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Azure migration and modernisation centre

Let's go forward, together. Get resources at every stage of your cloud migration strategy and data modernisation journey, including tools and guidance to help you move, manage, and secure all your workloads.

Do more with less by moving to Azure

Save on cloud costs, increase efficiency, and accelerate growth by adopting a cloud operations–based model on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) technologies. And modernise to drive innovation with fully managed platform as a service (PaaS) offerings.

For detailed guidance on Azure migration, watch these how-to videos.

Migrate and modernise all of your mission-critical workloads to Azure

Virtual desktops

Access your desktop and applications from virtually anywhere. Modernise to Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly Windows Virtual Desktop) in minutes to enable secure remote work.

Databases

Migrate SQL Server to Azure Virtual Machines or a fully managed option like Azure SQL Database. Migrate and modernise MySQL and PostgreSQL to fully managed Azure services. Get minimal downtime and built-in HA, monitoring and security.

Mainframe and midrange migration

Modernise with ease and without abandoning the applications you rely on by running your midrange and mainframe applications on Azure.

SAP

Bring Azure intelligence, security and reliability to SAP with a simplified migration path and learn about SAP and Microsoft's unique partnership.

Development testing (dev/test)

Improve software quality and reduce costs by moving dev/test to Azure. Quickly deploy and manage hundreds of VMs for development and testing.

The cloud migration and modernisation continuum

Cloud migration and modernisation is a continuous process with opportunities for innovation and flexibility at every stage. Many organisations begin with an IaaS migration of their workloads to take advantage of cloud benefits right away, while others begin with PaaS offerings to increase agility and developer productivity. No matter which approach you begin with, you will be able to start innovating in new ways right away and you can always adopt new IaaS or PaaS capabilities anytime.

Find out how ready you are to start migrating to the cloud—the SMART way

From business planning to training to security and governance, find out what you need to do to prepare for your Microsoft Azure migration with SMART—the Strategic Migration Assessment and Readiness Tool.

Start assessment

Discover why cloud modernisation is key to long-term cloud success

Migrating workloads is a great first step. Find out why application modernisation boosts your return on investment and security, accelerates speed to market and opens up new opportunities for innovation.

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Spend less money and time managing your datacenter

And grow your business by spending more time focusing on higher impact work.

Up to

5X

AWS is 5 times more expensive than Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server1
Save up to

54%

versus on-premises and up to 30% versus AWS by migrating ASP.NET apps to Azure2
Save up to

80%

On Windows Server with Azure Hybrid Benefit and Reserved Instances3
The Microsoft Cloud is up to

93%

More energy efficient than traditional enterprise datacentres4

Why migrate and modernise with Azure?

Discover the innovation platform for your business—and accelerate migration and modernisation in the cloud with confidence.

Innovate faster on an app and data platform that's optimised for productivity

Enterprise-grade infrastructure to help your business achieve scale and resilience

Modernise on your terms with hybrid flexibility

  • Extend innovation to your on-premises environment using Azure Arc. Enable consistent app development and DevOps practises across hybrid environments by deploying and running your apps on Azure and/or on-premises with Arc-enabled Kubernetes.
  • Consistently manage and govern your Linux, Windows, and SQL workloads across on-premises and multi-cloud environments using Azure Arc-enabled infrastructure.
  • Get comprehensive cloud security posture management and cloud workload protection for your valuable assets anywhere with Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
  • Only on Azure: Get extended security updates for 3 more years at no additional charge on Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2012 R2.

Explore guidance, programmes and tools to help you succeed on Azure

Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure

Plan and implement your migration to the cloud with best practices, documentation and tools for cloud architects, IT professionals and business decision makers.

Azure Migration and Modernisation Programme

Let's move forward together with confidence. Get the right mix of cloud modernisation resources and expert help at every stage of your cloud journey.

Microsoft FastTrack for Azure

Accelerate the deployment of your solutions on Azure with technical enablement help from Azure engineers and expert partners.

Frequently asked questions

  • There are a lot of benefits with application and data modernisation, but most organisations are motivated by one or both of the following:

    • Spend more time innovating and less time maintaining legacy infrastructure by using cloud-native technologies.
    • Build applications that are resilient, highly scalable, independently deployable and able to evolve quickly by using microservices architecture.

    Learn more about the benefits of cloud migration

  • All workload cloud migrations—including databases—typically follow a six-step process. Factors such as the types of workloads, the complexity of the existing digital estate and industry or governmental compliance requirements might require special planning and tools, but the six steps are almost always the same:

    • Define strategy: Define your business justification and expected outcomes.
    • Plan: Align actionable adoption plans to business outcomes.
    • Ready: Prepare your environment for your cloud migration strategy.
    • Adopt: Move your workloads to the cloud environment.
    • Govern: Benchmark and implement governance best practices for your environment and workloads.
    • Manage: Use proven methodologies to manage your cloud and hybrid solutions.

    Start moving your workloads with Azure Migrate

  • You can modernise your .NET or Java apps by using Azure App Service or Azure Spring Apps, and modernise your databases by using Azure managed databases like Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instances. Modernisation enables you to take advantage of Azure platform as a service (PaaS) capabilities such as built-in security, patching, high availability, and auto-scaling.

    Also, you can also containerize your .NET and Java apps and run them in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) without needing to make any code changes.

    Typical application and data modernisation projects include:

  • You can extend Azure management and services to hybrid, multicloud and edge environments using Azure Arc. Azure Arc simplifies governance and management by delivering a consistent multicloud and on-premises management platform, enabling you to manage your entire environment with a single pane of glass by projecting your existing resources into Azure Resource Manager. You can also manage virtual machines, Kubernetes clusters, and databases as if they are running in Azure.

    Learn More

1 https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/azure-vs-aws/cost-savings/

2 GigaOm Report Sponsored by Microsoft - Costs and Benefits of .NET Application Migration to the Cloud

3 Calculations based on scenarios running 744 hours/month for 12 months at 3-year Reserved Capacity. Prices as of 24 October, 2018, subject to change. Savings based on eight vCore Azure SQL Database Managed Instance Business Critical in US West 2 running at Azure Hybrid Benefit rate. AWS calculations based on RDS for SQL EE for db.r4.2xlarge on US West (Oregon) in a multi AZ deployment for Reserved Instances under Standard 3-year term, all upfront payment. Actual regional pricing and program discounts may apply. Actual savings may vary based on region, instance size and performance tier. Savings exclude Software Assurance costs, which may vary based on Volume Licensing agreement. See https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/reserved-vm-instances/

4 Source: The carbon benefits of cloud computing, A study on the Microsoft Cloud in partnership with WSP. Updated 2020.

Get expert guidance and support through the Azure Migration and Modernisation Programme

Start moving your apps, databases and infrastructure with Azure Migrate

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