Industrial facilities run on systems that were built to last — and they have. But the software, databases, and supervisory platforms behind those operations are now decades old, running on unsupported hardware, written in languages fewer engineers understand each year, and increasingly exposed to cybersecurity risk.
Salem Automation modernizes the software and data layers that keep industrial operations running — without forcing a disruptive rip-and-replace.
In the ISA-95 automation pyramid, the field devices and control systems at Levels 0 and 1 are only part of the picture. Above them sit the software layers that actually drive decisions: SCADA and HMI platforms, MES and batch management systems, production databases, ERP integrations, and the custom application logic that ties it all together.
These are the layers where institutional knowledge lives — often embedded directly in legacy code, undocumented business rules, and aging databases that no one fully understands anymore. They’re also the layers where modernization delivers the highest return: better data, better visibility, better security, and a platform the next generation of engineers can actually maintain.
Salem Automation operates at Levels 2 through 4, where legacy software, databases, and business logic meet modern infrastructure. Our engineers are fluent in the older platforms these systems were built on — OpenVMS, VMS, VAX, Alpha, FORTRAN, C/C++, VB6, PowerBuilder, Sybase, RdB/SQL — and in the modern architectures they need to connect to or migrate toward.
Every legacy environment is different. Some organizations need to stabilize immediately — get critical applications off failing hardware before a production outage. Others are ready for a full software and database migration but need a partner who understands the legacy side well enough to preserve the process knowledge embedded in those systems.
Salem meets you where you are, with a phased approach that delivers value at every stage:
Salem Automation has delivered legacy modernization projects across a range of industrial and operational environments, including:
The hardest part of legacy modernization isn’t the new technology — it’s understanding the old. Salem’s engineering team brings deep expertise across the platforms industrial organizations actually run on:
OpenVMS
VAX/VMS
Alpha
HP Integrity (Itanium)
Windows Server (legacy versions)
FORTRAN
C/C++
VB6
COBOL
PowerBuilder
DCL
Oracle RdB
Sybase SQL Server
older Oracle and SQL Server versions
vtAlpha
vtVAX (Bare Metal and hypervisor-hosted)
Shadow Mode deployment
Proxmox VE
C#
.NET
WPF
modern SQL Server
cloud-ready architectures
For field-level automation needs — PLC programming, control panel design, instrumentation, and process control at Levels 0 and 1 — Salem works with trusted automation integration partners throughout the Southeast. If your project spans both the field layer and the supervisory/software layer, we can coordinate across both to ensure a seamless result.
