Cloud not only provides a way for Indian organisations to lower their operational costs, but also enables them to more quickly scale their infrastructure as their business grows and deploy future technologies such as machine learning.
One of the leading financial service companies in India, for instance, chose VMware Cloud on AWS with Sify Technologies as its partner to reshape its IT environment, so it would no longer be held back by the limited capacity of its on-premise data centre.
Working with VMware's preferred partner Sify, the firm addressed its need for a flexible infrastructure that could scale as it added new workloads. Its existing data centre was not running at optimal capacity and was operating on hardware due for a technology refresh.
The customer had realised earlier that it needed to move to the cloud to reengineer its IT infrastructure, but was compelled to more quickly embrace the change when COVID-19 emerged and network accessibility became a major painpoint.
With safe distancing measures in place, it had become difficult for the customer's team to manage its on-premise data centre infrastructure and resolve any hardware failures. The company's data centre and disaster recovery site were located in London and Singapore, respectively.
The customer's on-prems infrastructure was virtualised on VMware's vSphere 6.0, running more than 75 VMs at its London data centre and another 40 VMs in Singapore.
Sushant Purushan, Business Head, Datacenter and Cloud Services , at Sify Technologies, explains: "The customer was looking to exit its current data centre infrastructure and migrate to public cloud as soon as possible to avoid pouring any additional investments into their current on-premises environment."
A VMware Cloud on AWS solution was proposed because it met the client's requirements for, and to:
- Rapid and low-risk migration
- No extra time needed for conversions or re-architecture of applications
- Consistency with current operations
- Scalability, availability, and performance
- Cost-optimised cross-platform disaster recovery solution
- Retain control over critical infrastructure
The client initially had concerns about technical and compliance requirements related to the cloud migration. To alleviate such worries, Sify worked with the engineering team and demonstrated the technical advantages of running VMware Cloud and compliance management on AWS, such as Financial Services Authority (FSA) document signoff and data protection legislation.
All 75 instances from the client's London facility were migrated to VMware Cloud on AWS and the Singapore disaster recovery platform was set up at AWS' local site on EC2 instances. A secured tunnel was established between VMware Cloud on AWS in London and AWS Singapore and configured to fulfil all of the customer's compliance requirements.
The migration took some four weeks to complete.
With the scalability and demand-based provisioning that a cloud infrastructure supports, the customer also will be able to quickly deploy resources to facilitate technologies they may adopt in future, such as machine learning and autonomous systems.
Purushan notes: "Enterprises will not have to invest in new skills and resources for their infrastructure, as cloud is a future-ready platform. It also provides a cost-effective solution to address size, scale, and complexity of the architecture required by new technologies, empowering customers with the agility, flexibility, and scalability they need to adopt these future technologies."
To ensure the success of their cloud migration, he advises organisations against going with the cheapest service provider as this may end up limiting their options. A better approach will be to select a cloud provider with a hybrid multi-cloud infrastructure and associated capabilities supported by a comprehensive partner ecosystem, so they can easily move between cloud platforms and ensure application portability.
He also urges companies not to deploy cloud simply to resolve compliance requirements, but to also explore the full benefits of adopting a cloud strategy. These include the ability to deploy cloud native technologies, demand-based resources, and easier workload management for ensuring faster time to market in these dynamic market conditions and enabling new business models in the future.
Sify Technologies is one of India's most comprehensive ICT service and solution providers, offering capabilities around cloud, data center, network, digital services, security, and system integration services. Operating one of India's largest MPLS networks, Sify owns 10 data centres and has another 48 interconnected data canters. Its network spans more than 3,100 points-of-presence covering more than 1,600 cities. With its cloud@core portfolio of services, Sify is helping customers achieve their digital ambition with agility, flexibility, and choice.
Contact Sify today to start your hybrid cloud journey with VMware Cloud on AWS.
