
Choosing the right platform for your IBM WebSphere cloud migration.

There is a wealth of benefits of moving your IBM installations from on-premises environments to cloud-based environments, including cost saving, security, scalability and performance efficiencies. But how do you choose which cloud platform is best for you?
Here we look at the relative benefits of the three industry hyperscalers to help you understand your options. If you are still unsure after reading this, you can, of course, get in touch with us to discuss your cloud migration options.
What are your cloud options?
The three major players in the world of cloud computing are Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. All would be more than happy for you to host your applications on their cloud platforms, so what are the benefits of one over the others?
The features can be categorised into five feature sets:
- Compute services
- Storage and databases
- Networking
- Developer tools
- AI and machine learning
You will see that there is considerable cross-over between the platforms, but also some marked differences.
Google Cloud Platform | Microsoft Azure | Amazon AWS | |
Compute Services |
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Storage and Databases |
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Networking |
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Developer Tools |
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AI and Machine Learning |
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Which is the right one for me?
Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon AWS are all capable of running WebSphere workloads, so why should you choose one over another for your WebSphere cloud migration? The decision will inevitably be based on business needs, existing technology stacks, pricing considerations and familiarity with the platforms. But for those looking to start their migration or to make a change, let’s look at the advantages of each.
Advantages of Google Cloud
- Strong containerisation and Kubernetes support: Google created Kubernetes and offers a mature managed Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) service that can be beneficial for containerising WebSphere applications.
- Advanced AI/ML capabilities: If your WebSphere applications could benefit from integrating AI/ML services, Google Cloud offers industry-leading options with its Vertex AI platform.
- Open-source friendly: Google Cloud tends to embrace open-source technologies, which can be advantageous when modernising WebSphere applications.
- Developer and Cloud Administrator experience: Many developers find Google Cloud’s interface and tooling more intuitive and user-friendly.
- Competitive pricing: While costs vary based on specific usage, Google Cloud is often price-competitive, especially for compute-intensive workloads.*
Advantages of Microsoft Azure
- Ecosystem: Many enterprises are already heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, and Azure offers close integration with other Microsoft products and services, such as such as Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Active Directory. This means that the IT environment is more streamlined and unified.
- Hybrid cloud options: Azure’s hybrid cloud solutions make it easier for businesses to maintain some on-premises infrastructure making a phased cloud migration of applications more achievable.
- Security and compliance. Azure offers built-in security controls, multi-factor authentication, and threat protection, which can help enterprises meet industry-specific compliance requirements more easily.
- Cost effectiveness. The Azure platform offers a pay-as-you-go model allowing businesses to only pay for the resources they use.*
- Development environment. Azure provides a cutting-edge development environment integrated with Visual Studio, which can significantly reduce the learning curve for developers familiar with Microsoft technologies and can speed up development cycles.
Advantages of Amazon AWS
- Range and maturity. AWS has the largest market share and widest range of services, which can be beneficial for complex, diverse workloads beyond just WebSphere. It is also the most mature cloud platform of the three hyperscalers.
- Computational power. AWS offers the most computational power of the three hyperscalers providing better performance for high-load scenarios and more options for vertical and horizontal scaling.
- Reliability and security. AWS offers a comprehensive set of security features including Identity and Access Management, built in encryption capabilities for services like S3 (Simple Storage Service), EBS (Elastic Block Store) and RDS (Relational Database Service), network and application protection tools and compliance certifications for various industry standards.
- AWS has a global infrastructure with multiple availability zones and regions, which can contribute to high uptime and availability. However, it’s important to note that actual uptime and reliability can depend on how services are configured and used.
- Ecosystem. AWS has the largest ecosystem of third-party integrations and partners, so users benefit from a wider range of complementary tools and services.
- IBM has joined forces with Amazon Marketplace for ease of software procurement and deployment on AWS.
*It should be noted that most hyperscalers offer a committed usage discount. This is for a fixed term with a fixed amount of compute.
What challenges might I face when I undertake cloud migration for my workloads?
So far, we’ve considered the benefits of cloud migration, and we definitely feel that the benefits far outweigh the challenges, but we do want you to be aware of these challenges as well.
The migrations process is complex
If you don’t have the knowledge and skills in-house, cloud migration, whether you opt for a lift-and-shift option or containerisation, is possibly not something you want to tackle on your own. You will need to inventory all active applications, set up the cloud environment and ensure compatibility with the destination architecture. The process requires careful planning and documentation, so if you’re coming at this for the first time it can feel overwhelming.
The hyperscalers do offer tools that will automate some of the process, reduce the manual effort and remove many of the manual errors.
Potential downtime
You will be faced with some interruption in service as application are migrated, so a right-first-time process will help to minimise this disruption. This is particularly important for mission-critical applications.
Adopting a phased migration strategy to gradually transition workloads to the cloud should minimise the risk of significant downtime. This approach allows for testing and validation at each stage and avoids costly reworking.
Data migration
On top of migrating your applications, you will also want to move all your data sources to the cloud so that you can be sure of speed and continuity of service. Links back to legacy data sources has the potential to disrupt this service, so the process needs testing thoroughly and ensure that latency on requests is minimised.
This migration presents challenges, since data volumes are potentially large. Ensuring data integrity and security during the transfer is critical. Data transfer services which are native to the cloud platforms can help to remove the risks. They should be able to handle petabytes of data efficiently, ensuring that data integrity is maintained throughout the process.
Compatibility
It would be easy to assume that co-locating applications and data from legacy systems to a cloud environment would mean that everything should just slot into place, this isn’t necessarily the case. Legacy applications may rely on specific configurations or hardware that are not easily replicated in the cloud.
For IBM migrations, the IBM Migration Toolkit for Application Binaries can scan and analyse applications for compatibility with cloud platforms.
Security and compliance
Maintaining security and compliance standards during and after migration is crucial. Data breaches or non-compliance with industry regulations can have severe consequences.
All the hyperscalers stake their reputation of the robustness of their security features, but it is always wise to ensure that your migration plan includes steps for securing data both in transit and at rest.
Team expertise
While you teams might be comfortable managing your existing on-premises infrastructure, there are some differences in managing similar systems on the cloud. It is worthwhile to provide appropriate training and upskilling for your IT staff to familiarise them with cloud environments and best practices. You might also consider using managed services offered by your chosen hyperscaler or an experience cloud partner to reduce the operational burden on your team.
Performance optimisation
To benefit fully from the cloud-native features available from your migrated system, it is likely to be necessary to re-architect your applications. As you work through the migration process and after it is live, it is recommended that you perform thorough performance testing and monitoring using the tools provided by the hyperscaler to gain insights into application performance and identify areas for optimisation.
The solution to this challenge is where containerisation can really come into its own, where better scalability and performance can be achieved.
Conclusion
If you are planning to undertake an IBM WebSphere cloud migration project, the decision about which cloud provider you should choose isn’t a straightforward one. It will depend on several factors, including business needs, existing technology stacks, pricing considerations and familiarity with the platforms.
And while migrations aren’t necessarily straightforward, we feel that the benefits of cloud migration—cost savings, increase revenue, performance improvement and greater security—far outweigh the challenges.
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If you would like to explore how best to approach this further, please get in touch.
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