Migrating Legacy Applications to Microsoft Azure Cloud - Case Study

OMI is a leader in Occupational Health, providing high-quality products, services, and continuing education to help companies meet OSHA compliance standards. From Pulmonary Function Testing to Hearing Conservation and Respirator Protection Programs.

OMI’s occupational-health applications ran on aging, unsupported infrastructure. Legacy web sessions, backups, databases, and application maintenance created security and continuity risks.

Key Obstacles:

• Outdated Microsoft Windows Servers using deprecated TLS 1.0 & 1.1 , leaving web sessions highly vulnerable.
• On-premise backup systems were time-consuming, with disaster recovery processes taking hours.
• Unpatched MySQL databases with no recent updates pose an increased risk of data loss or corruption.
• Legacy Adobe ColdFusion software required nightly reboots to remain operational and was becoming too costly.

It was clear that continuing down this path could compromise both data integrity and business continuity. OMI needed a trusted partner to help them migrate legacy applications to the cloud, modernize their infrastructure, and minimize downtime.

Tevpro’s goal was to secure OMI’s infrastructure, migrate them to the Microsoft Azure Cloud, and improve performance. Most importantly, Tevpro needed to complete this mission without disrupting ongoing clinical evaluations or user experiences.

Step 1: Secure Web Sessions with a Reverse Proxy

To address web-session security risks, Tevpro deployed a reverse proxy in front of OMI’s legacy web servers. The proxy separated public traffic from the older application environment while the broader migration was planned.

• SSL certificates were automated using Let’s Encrypt, eliminating the need for manual renewals.
• This interim solution allowed us to keep the systems live and secure while working on full infrastructure modernization.

Step 2: Lift-and-Shift Migration to Microsoft Azure Cloud

Tevpro moved OMI’s legacy infrastructure to Microsoft Azure using a lift-and-shift approach.

• Moving workloads off aging hardware reduced reliance on the old server environment.
• The migration was planned around continued access for clinical and administrative users.

Step 3: Modernizing Databases and Software Stack

• All MySQL databases were migrated to Azure Database for MySQL , resulting in reduced maintenance needs and enhanced scalability.
• For the outdated ColdFusion application , we moved from Adobe ColdFusion to Lucee , an open-source CFML server.

The runtime change also addressed:

• Improved performance
• Reduced memory usage
• Increased scalability for high-traffic systems

The project moved OMI’s legacy applications to Microsoft Azure and updated the supporting environment. The results below describe the changes reported in this case study.

Key Outcomes:

• Cost savings through smaller, more efficient server instances
• Faster application performance with Lucee replacing ColdFusion
• Stronger security with encrypted sessions and up-to-date cloud infrastructure
• No more reboots or manual service restarts
• Automated backups and disaster recovery now built-in
• Faster patching and update cycles
• SSL certificate renewals are free and fully automated
• Significant reduction in infrastructure costs by eliminating the need for on-premise hardware

OMI’s IT and clinical teams now spend less time fighting fires and more time supporting business goals.

Conclusion: Don’t Let Legacy Systems Hold You Back

This project addressed aging infrastructure in stages: web-session protection, Azure migration, then database and application-runtime changes. The next step for a similar system depends on its dependencies and operational constraints.

If your team has already decided to move a legacy application, review Tevpro’s legacy system migration services.