Atlassian and AWS help federal agencies leave legacy systems behind

In 2019, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified 10 legacy systems in urgent need of modernization. Six years later, only three have been updated. With agencies spending roughly 80% of IT budgets maintaining existing systems, teams are left with little room to modernize disconnected tools, even as citizen expectations and mission demands accelerate.

Compounding this pressure, the executive order on eliminating information silos now requires agencies to share data across departmental boundaries. However, opening up access between disconnected systems creates immediate security, governance, and compliance hurdles that legacy infrastructure was never built to handle.

To help agencies bridge this gap, Atlassian and AWS have partnered to deliver clear migration routes from Atlassian Data Center to the cloud. Both Atlassian Cloud and Atlassian Government Cloud are built on a trusted foundation of AWS infrastructure, with the right destination depending on an organization's specific security, compliance, and data requirements. 

For U.S. government agencies and their industry partners, Atlassian Government Cloud provides a FedRAMP Moderate-authorized environment separate from the commercial offering, Atlassian Cloud. This dedicated space for government customers enables public sector teams to modernize with Jira, Confluence, and Service Collection without compromising on strict federal security and compliance requirements. 

Organizations without FedRAMP Moderate requirements, including many state and local agencies, higher education institutions, and contractors, can utilize Atlassian Cloud. It delivers the same core collaboration benefits outside of the FedRAMP Moderate boundary, but with options to layer on advanced security capabilities like Customer-Managed Keys (CMK) to satisfy specific needs for data governance and control. 

Why the AWS foundation matters 

The underlying operating environment is just as critical as the collaboration platform itself. Built on AWS, Atlassian’s cloud products leverage the same trusted, resilient infrastructure that federal agencies rely on today. This architecture is engineered for high-availability and maximum uptime, meaning systems are designed to automatically handle component failures, power outages, and sudden traffic spikes without disruption. Entrusting that cloud infrastructure foundation to Atlassian and AWS eliminates the constant burden of maintaining on-premises servers and patching aging systems, allowing agency teams to refocus their expertise directly on mission outcomes. 

Better teamwork, at scale 

Regardless of the Atlassian cloud environment an organization chooses, the core value remains the same: empowering teams to spend less time searching for context and more time advancing mission-critical work. 

Government teams often operate across a complex web of departments, programs, and external partners, each with unique workflows and isolated data. When information and decisions are scattered across disparate tools, teams lose valuable time to manual status-chasing and the reconciliation of conflicting project data. This fragmentation slows down work and obscures the visibility leaders need to manage cross-agency dependencies and risks. 

For over two decades, Atlassian has engineered solutions specifically for this challenge. By standardizing on a connected platform, agencies can unify their operations: 

•  Jira provides a single source of truth to plan and track work across the agency.
• Confluence centralizes organizational knowledge, turning static documentation into an active, shared asset. 
• Service Collection streamlines service delivery and incident response. 

Together, these tools break down silos and provide technical and business teams with shared visibility into priorities, progress, and blockers. In the commercial offering, Atlassian Cloud, this foundation unlocks AI-powered search, chat, and specialized agents with Atlassian Rovo to automate routine tasks and accelerate workflows, with these capabilities planned for Atlassian Government Cloud in the future. 

Making migration manageable 

Modernization is no longer a question of if agencies will move beyond legacy systems, but how they will do so without compromising security, compliance, and mission continuity. Agencies that act now will be best positioned to meet rising public expectations and deliver on their objectives with a modern, connected foundation. To explore migration paths, access planning resources, and get step-by-step guidance, visit the Atlassian Ascend cloud migration center.

To dive deeper into the security and reliability of our platform, learn more about Atlassian cloud infrastructure.