Move on-prem systems and very large data sets to the cloud

What does a cloud migration engagement deliver?

An inventory of what you run: systems, data stores, their sizes and growth rates, who depends on what, and the constraints that cannot move (residency, licensing, hardware). A target design on AWS, GCP or Azure with the landing zone, network, identity and the managed services each workload maps to. A phased plan where every phase has a cutover window, a verification step and a rollback, so no single weekend decides the company’s fate. The migration itself, executed with your team. And the operating model afterwards: cost visibility, backups, access and the alerts that tell you when something drifts.

How do we move very large data sets without a long outage?

By separating the bulk move from the cutover. The bulk of the data moves while the old system keeps serving, through the fastest path the data allows: online transfer over dedicated links, physical transfer appliances for the largest volumes, or database-native replication for stores that must stay consistent. Then a much smaller delta is synchronised, verified and cut over during a window measured in minutes or hours rather than days.

Verification is the step that separates a migration from a copy. Every object or row that moved is checked against its source, by count and by checksum, and the report is kept. A migration we cannot prove is a migration we would not sign off.

Which cloud, and how do we decide?

Three questions decide it. Which provider’s managed services fit your largest workloads at the best price, measured on your real numbers rather than a calculator’s defaults. Which provider your team can operate in a year, which depends on existing skills and on the hiring market around you. And which provider meets your residency and compliance constraints without workarounds. We have delivered production systems on AWS, GCP and Azure; the recommendation comes from the inventory, not from a partnership.

What stays on-prem, and for how long?

Usually more than the first plan assumes. Systems tied to hardware, to licences that do not transfer, or to networks that cannot reach the cloud with the latency they need stay where they are, and the plan designs the hybrid period on purpose: a private connection, one identity provider for both sides, and data paths that do not cross the boundary more than they must. Some of those systems move in a later phase; some never do, and the design says which.

How does an engagement run?

A discovery call to understand the estate and the deadline. The inventory and the phased plan, with a cost model you can take to finance. Each phase executed with your team: bulk move, delta sync, verification, cutover, rollback rehearsed before it is needed. A handover with the operating model, runbooks and alerts. Pricing follows the discovery call, once we know the scope.