Case study · Distribution
Cloud Migration for a Mid-Market Enterprise
Phased AWS migration with 6-R portfolio classification and domain-by-domain cutover.
Key results
- Infrastructure cost -35%
- Deploy frequency +8x
- Recovery time objective -75%
Context
A distribution company ran its applications across two aging on-premise data centers with expensive hardware refresh cycles and disaster-recovery posture that didn't meet the business's stated recovery-time objectives.
Challenge
The client needed a migration plan that produced quick wins while tackling the harder parts of the portfolio over time. Classifying each workload by the 6-R framework (rehost, replatform, refactor, repurchase, retire, retain) was the critical first step most clients skipped.
Approach
Thoughtwave delivered a 10-month AWS migration: discovery and 6-R classification, wave planning by business value and technical risk, migration execution across 4 waves, and retirement of the legacy data centers as the waves completed. Applications with strong refactor cases were modernized during migration; simpler applications rehosted to preserve the timeline.
Outcomes
Infrastructure cost dropped 35% after full migration through cloud economics and retired workloads; deployment frequency improved 8× through modern CI/CD that came with the migration; recovery-time objective improved 75% through multi-AZ and DR patterns that the on-premise architecture couldn't match.
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