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Global ramp and reach ambitions of businesses of all sizes are becoming more achievable just as consumer demands for them to be more agile and accessible are becoming more strident. Digital Transformation strategy with Hybrid Cloud Computing at its core is being embraced by diverse businesses as an effective solution to enable dramatic business growth. With the recent advances announced by us in collaboration with leading Public Cloud providers, Hybrid Cloud comes back to the center as the pivotal element of a winning Digital Transformation solution.
However, one element that hampers most decisions in moving to Hybrid Cloud is the dreaded Application Migration from legacy, on-premises to Hybrid Cloud environments because they are rendered complex due to typically extensive redesign and code refactoring needs before any migration can happen. Businesses have to either commit to redesigning the applications in house or to outsource it to SIs (System Integrators). It can take many weeks or months of development and testing just to migrate the applications. There is often another caveat. Once the migration is completed, it could take an equally complex process if businesses were to decide to retract the migration and go back to their previous environment.
A customer I know had been lamenting that it had taken them 8 months to retract their migration. They had already taken over a year to execute the migration processes that included extensive redesign. While the time lost in this process is certainly very high, we are not even attempting to quantify the disruption and distraction caused within the organization during the whole episode. Another customer spent over 2 years exploring leading Public Cloud Service providers but, was still unsure about his next steps at the end of it. When we introduced the recent trailblazing advances in collaboration with leading Public Clouds, it took customers a long time to be convinced that they could indeed create a limited Hybrid Cloud environment within days instead of months.
Several customers have checkered experiences like this and are consumed with protracted and inconclusive pilots. It really gets down to whether they can commit to a long and complex Application Migration that will occupy the bandwidth of their development teams in a big way. Many customers are wary about the possibilities and opportunities of Hybrid Cloud even when they are introduced to what is now possible using the latest DC technology advances: Zero-minimum migration effort, Full portability of applications to Cloud, Live (yes, you read it right, LIVE), bi-directional movement of workloads and Consistent Technology stack on both on-premises and Cloud.
While we can empathize with them on their pilot fatigue, it is pragmatic to commit to a focused and thorough study with the most advanced Hybrid Cloud technology available and watch their development teams migrate their applications live. For instance, a BFSI customer has recently migrated 400 applications in 2 days, another customer has migrated 650 applications in 5 days while another globally reputed educational institution in the US has migrated 3000 applications in 45 days against an earlier estimate of 30 months using what was available earlier. These claims may seem unbelievable and almost impossible, but they are worth validating and realizing.
Top Reasons for Piloting the Latest Hybrid Cloud Technologies
Whatever your earlier experiences, it is worth piloting the latest Hybrid Cloud Technologies offered consistently on both On-premises and Public Cloud as they offer vastly superior support as a fillip to your Hybrid Cloud journey.
Effortless Migration
- Migration is effortless and almost instantaneous due to consistent technological environment on both on-premises and Cloud environments
- Migration can be done live without any downtime
- Applications can be shifted back and forth as needed
- No need to redesign or refactor existing applications
Low-Risk
- A starter configuration of a Single Host is all that is needed to commence a pilot
- Suitable for development-test workloads due to limited availability commitment
- Needed investment is negligible in an enterprise IT budget
Efficient and Swift On-boarding
- Hybrid Cloud pilot environment is extremely quick to provision
- The alternative of refreshing an existing or creating a new on-premises environment takes many months just to set up
- Most of the pilot time is spent in analyzing the core application experiences instead of being consumed in preparation and set-up
A Step in the Right Direction
A swift pilot to test the latest advances in Hybrid Cloud technologies and their consistency with on-premises environments is too valuable to miss. Despite being wary based on earlier experiences with long and complex pilots, it is an incredible opportunity to validate the cost, process, effort, ease and flexibility that the new possibilities offer.
It’s no surprise that NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), the largest digital payment provider in the country, has migrated its business critical systems to Cloud. There is absolutely no stopping customers now and no source of concern as long as they understand the possibilities that Hybrid Cloud offers to their specific business scenarios. They can move towards Hybrid Cloud with certainty and conviction. It will be a step in the right direction.
The author is Senior Director and Chief Technologist, VMware India
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