federal services easy to navigate.
At these events, these Karsun experts revealed their ReDuX AI-powered modernization platform offers a crucial solution by deploying a digital workforce of AI agents. These agents effectively become Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for legacy systems, blueprinting their architecture and converting intricate code to modern cloud platforms. This approach dramatically benefits development teams by accelerating complex migrations, enhancing code quality, and reducing costs, allowing human teams to focus on strategic, high-value work.
Ultimately, ReDuX aims to make federal services more usable, faster, and lead to more satisfied customers.
New Insights at Innovation Town Halls
In addition to our thought expertise at industry events, our experts currently working on real-world modernization engagements shared their experience at monthly Innovation Town Halls. We shared some of the insights from these experts on LinkedIn and in recent blogs.
That includes describing how Karsun innovates quickly while ensuring high-quality delivery. For instance, we shared how Karsun uses artificial intelligence to drive process improvement and ensure data privacy. ReDuX AI is central to this, enhancing productivity by 22.5% for mainframe modernization. For instance, ReDuX addresses code parsing challenges early then generates production-ready code faster than human teams. Karsun’s approach also integrates AI for human-centered design (HCD) and can enhance organizations’ Zero Trust Architecture posture. This comprehensive approach is underpinned by an innovation culture prioritizing cross-functional collaboration and strategic investment in the right technology and processes.
Whether internally at Karsun Innovation Town Halls or at industry events, insights from Karsun leaders support the adoption of emerging technology with the support of trusted exports. Whether you are seeking new frontiers with AI or seeking new methods to accelerate your modernization journey, contact Karsun to get started today!
At Karsun Solutions, we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation, especially when it comes to modernizing legacy systems. Our monthly Innovation Town Halls showcase how our experts use emerging technologies like automation and AI to solve real-world customer challenges. Recently, we had two insightful presentations that highlighted the power and versatility of our ReDuX AI-powered modernization platform in transforming complex legacy code using an AI code parser. That team recently summarized their findings on our GoReDuX Blog. Today we’re sharing their insights below.
Natural/ADABAS Modernization with ReDuX AI Code Parser
A common pain point for mainframe customers involves systems written in legacy Natural code with ADABAS. The desire to move away from these systems is driven by several factors, including proprietary software costs, workforce shortages and the fine-tuning required for proper system performance.
While other modernization tools offer automations for refactoring or replatforming, they often fall short in providing deeper insights. Moreover, they do not lay the groundwork for future enhancements.
The ReDuX Solution
Karsun expert Eamon Cusic shared how his team addressed this. Using ReDuX, they developed a Natural parser capable of assessing both the syntax and semantic structure of the code The team utilized ReDuX Blueprinting agents to analyze user behavior, software module code, and VSAM database schema.
This enabled them to provide context within the VSAM, including crucial elements like core business logic, data flow, and screen flows. With ReDuX Blueprint citations, Eamon’s team could even examine exact window management subroutines, providing unprecedented clarity.
Conquering VB6 and Unsupported Third-Party Components
Raminder Saluja, an AI for modernization leader in our aviation practice, shared another critical challenge facing his customer. A vital legacy application faced obsolescence because its language and third-party components were no longer supported, making modifications and bug fixes nearly impossible. The looming threat? The application was anticipated to stop working with the next Windows update.
The ReDuX Solution
Raminder’s team needed a tool for rapid modernization. ReDuX proved to be the solution, not only capable of parsing VB6 code but also validating requirements and generating test cases as part of the modernization process. After leveraging the Blueprinting agents (like those used for Natural), Raminder’s team extended ReDuX’s VB6 parsing to its code companion code generation agent. The ultimate goal: migrate VB6 to a VB .Net application.
This approach dramatically reduced the modernization timeline. While traditional methods can take over a year, this ReDuX-powered effort is expected to be completed within a 6-month timeframe.
ReDuX: A Mature Framework for Any Legacy Language
What these case studies demonstrate is ReDuX’s incredible adaptability. Whether you’re dealing with Natural, VB6, Oracle Forms/Apex, or other legacy coding languages like COBOL, ReDuX provides a mature framework that allows for the addition of new parsers and libraries. Depending on the language’s complexity, a ReDuX AI engineering team can typically write new parsers in just 2-6 weeks.
Both Eamon and Raminder leveraged this mature process to tackle previously intractable code parsing problems, transforming challenging modernization efforts into achievable projects.
ReDuX empowers Architects, BAs, Product Owners, Designers, Developers, and Testers to achieve significant improvements. Connect with us to discover how ReDuX can tackle your legacy code challenges and accelerate your modernization journey!
What often appears to be “overnight success” is usually the result of years of strategic investment, learning from failure, and relentless perseverance. In the workplace, innovation doesn’t arise by chance—it’s cultivated through intentional effort, structured initiatives, and a culture that inspires people to imagine what’s possible.
Award-winning organizations don’t leave innovation to luck. They create environments where creativity flourishes and bold ideas are transformed into meaningful results. Here are some of the foundational strategies that drive innovation behind the scenes:
1. Encouraging Psychological Safety
One of the most powerful predictors of a high-performing team is psychological safety—the belief that it’s safe to take risks, speak up, and share unconventional ideas without fear of embarrassment or retaliation.
When employees feel secure, they’re more likely to voice new concepts, challenge the status quo, and support each other through trial and error. Innovation requires experimentation, and that means sometimes failing forward. A psychologically safe environment turns failure into feedback and fuels the kind of creative thinking that leads to breakthroughs.
2. Fostering Cross-Functional Collaboration
When people from different departments, roles, and backgrounds collaborate, they bring fresh perspectives and uncover unexpected solutions.
Organizations that encourage this kind of cross-functional synergy consistently outperform those that operate in silos. Collaboration fosters empathy, promotes knowledge-sharing, and sparks the kind of energy that drives change. Highlighted in Karsun’s previous blog post on collaboration and communication, which explores how a connected culture leads to higher-quality outcomes—demonstrating that the best ideas often emerge at the intersection of diverse experiences.
3. Investing in the Right Technology and Processes
True innovation requires the right infrastructure. That means not just having access to cutting-edge tools, but embedding smart processes that empower employees to do their best work.
Forward-thinking companies are constantly evolving their tech stacks and workflows to remove friction, boost efficiency, and open doors to new ways of thinking. These investments aren’t just about staying competitive, they signal to employees that the organization believes in their potential and is committed to enabling their success.
Building a Culture That Sustains Innovation
A thriving culture of innovation is never accidental. It’s a reflection of leadership choices, employee empowerment, and a clear vision of what’s possible. By prioritizing the employee experience—through trust, creativity, collaboration, and capability—organizations don’t just achieve recognition. They build workplaces where people are inspired to grow, experiment, and shape the future every single day.
Behind every award, milestone, or major leap forward lies a story of intention. Success, it turns out, is built in the quiet moments: brainstorming sessions, courageous conversations, and the unwavering belief that tomorrow can always be better than today.
This blog was written by Karsun expert Angela Brooks. Angela is Karsun’s Director of Talent. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Learn how innovators and experimenters grow at Karsun then dive into the latest from our Karsun Innovation Center.
Karsun Solutions announced that it has been appraised at CMMI Level 5 for its software solutions and delivery practice. This maturity appraisal comes from ISACA, a global professional association focused on governance of enterprise IT. This prestigious achievement is a testament to our commitment to delivering high-quality software solutions and services.
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) is a globally recognized framework that assesses the maturity of an organization’s software development processes. Level 5, the highest level of maturity, signifies that Karsun Solutions has established a culture of continuous improvement and has the processes in place to consistently deliver high-quality software products and services. Organizations appraised at this level, such as Karsun, use statistical and other quantitative techniques to optimize performance and improvement to achieve quality and process performance objectives.
This is Karsun’s third time receiving appraisal at this maturity level. This accomplishment reflects the company’s unwavering dedication to excellence in software development.
“We are honored to receive this recognition from ISACA and are committed to maintaining and enhancing our processes to continue delivering exceptional value to our customers,” said Senior Vice President of the Karsun Innovation Center Badri Sriraman.
Karsun Solutions is committed to maintaining the highest standards of software development continually to investing in its processes and people to ensure we remain at the forefront of the industry. Many of those initiatives are driven by the Karsun Innovation Center. That includes ReDuX, an AI platform that helps teams adopt best practices, scale their processes rapidly and accelerate modernization projects with improved quality and efficiency. It also includes Karsun’s GoLean agile platform which empowers self-guided teams with a full-suite of diagnostic tools, automations and pipelines.
About Karsun Solutions
Karsun Solutions modernizes enterprise systems enabling agencies to make the next technological advancement their next opportunity to elevate mission capability. IT solutions from Karsun are tailored to meet agencies’ unique needs and optimize operations. These solutions adapt and stay relevant to current trends while using secure, digital architecture built to last. It is a proven modernization partner whose expertise elevates agency capabilities and ensures every next opportunity is within reach.
About ISACA
ISACA® (www.isaca.org) is a global community advancing individuals and organizations in their pursuit of digital trust. For more than 50 years, ISACA has equipped individuals and enterprises with the knowledge, credentials, education,
training and community to progress their careers, transform their organizations, and build a more trusted and ethical digital world. ISACA is a global professional association and learning organization that leverages the expertise of its 180,000+ members who work in digital trust fields such as information security, governance, assurance, risk, privacy, and quality. It has a presence in 188 countries, including 225+ chapters worldwide. Through the ISACA Foundation, ISACA supports IT education and career pathways for undersourced and underrepresented populations.
This summer, our Karsun Innovation Center was filled with excitement as our intern cohort tackled AI research and development projects. These talented students addressed real-world challenges and contributed to our cutting-edge AI toolkits and resources. As we conclude 2024, we highlight below the exceptional work done by our interns, with a focus on their projects and the skills they honed while with our modernization experts.
Embracing Real-World Challenges
From their first day in our Herndon, Virginia offices, our interns were exposed to complex problems that demanded innovative solutions. Namrata Hari, a Computational Modeling and Data Analytics student, applied her knowledge to develop a task management application using Java Spring Boot and React. Her project prepared her team for upcoming tasks and equipped them to handle the intricacies of modern software development. Namrata’s primary focus during her AI internship was on testing ReDuX, a toolkit for AI-accelerated modernization. She and her team assessed memory, user interface, and overall user experiences, identifying and addressing defects to improve the AI bot’s functionality.
Pioneering AI Solutions with ReDuX AI
Another inspiring story comes from Samhita Kumar, a rising sophomore at Yale University. Samhita leveraged the ReDuX toolkit for her projects, particularly the AI code generation capabilities included in AppPilot. She combined various tools—Java Spring Boot, PostgreSQL, Podman, and React, among others—to build full-stack projects and refine her understanding of AI applications. Her work involved proposing enhancements to ReDuX and resolving defects within the AppPilot’s frontend design. Samhita’s contributions are an excellent example of AI internships at the Karsun Innovation Center pushing the boundaries of modern software development.
Enhancing User Experience through Full-Stack Development
Manojdeep Dakavaram‘s internship was a blend of full-stack development and problem-solving. A master’s student in computer science, he worked on multiple projects, including a centralized task management system and automating user access to Karsun’s O’Reilly virtual training library. His efforts improved user experiences by addressing critical bug fixes and developing new features in the React front end of AppPilot. Manojdeep’s work showcased the powerful impact of meticulous development and technology integration.
Data Management and Visualization Innovations
Pravalika Gollapudi, a Master’s student at Arizona State University, concentrated on data management and dashboards. She developed a CRUD application and a React dashboard, which streamlined data interactions and improved presentation reliability through rigorous testing. Pravalika’s role also involved conducting data quality analysis, ensuring data integrity and reliability. Her projects underscored the pivotal role data plays in modern AI and software systems.
Automation and Streamlined Workflows
The importance of automation and workflow optimization was highlighted by Visvajit Murali’s contributions. A student from the University of Virginia, Visvajit utilized technologies like PostgreSQL, Spring Boot, and Docker to automate tedious tasks, enhancing user experiences and system efficiency. His work illustrated how automating repetitive tasks can drive productivity and innovation.
Advancing with Generative AI
Generative AI continues to be a game-changer in the tech industry, as evidenced by the work of our interns and our ReDuX mainframe modernization team. The Karsun Innovation Center challenged these students to explore and propose enhancements to our AI toolkits. This focus on generative AI was epitomized by their efforts in developing and refining AI-driven code generation tools, which promise to accelerate and streamline modernization processes effectively.
Lessons and Growth from Internship Experiences
The professional growth of our interns was significantly influenced by their experiences at the Karsun Innovation Center. Daily interactions with seasoned experts, regular “Show Don’t Tell” meetings, and hands-on projects provided them with invaluable industry insights. Interns like Namrata and Manojdeep highlighted the benefits of a collaborative and supportive environment, while others, such as Pravalika and Visvajit, emphasized the importance of continuous learning and adaptability.
This summer, our interns at the Karsun Innovation Center not only contributed to the development of AI solutions but also grew as professionals poised to lead the next wave of innovation. Their stories serve as testaments to the power of immersive learning and the impact of forward-thinking, supportive mentorship. As we look ahead, we are excited to see how these budding experts will shape the world of AI and technology. Check out our Innovation Center Projects to learn more about ReDuX and other emerging technology projects from our research and development team.
For many organizations, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Competency is table stakes. In fact, Canalys released a report revealing that organizations with AWS Specializations, including competencies, unlock $315 billion in customer spending. Moreover, 87% of customers surveyed ranked specializations among the top three selection criteria. For the Amazon Partner Network (APN) partners that achieve these designations, it signifies their expertise, commitment to industry best practices, and ability to deliver solutions seamlessly on AWS. For competency partners, it also presents new opportunities to leverage AWS resources to empower their customers as they migrate to the cloud and accelerate technology adoption.
Migration Incentives
An AWS Competency more than differentiates partners based on their expertise and experience. It also opens up new opportunities to support customer modernization efforts. A 2022 Canalys Partner Ecosystem Multiplier study found that for every dollar of AWS infrastructure sold, there is up to $6.40 available to partners to deliver services to customers.
For example, Karsun achieved its AWS Migration Competency in 2021. As a result of this designation, Karsun teams could use AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) resources. This comprehensive program packages best practices, tools, expertise, and financial incentives to make cloud adoption easier. When applicable, Karsun implements these financial incentives as part of its Cloud Runways toolkit, which accelerates cloud migration through fit-to-purpose transformation playbooks. These enable incremental migrations that adapt to unique customer requirements and constraints.
Technology Acceleration
A government information technology contractor with more than a decade of experience serving U.S. government agencies, Karsun achieved its Government Competency status in 2019. The competency differentiates AWS Partner Network (APN) members serving government agencies with deep domain expertise in security and compliance, in addition to innovative cloud solutions that leverage AWS services.
In a recent video, Karsun Innovation Center Senior Vice President Badri Sriraman shares his experience integrating emerging technology with the resources available to AWS government competency partners. Filmed at the AWS Washington, D.C. Summit Government Competency Leadership Circle, Sriraman discusses how his team used tools from AWS to accelerate Karsun’s AI toolkit, ReDuX AI. Powered by AWS Bedrock, ReDuX AI uses analysis generative AI to perform code analysis, provide recommendations, and generate code for teams working on mainframe modernization projects. To learn more about ReDuX AI, visit GoReDuX.AI.
AWS Government Competency Accelerates AI Research and Development
Karsun Innovation Center Badri Sriraman shares his experience at the AWS Government Competency Leadership Circle at the 2024 AWS Summit Washington, D.C.
In addition to migration and technology benefits, competency partners have access to specialized training, industry events, and support from AWS experts. Partners with AWS Specializations have a wealth of opportunities to support their customers’ modernization ambitions. Overall, the partners that have obtained AWS Competencies significantly enhanced their ability to deliver high-quality AWS solutions.
Karsun is among those partners using the full range of resources available to it as it serves its agency customers. It elevates agency capabilities through modern software development, cloud, data, and AI solutions. Its cloud portfolio offers a full suite of solutions, including hybrid architecture, platform buildout, and application migration. It has AWS Government, Migration, and DevOps Competencies and is a Well-Architected Partner. To dive into Karsun’s complete cloud solutions portfolio, visit https://karsun-llc.com/solutions/cloud-solutions/.
Our Karsun Innovation Center hosts future technology experts every summer for our annual internship program. Computational Modeling and Data Analytics student Namrata Hari joined this year’s class to advance her data science skills while diving into complex, innovative projects. In this interview, she shares her experience in the Innovation Center environment, contributing to center projects and uncovering her path to finding her next.
Finding Her Next: Data Science to Social Impact
First please tell us about yourself. Where are you going to school? What are you studying? What do you like to do in your free time?
Namrata: Hi, I am Namrata! I am a rising sophomore studying Computational Modeling and Data Analytics at Virginia Tech, with a minor in Computer Science and Mathematics. During my free time, I enjoy dancing, singing, and watching movies.
What do you want to do after this internship? What are your career goals?
Namrata: After completing this internship, I aim to participate in professional events and conferences to enhance and sustain my networking skills. My career aspiration is to become a data scientist focusing on complex data projects that extract valuable insights and foster social impact.
Building the Future of AI Accelerated Modernization
In addition to researching and developing solutions with emerging technologies, the Karsun Innovation Center builds toolkits for our teams using these evolving solutions, industry best practices and under guidance from industry experts. One of these toolkits is ReDuX AI, a set of tools and practices for AI accelerated modernization. As part of her internship, Namrata worked with the team developing future enhancements to this toolkit.
Could you share a little bit about the project you worked on as part of this internship? What challenge does it solve? What technologies and tools are you using?
Namrata: Throughout the initial weeks of the internship, I focused on developing a task management application using Java Spring Boot and React. This project has been valuable in preparing us for upcoming tasks.
Namrata: The primary focus of my work during this internship has been testing ReDuX AI. Working within teams, we were assigned stories to complete through the use of AppPilot. During this project, we utilized Nx, Spring Boot, Postgres, Flyway, Podman, React, Comet, and Jest. Throughout this process, we were able to assess the memory, user interface, and overall user experience of the AI bot. Upon completing this project, we began addressing the defects we had previously identified.
The Innovation Center Environment
What is your favorite part about working with the Karsun Innovation Center? Is there a weekly meeting or ritual you enjoy? The opportunity to learn more or get a new certification?
Namrata: My favorite part about working with KIC is the supportive environment that I am constantly surrounded by. I enjoy seeing the work done on the projects I always hear about during our daily stand-up meetings in Show Don’t Tell. The questions asked during Show Don’t Tell helped me learn and develop my skills by showing me what questions should be asked and how to answer them. I appreciate being in an environment where I can always learn something new, no matter what.
What is your biggest takeaway from your experience as an intern at Karsun?
Namrata: My biggest takeaway from my experience at Karsun is understanding industry dynamics. I had the opportunity to gain first-hand exposure to the inner workings of the field, including observing how various challenges are tackled and identifying best practices. This experience has been instrumental in expanding my knowledge and expertise in the industry and has significantly contributed to my professional growth and development.
Namrata worked alongside Karsun Innovation Center experts throughout her internship program. Discover how Karsun experts are modernizing for every next in our Innovation Center, among our data solutions teams, and as they use our ReDuX AI toolkit.
Recording live from the AWS Summit Washington, D.C., Karsun’s Badri Sriraman sits down with John Gilroy and the Federal Tech Podcast to discuss all things AI, accelerating legacy systems modernization and hyperlocal contextualization. Badri is the Vice President of the Karsun Innovation Center. Here, teams work to eliminate or reduce friction for the agencies modernizing their legacy systems. As part of that work, they developed ReDuX AI, a toolkit using AI resources to address common issues related to modernizing these older, more complex legacy systems. Throughout the interview, Badri and John discuss the costs and security risks associated with staying on current systems and the opportunity for AI to provide insight through hyperlocal contextualization to tackle these challenges.
Addressing the O&M Problem
The interview begins by acknowledging the drag aging infrastructure has on these agencies’ enterprise systems. The issue becomes intractable when operations and maintenance (O&M) costs become so high they take up the budget that would otherwise be used for modernization and systems enhancements. A 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report examined the 10 critical systems it identified most in need of modernization. Some of those systems were over 50 years old and, in total, cost the government upwards of $337 million annually to operate and maintain.
In addition to the O&M costs, complex relationships between different systems components, older programming languages like COBOL, and outdated documentation all contribute to the difficulty of modernizing mission-critical legacy systems like those studied. As Badri reveals in the interview, artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to address many of those concerns. Moreover, those same AI tools may accelerate the transition, further reducing O&M costs as agencies move away from these legacy systems.
Eating the Elephant
In the interview, Badri shares a key component of Karsun’s AI-accelerated modernization methodology, hyperlocal contextualization. In a traditional modernization project, teams typically take an incremental approach. To “eat the elephant,” teams go one step at a time, optimizing as they modernize to reduce costs. The analysis required to peel away each part of the legacy system could slow down modernization to a yearslong process in highly complex systems. Throughout the process, these teams must untangle how different parts of the system integrate and work together.
Alternatively, using AI teams still move incrementally, avoiding the pitfalls of Big Bang Modernization. However, they also use AI to identify and map these relationships within legacy systems. This AI assistance helps those teams move at a rapid pace. Working together with the human team and stakeholders, the AI can quickly create a fuller understanding of the system, its impact on the mission and provide new insights into optimization opportunities during the modernization process. This analysis is the first step in using AI for hyperlocal contextualization.
The Security Imperative
An equally pressing concern is rising security threats. The 2023 GAO report found among the chief concerns for these aging systems were outdated hardware and security vulnerabilities. The same processes that help modernization teams optimize to reduce O&M costs can also be used to move from less secure systems to more secure systems based on industry standards and best practices.
Jumping in with Hyperlocal Contextualization
With more advanced large language models (LLMs), AI tools cannot only write the code but also review, debug, and make recommendations. Powered by AWS Bedrock, ReDuX AI not only takes the insights from its eat the elephant analysis but also makes recommendations to Karsun developers using the context generated from those insights. Plus it can then incorporate best practices and security policies into those recommendations. Using a tool like ReDuX AI, the security optimization recommendations are customized to the complexities found in that legacy system, resulting in a modernization process designed to optimize costs and security. Badri discusses this hyperlocal contextualization in greater depth in the interview.
The future is bright. In a 2019 report, the GAO shared agencies provided 94 examples of successful modernization initiatives over the five years studied. While some of the most challenging projects remain, AI tools, like those used by ReDuX, create a future where the remaining mission-critical systems modernize a possibility. Check out the full interview at www.theoakmontgroupllc.com/ep-161-how-to-overcome-the-challenge-of-legacy-systems/ or visit GoRedux.AI to learn more.
Kartik Mecheri joins GovLoop’s Featured Contributor program to share his insights on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), modern software development, architecting for cloud-native environments, data solutions, and enterprise modernization for the public sector. The co-founder and Chief Architect of Karsun Solutions, Kartik’s achievements include spearheading large-scale digital transformation projects. His expertise ensures that Karsun delivers cutting-edge services to its customers while enhancing their customers’ internal processes. He has earned industry recognition for excellence in technology solutions, keeping Karsun at the forefront of technological advancements and customer satisfaction.
GovLoop’s core mission is to help government employees to do their jobs better. It provides free resources, blogs, online training, in-person training, and online courses on topics relevant to anyone working in public service. This new series is an extension of Kartik’s position as a trusted advisor to senior government executives on the latest technologies.
Throughout his featured contributor series, Kartik will combine Karsun’s experience modernizing complex legacy systems for federal government agencies with emerging technology research from by the Karsun Innovation Center. In addition to its research and development unit, the center also builds resource toolkits to assist Karsun’s modernization teams. As part of his column, Kartik will share Karsun’s experience using these tools to accelerate modernization.
This includes sharing Karsun’s experience implementing its ReDuX AI toolkit. This toolkit uses AI to address the challenges associated with migrating complex legacy systems. Its AI tools analyze legacy systems built on older coding languages, such as COBOL. Next, it produces visualizations and other information on the structure of the legacy system. With this enhanced insight into the complex relationship between system components, teams can effectively plan incremental modernization of the system without disrupting the current mission-critical parts of the application. Next, the toolkit resources use the information from the system analysis to make recommendations, enabling teams to generate code more efficiently and securely than code generated by human teams without access to those resources. More information on ReDuX is available at GoRedux.AI.
In his first post examining AI-assisted modernization, Kartik delves into the challenges and opportunities presented by the use of AI for code generation. Here, he discusses the evolving software development space as teams use AI to analyze codebases, security and regulatory compliance, and increased efficiency for mundane development tasks. For more from Kartik, follow his Featured Contributor series at https://www.govloop.com/author/kmecheri/.