Why migrate applications to cloud?
Cloud migration can modernize your workflows, improve performance and reduce work for your system administrators. If you’re undecided about moving your applications to the cloud, consider these benefits:
- Agility: Offer IT resources on demand, providing users and business groups what they need rapidly, without having to acquire and deploy new hardware.
- Scalability: Why buy equipment to try to anticipate usage spikes? Cloud providers bill you only for the resources you use, so you can accommodate unexpected surges or seasonal usage patterns.
- Ease of maintenance: Pushing updates to individual computers, patching servers and provisioning new hardware are expensive and time-consuming tasks. Free your IT administrators to work on bigger projects and leave the infrastructure maintenance to your cloud provider.
- Security: Physical data center security together with state-of-the-art software security measures help safeguard your data. You gain the flexibility to manage security levels and select among a variety of security options.
Why IBM for your cloud migration
Gain the flexibility to choose your preferred cloud platforms and migration methods.
Experience expanded access to the IBM Cloud through 18 new availability zones in high-demand centers across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Simplify cloud migration by tapping into deep expertise and experience from IBM Cloud
Migration Services or drawing from the large IBM portfolio of VMware cloud solutions.
Accelerate your journey by building or refactoring applications fast.
Modernize applications with containers or functions as a service (FaaS) and leverage IBM Watson® capabilities.
Choosing the right migration path for your applications
All cloud migrations are not created equal. Each application’s architecture determines your approach for a cloud migration strategy. From cloud-ready microservices to legacy applications, cloud migration tools and services can make moving to the cloud easier than you might expect.
Simple migrations
If your applications have been built with the cloud in mind, then they are a short pit stop on your cloud migration journey.
Cloud-ready applications
Developed using service-oriented architecture (SOA), these applications consist of a series of microservices that handle each aspect of the application, instead of one set of code that manages all functions at once. These applications are more self-contained and easy to migrate. You can extend these apps with modular services to add functionality and improve your feature set.
Deploy with a click
Containers are self-contained mini-platforms that hold a single application. They create an isolation barrier at the application level and can be duplicated without reconfiguration for easy testing. Containers are also simple to deploy, often requiring just a single click, which makes them ideal for cloud-to-cloud migrations.
The IBM advantage
IBM has the scripts, tools and strategy to help simplify the cloud deployment and maintenance process. IBM Cloud Migration Services employ the Migration Factory model to automate and streamline the migration of your SOA applications.
Use AI services with an IBM Cloud architecture that’s built for easily applying IBM Watson and machine learning to your enterprise workloads. Gain deeper understanding of data and virtually unmatched intelligence by leveraging these integrated capabilities.
Complex migrations
A carefully planned cloud migration strategy is your path to successfully moving legacy applications to the cloud without breaking your workflows.
Scrapping the hypervisor
If your application’s hypervisor is compatible with your selected platform as a service (PaaS), simply remove the hypervisor at the virtualization level and deploy the rest of the application to the cloud using the PaaS as your application’s backbone. You’ll remove much of the guesswork and service migration from the process.
Service-first cloud migration
Migrating all the services for your application portfolio before moving the application helps ensure that all dependencies are met and any application you migrate to the cloud will function as expected.
Moving applications and the bare minimum service dependencies might seem like an attractive alternative. But be warned: getting it right the first time requires a comprehensive understanding of all your services — including how each application interacts with each service and with every other application. Do it wrong and you’re facing a lengthy rework cycle.
The IBM advantage
Follow a comprehensive road map developed by the team behind many successful cloud migrations – including SAP application migrations to cloud – for an efficient and effective cloud migration. IBM Services consultants can help you untangle your service dependencies and run pain-versus-gain analyses to maximize the value in every step of your migration plan. Or tap into the IBM Cloud Garage for architectures, best practices and toolchains to jump-start your cloud and DevOps transformation.
Lighting company OSRAM gains agility with multicloud strategy
Read how OSRAM worked with IBM to migrate both new and existing applications to the IBM Cloud, gaining significant annual savings and winning new business.
The most difficult migrations
Facing a tricky migration? Don’t give up. Consider a hybrid approach, replace your legacy application or redesign from the ground up.
Adopt a hybrid approach
Migrating to the cloud does not have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. You can incorporate your existing systems and applications into a hybrid cloud. This approach lets you start capitalizing on cloud capabilities while continuing to make the most of your existing investments in on-premises environments.
Replace old with new
Consider replacing your legacy applications with an existing software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. A made-for-cloud version of your application can be an effective shortcut with a higher initial cost and lower deployment effort.
Start from scratch
Redesign your application with microservices to simplify your cloud migration. This process can cause some initial disruption and require resource commitment. But it often pays off with a state-of-the-art application that takes full advantage of the cloud.
The IBM advantage
IBM Cloud provides solutions for creating a seamless hybrid cloud that incorporates your on-premises systems. For example, IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions simplifies the migration of VMware workloads from on premises to the cloud.
Whether you are redesigning an existing application for the cloud or developing net-new, the IBM Cloud Garage team can help you build a cloud-native application from concept to deployment in four to eight weeks.
Of course, when you’re replacing longstanding applications, development is only part of the battle. IBM provides education to raise your team’s cloud literacy. And we give your team the resources they need to get buy-in from key stakeholders and retire legacy software.
American Airlines lifts legacy software to the cloud
See how American Airlines gained immediate efficiencies when migrating existing applications — running on end-of-life infrastructure platforms — to IBM Cloud.
What’s the next step in migrating your apps to the cloud?
Identifying your approach is just the first step. Read our white paper to learn about the critical decisions that go into developing a cloud migration plan. And then explore IBM Cloud Migration Services to find out how IBM can accelerate your cloud migration efforts.