CDW accelerates a technical college's Azure migration for seamless cloud transformation

Partner overview

The customer is a nationally top-ranked college that provides cutting-edge programming and instruction for it's 4,000+ students.

Background

In the spring of 2022, a reputable educational institution, partnered with CDW Government LLC ("CDW") to initiate a comprehensive Azure migration project. This case study highlights the project's scope, approach, and successful outcomes achieved through CDW's expertise and collaboration with the customer.

Challenge

The college engaged CDW to migrate select on-premises servers and resources to a new Azure Tenant. The project aimed to leverage Azure's capabilities for improved efficiency, scalability, and overall cloud transformation.

Plan

Planning & discovery
CDW initiated the project with an in-depth discovery phase, gathering technical and business requirements while identifying success factors. This phase laid the foundation for a successful migration strategy.

Server and application assessment
CDW conducted a comprehensive assessment of servers and applications, identifying dependencies and requirements essential for a smooth migration.

Migration plan
A detailed migration plan was developed, specifying resource migration sequences and actions required for successful execution.

Landing zone
CDW built an Azure environment tailored to support the migration plan, including network, storage, compute, identity, and monitoring components.

IaaS migration
An accelerated process was employed to migrate resources to Azure, ensuring their functionality and performance were maintained.

Partner Admin Link (PAL)
CDW established a connection between the college's Azure environment and the Microsoft Partner Admin Link to facilitate seamless Azure services integration.

Project execution
CDW initiated the project with a comprehensive kick-off meeting, introducing team members, roles, and project goals. This meeting set the stage for successful collaboration.

Conclusion & impact

CDW's diligent efforts in the Azure migration project for the college have yielded significant positive impacts. The successful migration of 76 virtual servers and nine physical servers, coupled with minimal disruptions, showcases CDW's efficiency and expertise in managing complex transitions. Moreover, their application dependency analysis has empowered the customer to make well-informed workload decisions, enhancing operational efficiency.

CDW's provision of cost estimates and high-level recommendations for Azure services has not only ensured cost-effectiveness but has also paved the way for strategic cloud adoption aligned with the college's goals. The incorporation of disaster recovery planning has fortified data protection and business continuity, safeguarding the customer's critical operations. Ultimately, CDW's holistic approach has laid the foundation for an improved cloud infrastructure, supporting the customer in its mission to deliver quality education with enhanced technological capabilities. This project serves as a testament to the transformative potential of a well-executed Azure migration strategy.