Datacenter Exit and VMware Migration to Azure · Azure Infrastructure & Apps
We have to get out of the datacenter or off VMware, and we need to know what it will really take.
For CIO, CFO, VP or director of infrastructure, cloud and infrastructure teams
A datacenter lease, a hardware refresh or a VMware renewal is forcing a platform decision on a deadline, and most estates are less documented than people think. We start by replacing assumptions with evidence: tool-based discovery of every VM, the dependencies between applications and SQL, and a gap analysis of your Azure foundation. You get a wave plan and a sizing view before you commit. Then we build a governed landing zone and move workloads in controlled waves, starting with a low-risk pilot.
How we work
What we do
Open a step to see what happens and what you receive.
Advisory: Cloud Migration Strategy & Business Case
Advisory, with an optional ongoing vCIO cadence. For leadership deciding how to exit a datacenter or respond to VMware changes, who need a defensible business case before funding migration.
- Business-driver workshop: exit dates, renewals, resilience and cost
- Document-based review of infrastructure, applications, SQL and VMware
- Cloud adoption strategy aligned to the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework
- Rehost, replatform, refactor or retire decision for each application
- Target-state principles for landing zone, governance, network, identity, BCDR and FinOps
You receive: a cloud adoption strategy and roadmap, application portfolio disposition, SQL and Windows Server modernization approach, business case inputs and an executive briefing.
Assess: Azure Migration Readiness Assessment
Fixed fee. For infrastructure leaders who need to know exactly what is running, what depends on what, and what it will take to move.
- Tool-based discovery and performance collection for every VM, over a representative period of normal and peak use
- Dependency mapping and application grouping
- Server readiness, sizing and operating-system lifecycle review
- SQL Server readiness and target options
- Landing zone, connectivity, BCDR and backup gap analysis against the Cloud Adoption Framework
You receive: a discovery and sizing data pack, dependency map, SQL assessment, migration wave plan and risk register, an Azure consumption estimate for planning (not a quote), and an assessment report and readout.
Implement: Landing Zone & Migration Execution
Project under a statement of work. For organizations that have made the migration decision and face a deadline.
- Governed landing zone, built as code
- Hub networking and ExpressRoute with VPN backup, with a tested failover
- Monitoring, security and cost-governance baseline
- A pilot wave of low-risk VMs, then migration in controlled waves, including SQL
- Cutover runbooks, rollback criteria and application owner sign-off for each wave
- Backup baseline, hypercare and operational handover
You receive: a deployed landing zone and network, migrated servers and SQL instances, runbooks and as-built documentation, an operational handover pack and a decommission-readiness checklist.
Want to know what this would look like for you?About 30 minutes with a practitioner from the practice that does the work. You’ll leave with a clear view of your next step.
Book a 30-minute conversationOutcomes
What you can expect
- A verified inventory and dependency map you can trustAssessment
- A wave plan and sizing view before you commit budgetAssessment
- A governed Azure foundation that is repeatableImplementation
- Workloads moved in controlled waves with a clean handoverImplementation
Each outcome is labelled with the stage that delivers it. An assessment or advisory engagement on its own does not include the implementation work.
Is this right for you?
Tick what sounds familiar
Select the needs that apply. We’ll collect them here so you can review the fit.
DeliverablesDeliverables by phase (17)
Advisory
- Cloud adoption strategy and roadmap
- Application portfolio disposition
- Business case inputs and executive briefing
Assess
- Discovery and sizing data pack
- Dependency map and application grouping
- SQL assessment report
- Landing zone and connectivity gap analysis
- Migration wave plan and risk register
- Azure consumption estimate for planning
- Assessment report and readout
Implement
- Deployed landing zone (as code)
- Hub networking and ExpressRoute with failover test
- Monitoring and cost-governance baseline
- Migrated servers and SQL instances
- Backup baseline
- Runbooks and as-built documentation
- Decommission-readiness checklist
Good to know
Questions leaders ask
How long does discovery take?
Performance collection needs enough data to reflect normal and peak use, and it runs in parallel with interviews and analysis. Timing for your environment is confirmed during scoping.
Is the Azure consumption estimate a quote?
No. It is an informational estimate from the sizing data, to support planning and budgeting.
Do we need ExpressRoute?
The assessment compares ExpressRoute and VPN against your bandwidth, latency and resilience needs. The reference design uses ExpressRoute as primary with VPN backup. You order the circuit, because carrier lead times sit outside our control.
How do you avoid a failed cutover?
A pilot wave of low-risk VMs first, test migrations before each cutover, written rollback criteria, and application owner sign-off for each wave.
Should we just lift and shift everything?
Rehosting is often right for much of an estate. The assessment shows which workloads should move as they are, which are worth modernizing, and which should be retired, so you don't pay to run things in Azure you no longer need.
What if Azure isn't the right answer for every workload?
The Advisory engagement is designed for that question. Disposition includes options other than moving, and some workloads may be better left where they are; the assessment will say so.
Do you migrate physical servers or other hypervisors?
The reference scope covers VMware. Other platforms found during discovery are reported and handled through change control.
Why it matters nowThe numbers behind this
Not ready to talk yet?
Take this with you
VMware exit readiness checklist
What to confirm before you commit to Azure, a renewal or a hybrid path.
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Talk to us about Datacenter Exit and VMware Migration to Azure
Tell us the decision, deadline or problem in front of you.
- A reply from the practice that does the workThe practitioners who would deliver it.
- A short conversationWhat needs to happen, and by when.
- A written proposalWhat you would receive, how long it takes and the fee, before you commit.
No cost, no obligation.
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About 30 minutes with a practitioner from the practice that does the work, not a salesperson. It’s about your situation, and you’ll leave with a clear view of your next step. No cost, no obligation.
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