Ensuring customer success: Introducing the Azure Migration Program

Last July, I shared our approach to helping customers migrate to Azure. Since then, we’ve seen tremendous customer response working with organizations such as Allscripts, Chevron, J.B. Hunt, and Carlsberg Beers, and we’ve gained valuable insights about customer needs along their journey. Today, we are bringing together a best practice-based, holistic experience for migrating existing applications and systems to Azure.  

Azure Migration Program   

Azure Migration Program includes prescriptive advice, resources, and tools customers need for a successful path to the cloud from start to finish. Using proven cloud adoption methodologies, tools, resources, and best practices, customers can ensure their move to Azure is successful. Through the program, customers will work hand in hand with Microsoft experts and specialized migration partners to receive:

• Curated, step-by-step guidance from Microsoft experts and specialized migration partners based on proven Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure methodology.
• Technical skill building with foundational and role-specific courses to develop new Azure skills and ensue long-term organizational readiness.
• Free Azure migration tools including Azure Migrate to assess and migrate workloads. And free Azure Cost Management to optimize costs. 
• Offers to reduce migration costs including Azure Hybrid Benefit, free Extended Security Updates for Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

“The AMP program is going to help us get our customers through the initial stages of migration more rapidly – especially through the part where it takes us typically a more time, helping their people adjust to operating at cloud-speed, and with a set of automated processes that are quite different than a traditional on-premises operating model.”    

– Alex Brown, CEO, 10th Magnitude

To learn more about the program, watch this video to see how you can benefit. You can also register for the webinar on July 24, 2019 to learn more. If you’re ready to get started now, you can submit your request to participate beginning July 15, 2019.

Why run Windows Server and SQL Server anywhere else?

SQL Server 2008 end of support was July 9, 2019 and Windows Server 2008 end of support is January 14, 2020. Most customers are choosing Azure as the destination for Windows Server and SQL Server workloads for several reasons:

• Unparalleled innovation. Azure delivers innovative, fully managed capabilities across apps, data, and infrastructure. Azure App Service supports popular app frameworks with advanced DevOps capabilities, delivering a highly productive app migration experience for customers. Azure SQL Database managed instance provides evergreen SQL, which never needs to be patched or upgraded along with comprehensive SQL Server Engine compatibility so customers can migrate SQL Server workloads without changing code. Finally, Azure IaaS can meet all the infrastructure needs for your migrated workloads with global coverage across 54 regions. 
• Unmatched security. Azure enables a security posture that’s easier to implement and far more comprehensive than other environments, thereby enabling your migrated workloads to be secure and well managed. With Azure Security Center, customers get the built-in protections across hybrid environments. Azure Blueprints makes it easier for customers to define and apply security policies across their workloads speedily and at scale. Azure Sentinel enables advanced security threat hunting and mitigation from across the enterprise.
• Unbeatable offers. AWS is 5X more expensive than Azure for Windows Server and SQL Server. Customers are realizing significant savings by taking advantage of unique offers like Azure Hybrid Benefit and free Extended Security Updates only in Azure. 

Azure Migrate – Your single destination for all migration needs 

Azure Migrate toolset delivers a unified, integrated experience across Azure and partner migration tools, so customers can identify the right tool for their migration scenario. Azure tools such as Server Assessment, Server Migration, Database Migration Service, and App Service Migration Assistant are now part of Azure Migrate. Azure partner tools such as Carbonite, Cloudamize, Corent, Device42, Turbonomic, and UnifyCloud are now integrated with Azure Migrate with additional integrations on the way. We have also enabled agentless migration and added support for Hyper-V assessments. Learn more and watch the new Azure Migrate video. 

Get started today

I couldn’t be more excited about the collective opportunity that lies ahead of us and look forward to helping customers confidently plan and migrate to Azure. 

Visit the Azure migration center to get started today.

Source: Azure Blog Feed