Storage
Mobility
Protection
Analysis and control
TOPICShare
Subscribe to our blog
Thanks for subscribing to the blog.
April 10, 2020
Topics: Azure NetApp Files Elementary5 minute read
Many IT leaders have decided to migrate to the cloud. You’ve decided or been given instructions to move critical infrastructure to Microsoft Azure and a date by which you must achieve the migration. Perhaps, considering recent events, the date is far closer than you expected. No more convincing that the benefit of cloud computing is necessary—that decision has already been made by you, or for you.
Now the logistics of the cloud migration are weighing heavily on you.
Perhaps you’re feeling a little like Sisyphus—that unfortunate miscreant in Greek mythology to whom Zeus dealt the eternal punishment of forever rolling a boulder up a hill in the depths of Hades. Your boulder just happens to be your cloud migration mandate. You might be wondering what you did to deserve this seemingly never-ending uphill battle.
The Struggle to Migrate to the Cloud is Real
Currently, 60% of enterprise workloads are “on-premises IT”, with only 20% of the bulk of enterprise workloads already in the public cloud or in SaaS. However, 39% of organizations say that, by the end of 2020, the bulk of their data will be in SaaS or a public cloud service. That’s a lot of organizations moving to the cloud in short order.
The reason for moving your enterprise’s computing to the cloud matters little. It could be:
- Part of a cost-cutting initiative (61%),
- The desire for new features and capabilities (57%),
- Your current warehouses are pushing capacity (30%),
- You’ve been given an “executive mandate” with no concrete reason (23%).
The fact is, you’ve made your decision or received the directive and now must figure out the most effective and efficient way to make that request a reality. So, now what?
Architects and IT departments are under business pressure to move to the Azure cloud more quickly and to do it efficiently, at the lowest cost possible, and they're struggling with how to do that.
They are trying to meet the objectives set by the business for them, while most of their applications are trapped on premises because they are simply too big and challenging to move. You might say they're stuck halfway up the hill with a boulder.
The Means to Achieve Your Mandate
Until recently, it’s been difficult to move critical applications to Microsoft Azure because that migration often required extra work or changing the application. And that extra work was complex, risky, and expensive.
Enterprises have been searching for a way to deploy file workloads in the cloud without sacrificing:
- Performance
- Reliability
- Data Management
To save time, effort, and energy, and reduce risk and expense while accomplishing their objective of moving applications to Microsoft Azure, many IT professionals look to a lift-and-shift approach. That translates into keeping the same application format as they are running on premises without the need to refactor or rearchitect.
But they can only lift-and-shift to the public cloud if they are guaranteed to have the same performance and reliability as they do on premises, given the enterprise, mission-critical nature of their applications. They need the highest level of performance and the lowest latency, as well as advanced data protection and intelligent management.
Repsol, an energy sector leader, recently said goodbye to their data centers and hello to high-performance computing and the Azure cloud. They showed a 6.5x performance increase. A case study outlines the organization’s specific cloud journey. The roots of their cloud migration can be found in Azure NetApp Files.
Azure NetApp Files Makes Cloud Migration Easy
Let me make you happier—by making your migration easier.
Azure NetApp Files is built directly in Azure and expedites migrations to the Azure cloud by addressing availability, latency, throughput, data management, and data protection concerns. Microsoft even guarantees Azure uptime. If they don't meet their SLAs, they're subject to financial obligations to customers—in some cases as high as 25%. Azure NetApp Files is a service unique to Azure that's currently deployed by more than 500 Microsoft customers.
Azure NetApp Files is built for:
- HPC—high-performance computing at higher speeds than on premises
- SAP—Certified for HANA
- Healthcare—HIPAA
- Linux—NFS
- Windows Server—SMB
- Window Virtual Desktop (WVD)—Delivers a highly available, seamless user experience across any device
- Oracle and SQL Server Workloads—Accessibility without latency
If you are tasked with moving applications to Microsoft Azure and you need to migrate in a quick, efficient, inexpensive way, then you owe it to yourself to look at Azure NetApp Files.
Azure NetApp Files is flexible, scalable, secure, risk-free, and fast, and allows you to quickly and easily move mission-critical NAS workloads from on premises to Azure without the need to refactor or rearchitect. Click here to learn more and to sign up for service access.