Longevity of a treasured database service
The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) is a comprehensive database of multiwavelength data for extragalactic objects, providing a systematic, ongoing fusion of information integrated from hundreds of large sky surveys and tens of thousands of research publications. The contents and services span the entire observed spectrum from gamma rays through radio frequencies. NED has been serving the public for 34 years. Over this period, database and software technologies have advanced by leaps and bounds. To keep providing the invaluable services the community has come to rely on, NED team continues to integrate the science data as they were published, serve the data to community via user interface and APIs, while expand and upgrade the software and database systems. This talk will give an overview of what we have done and what we are doing now to ensure the longevity of this treasured system, both database and software.