How AS400 Migration to Cloud Enhances Business Agility

ByElena Mia
as400 migration company

Many startups and leading enterprises that work with legacy systems like IBM AS400 are looking to modernize their infrastructure by migrating to Cloud. This shift is happening quickly so that organizations can scale resources flexibly, minimize maintenance costs, and improve agility. In general, AS400 to Cloud migration means transitioning applications, software, and infrastructure hosted on the outdated legacy server to a modern Cloud platform.

However, transferring digital assets from a legacy system to Cloud is an iterative journey. The process requires strategic analysis, pre-planning, and rich Cloud expertise. That’s why organizations should hire experts from a reliable AS400 Cloud migration services provider.  Ultimately, the experts help enterprises overcome a range of migration challenges and ensure better benefits and return on investment (ROI) from the Cloud ecosystem.

Key Factors Experts Consider Before AS400 Cloud Migration

  • Planning – The strategic analysis and planning give complete transparency and understanding of all enterprise resources and workloads, along with their dependencies hosted on the AS400 server. This way, migration experts can easily determine what workloads are better suitable for the Cloud, based on factors like data volume, bandwidth requirements, and compliance & security.
  • Cost Management – A common challenge associated with AS400 to Cloud migration is cost overruns. While the Cloud can minimize the upfront expenses of adding new technology and infrastructure, experts can control the cost associated with resource provisioning and bandwidth for the transition, as well as post-migration developments.
  • Hidden Dependencies – Enterprise applications and workloads running on AS400 systems have complex dependencies. Without meticulous planning, enterprises may risk ending up with massive costs and system failures.
  • Security & Compliance – Before migration, experts must ensure correct access controls and configurations across the AS400 system. Organizing security configurations after Cloud migration can become complex and mismanagement can result in greater vulnerabilities and impact Cloud security.
  • Data and Service Availability – Downtime due to AS400 Cloud migration is often inevitable. Therefore, to ensure data consistency and business continuity, experts will deploy additional remote data backups. Also, by performing Cloud migration techniques like continuous synchronization, experts can minimize, but not completely evade downtime situations.

Why Enterprises Opt for Cloud-Based Migration

Organizations are increasingly conducting AS400 server to Cloud migration to leverage the versatility, agility, and cost-effectiveness offered by Cloud platforms. Enterprises that need to upgrade enterprise apps and build sub-applications quickly and at a low cost is possible by migrating to Cloud. Besides, virtual machines within the Cloud ecosystem can effectively support and run legacy AS400 applications without requiring a substantial overhaul. Some of the important Cloud migration models that AS400 users can adopt include:

  • Hybrid Cloud – This migration model allows enterprises to transfer some data center loads from AS400 to the Cloud while still maintaining legacy functionalities.
  • Shared Private Cloud – It offers a single-tenant Cloud computing space in which the core infrastructure is hosted and maintained by a shared Cloud service provider but used by a single enterprise.
  • Virtual Private Cloud – It functions more similar to a hosted private cloud, but basically, it is a remote space for hosting applications in a multi-tenant architecture model.

Benefits of AS400 Migration to Cloud Ecosystem

  • Minimize Expenses                                                                                                                      

One of the key strengths that enterprises can experience by migrating from AS400 to the Cloud is lesser maintenance costs. Rather than predicting capacity requirements in advance, organizations can make app upgrades on the go, discharge idle AS400 assets, and flexibly right-size resources depending on workload demands. Also, Cloud-based AS400 migration results in minimal implementation costs since the need for procuring and deploying additional hardware setup is eliminated. This makes it a cost-effective choice for small and leading enterprises since most Cloud platforms are obtainable on a subscription basis and can be deployed within a minimal turnaround time.

  • Support Various Integrations

With AS400 Cloud migration, organizations can get access to built-in connectors offered by Cloud service providers, such as Azure, AWS, and G-Cloud, and construct full-fledged workflows that function at a greater speed and harness the digital workplace environment. In general, enabling integrations with other data sources and third-party applications is a major concern for AS400 users.  The availability of connectors in the Cloud service providers delivers better scope for organizations to perform synchronization and integrations. This way, enterprises can easily meet technical and non-technical objectives and obtain a competitive edge.

  • Strengthen Security

Many business leaders and IT administrators mentioned that AS400 systems make enterprise apps more vulnerable to contemporary threats. This is because IBM’s AS400 systems are outdated and non-compliant with modern compliance standards and authentication procedures. Hence, shifting applications and workloads from AS400 systems to Cloud can substantially eliminate cyberattacks and secure mission-critical data effectively. Though greater control and transparency provided by the Cloud platforms, enterprises can alter app security activities as per modern standards.

  • Increase Application Uptime

In general, organizations that use AS400 legacy systems for app hosting have to rely on additional hardware for performing app upgrades and improvements. While transferring applications from AS400 systems to Cloud helps organizations improve uptime, deliver service without disruption, and minimize the TCO, making it possible for enterprises to ensure greater business continuity. In addition, AS400 Cloud migration helps organizations to pay for crucial setup and lessen resource overprovisioning.

Summing Up

In a nutshell, the Cloud-based AS400 migration approach helps enterprises enhance their app’s accessibility and receptiveness while minimizing time-intensive additional deployment and intricacies. With Cloud migration, organizations can also have the ability to evolve, meet market requirements, and largely minimize risks.