Taking the leap
After weighing the options, the retailer decided to invest in the future and start its journey to the cloud. However, with few workloads in the cloud to date, the retailer had little cloud experience. The organization developed a set of requirements that would allow a balance of innovation and scale with minimal downtime and re-skilling.
- Host the primary footprint in the public cloud with the ability to maintain workloads that are not cloud-ready in an adjacent colocation facility.
- Flexibility to migrate workloads between public cloud and co-location facility.
- Enable scalability for peak season bursts.
- Take advantage of existing tools and skillsets (primarily VMware).
- Avoid downtime and application rework whenever possible.
- Complete migration of workloads in under 24 months.
The best of both worlds
Azure VMware Solution brings together the best of Azure and the best of VMware to enable customers to begin their cloud journey with lower risk, minimal reskilling and rapid value—and it lines up nicely with the retailer's requirements. By selecting AVS, the retailer chose a solution that would allow them to take advantage of public cloud scalability and agility while taking the best advantage of the existing skillsets and tools.
Azure VMware Solution benefits to the retailer:
- Minimal to no skillset disruption.
- Minimal toolset and technology changes.
- Minimal process changes (incl. BC/DR, logging and monitoring, and support).
- Seamless migrations using VMware HCX.
- IP address changes are not necessary.
- Can migrate live workloads with no downtime.
- Migrate between AVS and Co-Lo footprint.
- Accelerated migrations to achieve evacuation deadlines.
- 50% Host Consolidation.
- Ability to quickly add hosts to meet capacity demands (burst).
- Licensing and support incentives on Microsoft Azure, including extended support for Windows Server and SQL Server workloads.
The right partner
Choosing the right partner is critical to the success of any cloud journey. The retailer had partnered with a boutique firm specializing in Azure for a proof of concept of Azure VMware Solution.
While the initial proof of concept was ultimately successful, it was clear that the Azure-only partner was missing the skillset to successfully deliver the retailer's vision. World Wide Technology, already a strong partner to the retailer in the data center, was asked to step in and provide guidance. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner and VMware Principal Partner, WWT was able to quickly assemble a team of experts with skills across Azure, VMware, cloud migration, security and enterprise architecture to meet the retailer's needs.
The collective team quickly developed a roadmap for a successful migration. This roadmap included several workstreams:
- Application analysis and dependency mapping.
- Solution architecture and implementation.
- Application migration.
- Operations and financial analysis.
- Organizational change management and skills development.
- Planning, business case and program management.
Execution is key
Based on this roadmap, WWT and the retailer entered a multi-year partnership. Less than a year into the partnership, a production-scale Azure VMware Solution environment is up and running, meeting all of the retailer's requirements while planning for the future.
Analysis of the retailer's application portfolio is being finalized to help make critical decisions about each application's destination. Operations teams are being prepared to support the new environment, and workloads are being migrated at scale and on track to meet or beat target dates. WWT and the retailer are excited about the future of the partnership and the business outcomes we're driving with Microsoft, VMware and Azure VMware Solution.
