I led a Cloud Readiness Assessment for a regional bank — deploying CloudScape for asset discovery and application stack mapping, producing separate IaaS cloud pricing workbooks for AWS and Azure, building a TCO model, and delivering a Cloud Decision Matrix comparing the client's existing Rackspace Private Cloud environment against an Azure migration path. A VDI considerations analysis was also produced, evaluating Azure Virtual Desktop as the migration path for the client's VMware VDI environment.
The engagement followed a structured five-week CRA timeline and concluded with an executed SOW. The Cloud Decision Matrix covered compute, networking, storage, database, licensing, DR, migration complexity, and financial model across the two options — Private Cloud Hyper-V versus Azure — with the Azure path identified as the forward direction given the client's Microsoft-centric ecosystem and Azure Active Directory investments.
Week 1: Project kickoff, Flexera CloudScape provisioning, CloudScape deployment and configuration, document request and review
Week 2: CloudScape data collection period, application survey distribution to app owners, Workshop 1
Week 3: Import app-to-server mapping, build application stacks and dependency trees, Workshop 2
Week 4: TCO modeling and costs analysis, migration modeling and R-Factor (6R disposition) analysis
Week 5: Recommendations, final report, Cloud Decision Matrix, and CRA deliverable review
Rackspace Private Cloud (Hyper-V)
- Dedicated Dell r740 compute with Hyper-V hypervisor — managed infrastructure and hypervisor
- Dedicated Cisco firewalls with My.Rackspace portal ACL management
- Dedicated Unity 350F all-flash storage in both datacenters
- Predictable financial model — fixed monthly cost vs. consumption-based Azure
- Hyper-V-to-Hyper-V migration: faster path with lower replatforming risk
- DR: native Hyper-V replication tools
- Dedicated 500 Mbps pipe between Rackspace datacenters
- Better aligned for legacy database workloads; BYOL for SQL licensing
Azure Migration Path
- Near-unlimited scalability; Azure IaaS, PaaS, containers (AKS), and serverless (Azure Functions)
- Azure Virtual Networks (VNets), ExpressRoute peering, Azure DNS
- Blob Storage, Managed Disks, Archive Blob, Azure File Storage
- Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB — path to replatform database workloads
- DR via Azure Site Recovery (ASR) — potentially requires 3rd-party tools for legacy workloads
- BYOL for SQL; Azure doesn't penalize on licenses
- Natural evolution for Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory organizations
- Higher cost than Private Cloud; requires replatforming effort for some applications
Current VDI Environment
- VMware VDI architecture — virtual desktops delivered to end users across the organization
- Hosted server-based platform (RDS or XenApp) or full virtual desktop (Horizon or XenDesktop) — architecture clarification identified as key scoping point
- Windows Server or Windows Desktop OS distinction required for accurate Azure Virtual Desktop sizing
Azure Virtual Desktop Path
- Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) identified as the natural evolution path for a Microsoft-centric organization with Microsoft 365 and Azure AD investments
- Multi-tenant Windows 10/11 desktops provisioned natively from the Azure portal
- Future optimizations: application virtualization and shared infrastructure to increase user density and reduce per-user cost
- Proof of concept (PoC) recommended with a limited user group to validate all business application functions before full migration commitment
CloudScape Deployment
Deployed and configured CloudScape for the engagement — provisioning the Flexera CloudScape instance, onboarding asset inventory (156 servers), and building application stacks with dependency mapping for the full estate.
Dual-Cloud IaaS Pricing
Produced separate IaaS cloud pricing workbooks for AWS and Azure — mapping the CloudScape asset inventory to EC2 and Azure VM equivalents with instance-level pricing for both like-for-like and rightsized scenarios.
TCO Model
Built the TCO spreadsheet (v1) — comparing current datacenter costs against AWS and Azure over a 3-year horizon, including compute, storage, licensing, and managed services assumptions.
Cloud Decision Matrix
Produced the Cloud Decision Matrix document — evaluating Private Cloud Hyper-V vs. Azure across 12 criteria (performance, compute, networking, storage, DB, security, financial, DR, migration, licensing, hybrid, technology alignment).
VDI Considerations
Authored the VDI Considerations document — assessing the existing VMware VDI architecture and evaluating Azure Virtual Desktop as the migration path with PoC recommendations and scoping questions.
| Deliverable | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
| CloudScape Asset Inventory | 156-server CloudScape inventory with application stack mapping, dependencies, and licensed assets export | XLSX |
| IaaS Cloud Pricing — AWS | AWS instance-level pricing for the full server estate — like-for-like and rightsized EC2 mapping | XLSX |
| IaaS Cloud Pricing — Azure | Azure VM-level pricing for the full estate — like-for-like and rightsized Azure compute mapping | XLSX |
| TCO Spreadsheet | 3-year TCO comparison across Private Cloud and Azure — compute, storage, licensing, and managed services | XLSX |
| Cloud Decision Matrix | Private Cloud Hyper-V vs. Azure comparison across 12 criteria with financial, technical, and strategic scoring | DOCX |
| VDI Considerations | VMware VDI current state assessment and Azure Virtual Desktop migration path analysis with PoC recommendation | DOCX |
| Spend Estimator & Cloud Comparison | RSVC spend estimator and cloud comparison workbook for executive-level cost presentation | XLSX |
| CRA SOW — Executed | Cloud Readiness Assessment executed SOW — engagement scope, milestones, and delivery timeline | PDF Executed |