Phased IBM MQ to RabbitMQ migration with legacy code refactoring
Delivered for American National, an insurer, in phases with no big-bang cutover.
American NationalDelivered by the AceMQ engineering team
Insurance
Modernize insurance systems while claims keep flowing.
Policy, claims and billing platforms cannot stop for a rewrite. We change them in phases, with tests first and every step reversible.
The short answer
Legacy modernization in insurance means moving policy, claims and billing systems off unsupported platforms without interrupting the business. Ace8 does it in phases: tests first, small AI-assisted changes, senior engineer review, and a rollback at every step. The AceMQ engineering team delivered a phased IBM MQ to RabbitMQ migration for American National, an insurer.
Context
Why is insurance modernization hard?
Insurers run long-lived systems that hold decades of business rules. Three traits make changing them risky.
- Rules live in code. Rating, underwriting and claims logic was written over many years and often has no written specification.
- Everything is connected. Policy, billing, claims and document systems exchange messages and files, so one change reaches many systems.
- Downtime is visible. A billing run or claims intake that fails reaches customers and regulators quickly.
Targets
Where does legacy usually sit in an insurer?
Method
How do you modernize without a big-bang cutover?
This is the Ace8 method, applied to systems where a mistake has a regulatory cost.
- 1
Pin down behavior
Write characterization tests that record what rating, billing and claims code does today, including the odd cases.
- 2
Change in slices
AI-assisted tools make bounded changes. A senior engineer reviews each diff against the tests.
- 3
Move one capability at a time
Route a small piece of traffic to the new component while the old one keeps running.
- 4
Keep every step reversible
If a result differs, traffic goes back. Nothing is switched off until the new path has earned it.
- 5
Plan the run first
Decide who supports the new stack before go-live. AceMQ supports it afterwards.
Governance
What do insurance and audit teams need to see?
Controls matter as much as code in a regulated business. The material we can provide on each engagement:
- A record of every automated change and the engineer who approved it.
- Test results before and after each phase.
- A rollback plan per phase, written before the phase starts.
- Open, supported target platforms, so you are not trading one lock-in for another.
Delivered work
What has been delivered for an insurer?
American National, an insurer, moved from IBM MQ to RabbitMQ in phases while the AceMQ engineering team refactored the legacy code that depended on the old broker. There was no big-bang cutover. In the same work, change data capture that had used Kafka was replaced by Debezium with RabbitMQ, which removed a component.
The scope figures (applications, queues, phases, cutover window) will be published as the customer approves them. Read the full American National case study. The work was delivered by the AceMQ engineering team, and AceMQ supports RabbitMQ after migration.
First step
Where should an insurer start?
Start with a fixed-price modernization assessment. It inventories applications, measures test coverage, lists licence renewal dates and ranks work by risk and value. Insurers usually begin with the application with the nearest licence renewal or the most unsupported runtime, not the core policy platform.
Proof
Delivered by the AceMQ engineering team.
It is updating policy, claims, billing and middleware systems so they run on supported platforms and can be changed safely, without interrupting the business. Phased change with tests and rollbacks is the usual approach.
Rarely in one step. Rewrites carry high risk because rules live in old code. Phased modernization, replacing one capability at a time, keeps the business running.
We design each phase so the old system keeps running until the new one has proven itself, and every step can be rolled back. Any planned window is agreed per project.
Yes. The AceMQ engineering team delivered a phased IBM MQ to RabbitMQ migration with legacy code refactoring for American National.
We keep a record of automated changes, reviewer sign-off, test results and rollback plans. Your own teams make the compliance determination.
Know the cost before anything moves.
A fixed-price assessment gives you the inventory, the risk score and a phased plan. Scope and cost are fixed before the migration starts.
Book a Fixed-Price AssessmentGet in touch
Talk to a modernization engineer
Tell us what you run today. An engineer, not a sales script, replies within one business day.