What To Consider Before Getting Rid of Application Delivery Controllers

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Application delivery controllers (ADCs) are considered a solution which provides advanced services. It only makes sense you’ll need to update them every 3-4 years. Yet, from my experience, there are quite a few organizations which would be happy to continue and use their legacy ADCs a bit longer to save on the refresh cost, but also to avoid the hassle of replacing such a complex solution. Those are also organizations which are slower in adopting cloud solutions (though most of them already realize they will have to, eventually).

Here’s four factors to consider about the future of their legacy Application Delivery Cs.

Protecting Your Current Investment

Some ADC vendors provide real longevity for their appliance portfolio which includes updates of their firmware to support new needs that arise since the product was introduced to the market. Even if you have ADC appliances between 4- 6 years old, you may be surprised that they can still support the TLS 1.3 (the latest SSL standard), virtualization, application protection and more.

If such an upgrade exists, it will often be at a fraction of the cost of replacing your ADC infrastructure. It is not just about the cost of a new appliance, but also about all the resources associated with integrating a new solution to your environment.

Can Legacy ADCs protect my applications?

Today, application protection is becoming a must if you want to keep your organization’s data secure. However, adding application protection to legacy ADCs is often not an option; when it is, it means that it can be done relatively easily without replacing your ADC infrastructure. Be sure to inquire with your current vendors before forklifting your ADC solution because not all vendors can accomplish this via a software upgrade.  

[You may also like: Managing Applications Across Multiple Data Centers: A Case Study]

Adding Proactive Monitoring Of My Applications

The ADC is the device that front-ends all your important applications. It only makes sense that it will also provide you with a single pane of glass with consistent KPIs to monitor your applications’ health. Most of the ADC vendors in the market have already aligned behind that concept and provide application monitoring. Some also provide analytics that are actionable and can pinpoint an issue and direct you to the corrective action. This is a relatively simple functionality to add to legacy ADCs to save you time, money and efficiency.

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How To Future Proof  ADC Investments Moving Forward

Legacy ADCs still require updates, which requires an investment. The question that comes to mind is – why should I bother investing in a legacy ADC solution if I will eventually transition to a cloud environment? Instead, ask yourself how can I make sure that any new investment I make today in my legacy ADC will serve me when I move my applications to the cloud? It’s not always possible, but some vendors will allow you to move your physical ADC capacity (with all of its functionality) to virtual appliances across cloud environments. The result – any investment in your legacy ADC will be able to serve you upon your migration to the cloud.