Amazon wants to make it easier for Windows customers to migrate their workloads over to AWS, which is why it has finally released the Migration Acceleration Program for Windows.
The Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) for Windows is a comprehensive program that helps customers execute large-scale migrations and modernisations of their Windows workloads on AWS. The service already supposedly hosts nearly twice as many Windows Server instances in the cloud compared to Microsoft Azure, and it’s clear that Amazon wants to extend this lead even further.
Amazon has developed what is calls a ‘proven methodology’, providing customers with AWS services, tools, and expertise to help simplify the migration of Windows workloads to AWS. MAP for Windows provides prescriptive guidance, consulting support from experts, tools, trainings, and services credits to help reduce the risk and cost of migrating to the cloud.
MAP for Windows also helps users along the pathways to modernise current and legacy versions of Windows Server and SQL Server to cloud native and open source solutions.
With MAP for Windows, Amazon says customers simply need to follow a three-step migration process:
Assess Your Readiness: The migration readiness assessment helps you identify gaps along the six dimensions of the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework: business, process, people, platform, operations, and security. This assessment helps customers identify capabilities required in the migration. MAP for Windows also includes an Optimisation and Licensing Assessment, which provides recommendations on how to optimise your licenses on AWS.
Mobilise Your Resources: The mobilise phase helps you build an operational foundation for your migration, with the goal of fixing the capability gaps identified in the assessment phase. The mobilise phase accelerates your migration decisions by providing clear guidance on migration plans that improve the success of your migration.
Migrate or Modernise Your Workloads: APN Partners and the AWS ProServe team help customers execute the large-scale migration plan developed during the mobilise phase. MAP for Windows also offers financial incentives to help you offset migration costs such as labor, training, and the expense of sometimes running two environments in parallel.
MAP for Windows includes support from AWS Professional Services and AWS Migration Competency Partners, such as Rackspace, 2nd Watch, Accenture, Cloudreach, Enimbos Global Services, Onica, and Slalom.
