To Cloud or Not to Cloud: The Future of IT Modernization
As businesses prepare for an agile future, the decision to embrace cloud technology becomes increasingly important. Murat Yanar, the director of Migration Workloads at Amazon Web Services (AWS), firmly believes that “innovation starts with cloud migration.” By migrating applications, data, and infrastructure to the cloud, organizations open doors to modernization opportunities.
Gone are the days of an all-or-nothing approach to the cloud. With AWS’s collaboration with VMware, businesses can migrate at their own pace while leveraging on-premises architecture, creating a flexible and secure IT infrastructure. The AWS and VMware partnership provides powerful hybrid solutions that combine the benefits of both platforms.
Here, Yanar highlights three key advantages of migrating to a hybrid environment with AWS and VMware: on-demand scale, robust IT security, and instant innovation.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Garnering the Advances of FinOps in AWS to Accelerate Growth
- Transferring Windows Workloads to Linux with AWS
- Giving the Needed Edge to Business of Application Modernization with AWS
- Modernizing Database with AWS
- Modernization of SAP with AWS
- FAQs
1. Introduction
The cloud market’s maturity and growth are rapidly increasing. According to a Gartner report, the cloud managed service market is projected to reach $102 billion in 2025, with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 19.1% in U.S. dollars. While startups and hi-tech markets have already embraced modernization, traditional businesses are catching up gradually, recognizing the potential benefits of the AWS cloud and its features.
Moving to the cloud is a significant decision that involves organizational changes and capital investment. Companies don’t take cloud migration lightly, and experts recommend aligning the executive team with the strategy and migration process.
2. Garnering the Advances of FinOps in AWS to Accelerate Growth
Unmanaged cloud environments have become a common yet critical problem for business owners. Evaluating cloud performance and understanding the price structure can be daunting. Additionally, managing cloud operations and resource allocation on a monthly basis poses challenges. Cloud cost optimization is an ongoing process that requires collaboration between the finance and IT teams.
AWS introduces Cloud FinOps, which brings together technology, business, and finance to accelerate the realization of business value through cloud modernization. Serverless workloads in the cloud computing model facilitate efficient resource allocation, leading to a reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Serverless applications can save businesses up to 80% compared to dedicated servers. The unification of technology, business, and finance promotes accountability and drives growth.
3. Transferring Windows Workloads to Linux with AWS
The multitude of choices offered by AWS for organizational modernization, such as transitioning from Windows to Linux, migrating off mainframes, and adopting non-relational databases, can be perplexing. AWS, with its unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency, is the preferred cloud service for organizations aiming to achieve their modernization goals. Over a decade of continuous innovation and performance enhancement has reshaped workloads. By extending support for open-source software, AWS enables quick access to modern data technologies and features.
4. Giving the Needed Edge to Business of Application Modernization with AWS
The global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the modernization of businesses due to the unprecedented surge in the need for online services. To cope with this sudden demand, companies are compelled to shift to AWS for modernization, leading to significant complexities. AWS provides the essential edge to stay ahead of the competition. For example, during the pandemic, an online grocery store experienced six times more traffic than usual, which it efficiently handled due to its modernization with AWS.
5. Modernizing Database with AWS
Modernizing databases is a top priority for organizations seeking to implement analytics and machine learning into their business processes. AWS’s modern data architecture allows seamless data movement between purpose-built data stores and data lakes, maximizing the benefits of data aggregation. Moving databases to the cloud reduces operational costs and frees up teams to focus on innovation rather than spending time on database patching, scaling, and security.
6. Modernization of SAP with AWS
Organizations increasingly turn to AWS’s cloud-native technologies to modernize their SAP legacy applications, which can lead to significant complexities. AWS offers proven techniques and extensive experience in providing cloud support to SAP customers, enabling cost reduction, adoption of the RISE with SAP offering, and migration to SAP S/4HANA. AWS provides a resilient global infrastructure exclusively designed for running SAP applications, ensuring low latency, high speeds, and eliminating single points of failure. Compliance with data regulation laws, such as GDPR, is seamlessly achieved, thanks to top-of-the-line security features during the modernization process.
FAQ: Cloud Migration with AWS and VMware
Q1: What is cloud migration, and why is it important?
A: Cloud migration refers to the process of transferring applications, data, and infrastructure from on-premises systems to cloud-based environments. It is important because it enables organizations to leverage the benefits of the cloud, such as scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, while modernizing their IT infrastructure for enhanced innovation and agility.
Q2: How does the partnership between AWS and VMware benefit cloud migration?
A: The partnership between AWS and VMware provides powerful hybrid solutions, allowing organizations to migrate to the cloud at their own pace. It combines the strengths of AWS’s cloud infrastructure with VMware’s on-premises architecture, creating a flexible and secure IT environment for seamless migration and ongoing operations.
Q3: What are the key benefits of migrating to a hybrid environment with AWS and VMware?
A: The key benefits include:
- On-Demand Scale: The cloud offers virtually limitless capacity, enabling organizations to quickly scale up or down based on their computing and storage needs. This flexibility allows for efficient resource allocation without the need for extensive upfront provisioning or long-term infrastructure planning.
- Robust IT Security: AWS’s managed security measures are highly resourced and meet the stringent requirements of top-secret workloads. By leveraging AWS and VMware, organizations can benefit from a secure infrastructure and extensive cloud security tools, reducing the burden on their own IT departments.
- Instant Innovation: VMware Cloud on AWS provides access to a wide range of cloud-native technologies, allowing organizations to unlock the value of their data, drive innovation, and enhance their existing applications. With AWS’s continuous release of new services and features, businesses can stay ahead and rapidly adapt to evolving technology trends.
Q4: How does the cloud address the challenges of traditional data center expansion?
A: Cloud migration eliminates the need for time-consuming and costly traditional data center expansion. Building regional data centers can take several years to complete, while the cloud offers instant scalability and global presence. With AWS’s extensive availability zones and the availability of VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts, organizations can expand their data center capacity or regional footprint rapidly and cost-effectively.
Q5: Is data security ensured when migrating to the cloud?
A: Yes, data security is a top priority in cloud migration. AWS’s core infrastructure is built to satisfy the security requirements of military organizations, global banks, and high-sensitivity institutions. AWS provides robust security measures, including physical security, network protection, data encryption, and compliance tools. However, it’s important for customers to play their part by building secure applications and following best practices for data protection.
Q6: How does cloud migration with AWS and VMware enable innovation?
A: Cloud migration with AWS and VMware opens doors to innovation by providing access to a broad range of cloud-native technologies, such as containers, serverless computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. These technologies empower organizations to modernize their applications, experiment with new efficiencies, leverage open-source tools, and adopt agile development practices. AWS’s constant release of new services and features ensures that organizations have the tools they need to drive innovation and transform their business.
Q7: How does cloud migration reduce maintenance costs?
A: By migrating to the cloud, organizations can shift their focus from managing infrastructure and data centers to building and creating new customer experiences. AWS’s pay-as-you-go model and the elimination of upfront provisioning reduce maintenance costs associated with hardware maintenance, data center operations, and software updates. AWS’s consistent price reductions over the years further contribute to cost savings for businesses.
Q8: Is cloud migration a one-time process, or is it an ongoing journey?
A: Cloud migration is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time process. Modernization is a continuous effort, and the cloud provides the foundation for organizations to evolve and adapt to changing business needs and technology advancements. As businesses continue to innovate and explore new opportunities, they can leverage the scalability, flexibility, and security offered by AWS and VMware to drive their digital transformation forward.
