Sales Snapshot
A global commercial real estate firm committed to a 100% exit from 4 on-premises data centers across 3 global regions. Advisory was engaged to build the full cloud business case and migration roadmap — delivering a quantified 5-year financial model, a phased migration plan across Sydney, Lisle, London, and Germany, and a clear recommendation for AWS as the target cloud platform. The deliverable was presented to executive leadership in February 2025 as the basis for migration program approval.
5-Year Projected Savings (AWS EC2)
~$15.89M over 5 years — ~40% annual cost reduction
Migration PS Cost → AWS Credits Offset
$2.67M PS cost, offset by $1.48M PS credits + $5.62M AWS EDP/Workload credits
Migration Program Scope
1,052 servers · 239 apps · 350 appliances · 4 DCs · <18 months
Executive Overview
A Fortune 500 commercial real estate firm with a global infrastructure footprint spanning four data centers — Sydney (APAC), Lisle (AMER), London (EMEA), and Germany (EMEA) — needed a credible financial and technical case for 100% DC exit before committing to a migration program at scale. 566 servers were already running in Azure, the firm had an existing AWS Direct Connect and landing zone in place, but no structured business case connecting on-prem cost elimination to migration investment across all 4 sites.
Advisory delivered a comprehensive Cloud Business Case & Migration Roadmap using CloudScape for automated discovery, supplemented by deep-dive architecture sessions with the Global Commercial Real Estate Firm team. The financial model quantified ~$14.52M in average annual on-prem costs against a post-migration AWS run rate of ~$9.00M (EC2) or ~$10.29M (EC2+RDS), producing a 5-year savings figure of ~$15.89M with break-even by Year 2 and ~$6.1M/year in savings from Year 3 onward — inclusive of migration costs, enterprise support, OS/SQL licensing, and all AWS credits.
The migration roadmap was sequenced across 4 DCs in a phased parallel model targeting completion within 24 months, with 5 complexity waves across 239 applications (38 Easy, 89 Medium, 72 Hard, 40 Very Hard). Key architectural findings confirmed Global Commercial Real Estate Firm as migration-ready: existing AWS landing zone, Control Tower, account factory, and Direct Connect are all in place. The next step is executive leadership buy-in to launch the migration program.
Deal at a Glance
1,052
In-Scope Servers
All Windows-based. 566 additional already in Azure (out of scope)
239
Apps / Tools
Easy 38 · Medium 89 · Hard 72 · Very Hard 40
350
Virtual Appliances
Cisco ISE (32K licenses), Cisco VPN (20K concurrent), Citrix (1,400 sessions), NetApp, Isilon, Nasuni, Rubrik
4
Global Data Centers
Sydney (APAC) · Lisle (AMER) · London (EMEA) · Germany (EMEA)
$14.52M
Avg Annual On-Prem Cost
47% DC / Colo, 53% Software & Licensing
~40%
Annual Cost Reduction
$14.52M → $9.00M post-migration (EC2 model, incl. licensing, DR, backup, support)
Data Center Scope — Migration Sequencing
Sydney
APAC — Wave 1 (First)
352
Servers
80 appliances · 62 applications · Migrating first establishes foundation and makes appliances available for subsequent DCs · Key expiry: upcoming renewal
Lisle
AMER — Wave 4 (Last / Largest)
635
Servers
138 appliances · 101 applications · Largest DC, benefits from APAC/EMEA lessons learned and AWS landing zone readiness. 116 SQL Server instances
London
EMEA — Wave 2/3 (Parallel with Germany)
203
Servers
78 appliances · 23 applications · DR between London and Germany accelerates the timeline. SQL Server 2016 instances approaching EoS July 2026
Germany
EMEA — Wave 2/3 (Parallel with London)
203
Servers
78 appliances · 23 applications · DC lease expiry creates urgency (Germany: 2024 expired, Evoque: 3/31/26). Oracle workloads located here
5-Year Financial Model — AWS EC2 Year-by-Year
Current Avg Annual On-Prem
~$14.52M / yr
47% DC/Colo · 53% Software & Licensing
Post-Migration Annual Run Rate
~$9.00M / yr
EC2 model · ~$10.29M with RDS managed databases
5-Year Net Savings (EC2)
~$15.89M
Incl. $5.62M AWS credits · $2.67M migration cost · enterprise support
Year 1 — 2025
$(3.79M)
Investing
Migration + dual-run costs. Workload credits and PS credits partially offset.
Year 2 — 2026
$1.19M
Break-even+
On-prem ramp-down begins. EDP discount kicks in. Migration tail-end PS.
Year 3 — 2027
$6.12M
Saving
Full DC exit complete. On-prem costs eliminated. Steady-state savings begin.
Year 4 — 2028
$6.16M
Saving
5% annual growth modeled for both cloud and on-prem comparator.
Year 5 — 2029
$6.22M
Saving
EDP discount continues (5-yr, $6M Y1 / $8.5M Y2-5 AWS commit).
Includes: migration PS, OS & SQL licensing (BYOL), NetApp, Oracle, DR (AWS Elastic DR), Backup (AWS Backup), Enterprise Support, all appliances in scope. Excludes: labor efficiency savings, network/monitoring capex not provided, Nasuni/Komprise licensing (stay as-is). All cloud costs modeled on 3-yr No Upfront Reservations for compute; non-prod RDS scheduling applied. ±10% forecast variance.
AWS Credits & Cost Levers
| Credit / Cost Lever | EC2 Model (5yr) | EC2 + RDS Model (5yr) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Cloud Cost + Licensing | $35.47M | $41.76M | BYOL SQL, Windows OS purchase, all appliances in scope |
| EDP Discount (5-year commit) | $(3.86M) | $(4.67M) | ~$40M 5-yr AWS commit; $6M Y1, $8.5M/yr remaining |
| AWS Workload Credits | $(1.76M) | $(2.38M) | Year 1–2 only; Windows + Database credits included in RDS model |
| PS Migration Credits | $(1.48M) | $(1.80M) | Applied against migration PS cost; Year 1–2 primarily |
| Migration Professional Services | $2.67M | $2.67M | 3 pods / 12 members, <18 months onshore, 239 apps + 1,052 servers |
| Net 5-Year TCO (vs. $72.6M on-prem) | $31.04M | $35.57M | ~$15.89M savings (EC2) / ~$11.36M savings (EC2+RDS) |
Key Technical Challenges ("Big Rocks")
High Complexity
350 Virtual Appliances
Cisco ISE (32K licenses) and Cisco VPN (20K concurrent) require detailed per-appliance assessment. Recommendation: Rehost ISE; evaluate AWS Client VPN as Cisco VPN replacement. Security tools (Tenable, ScienceLogic, Defender, NetSCOPE) to be replaced by WIZ/Snitch/Datadog in cloud.
Medium Complexity
Citrix VDI / App Streaming
1,400 concurrent sessions across AMER (90 / 6.4%), EMEA (285 / 20.4%), APAC (676 / 48.3%). Global Commercial Real Estate Firm has universal hybrid license including Citrix DaaS — migrate to AWS using Citrix DaaS Hybrid Reference Architecture with autoscaling. Future: evaluate AWS Workspaces.
Medium Complexity
Disaster Recovery (Zerto → AWS EDR)
Zerto currently protects 1,200 VMs: Sydney (171 VMs → Azure), Lisle (429 VMs → Azure), EMEA (154 VMs London+Frankfurt). RPO 24h; RTO T0: 24h / T1: 72h / T2: 14 days. Replace Zerto with AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery for native AWS DR with PITR.
High Complexity
SQL Server (237 instances) + Oracle (5)
SQL by DC: Lisle 116, Sydney 73, Frankfurt 27, London 21. 40 SQL 2016 instances approaching EoS July 2026; 1 SQL 2014 instance past EoL (incompatible with RDS — must upgrade first). Oracle: replatform to AWS RDS or Oracle Cloud. Migration preference: AWS RDS for SQL Server (managed patches, backups, scaling).
High Complexity
Data Storage at Scale
NetApp: 778TB SMB file-share across all DCs → AWS FSx NetApp ONTAP. Isilon: 1,100TB SMB (AMER only) → AWS FSx. Nasuni: already using Azure cloud storage → rehost and keep Azure for speed. Rubrik: 3,000TB backup → AWS Backup (auto-shrinks as apps migrate). Petabyte-scale migration requires bandwidth testing per DC before final design.
Low Complexity
AWS Cloud Ready — Landing Zone in Place
Global Commercial Real Estate Firm has established AWS landing zone: Control Tower, Account Factory, Guardrails, GuardDuty, AWS Direct Connect (existing). CCOE team governs all cloud changes. Security stack (WIZ, Snitch, Datadog) ready. Assessment conclusion: no new security or governance work needed before migration begins — just coordinate with CCOE for account templates and Terraform patterns.
Migration Approach & Team Model
Recommended Team Structure
- 3 Pods / 12 Members — recommended model at $2.7M PS cost for 18-month timeline
- Each pod: Engagement Manager, Principal Architect, Platform SA, Security Architect, Platform Cloud Engineers, Data SA + Engineers
- 2 pods (9 members) = slower cadence; 4 pods (15 members) = faster, higher app-team dependency
- More pods reduce duration but increase need for Global Commercial Real Estate Firm app-team availability during UAT and testing
- Onshore cost model; blackout periods not factored — may adjust estimate
Migration Strategy & Methodology
- Phased parallel approach: Sydney first → EMEA (Germany + London parallel) → Lisle last
- Lift & Shift / Transform + Replatform to cloud-native toolsets where possible
- Application wave assignment via Cartesian product of complexity and connectivity (Wave 1 low → Wave 5 complex)
- All non-prod environments bundled with corresponding production workloads in each wave
- CloudScape-driven scope with R-factor dispositions (Rehost / Replatform / Refactor / Retire / Replace)
- Terraform + Global Commercial Real Estate Firm's existing CI/CD pipelines; all infra code submitted to CCOE via existing approval templates
Forward Opportunity & Commercial Logic
The business case has been built — all financial, technical, and migration-strategy work is complete and presented to executive leadership. The next commercial motion is migration program authorization. Two DC lease expiries create urgency: the Evoque (US) lease expired 3/31/26 and Germany DC has already expired — every month of delay is a lease extension cost or stranded CapEx investment that the cloud model eliminates.
The migration program is a $2.67M Advisory PS engagement (18 months, 3 pods), with $1.48M in AWS PS credits applied directly against that cost — net Advisory fee to the client is effectively ~$1.19M. The $40M 5-year AWS commit is the anchor for a long-term hyperscaler partnership, and the EDP discount structure provides a durable cost advantage from Year 1 forward. The AWS credits, EDP, and PS offset are time-sensitive — they tie to commitment timing, making urgency a genuine commercial argument, not a sales tactic.
Migration Program PS
~$2.67M
3 pods / 12 members / 18 months. Net client cost ~$1.19M after $1.48M PS migration credits applied.
AWS 5-Year EDP Commit
~$40M
$6M Year 1, $8.5M/yr Years 2–5. Drives $3.86M EDP savings over commitment period. Commit timing is credit-sensitive.
Lease Expiry Urgency
2 Expired / Expiring
Evoque (US): 3/31/26 expiry. Germany DC: already expired. Each month of delay = continued colo cost + deferred CapEx savings.
Operating Model & CCOE Build-out
Follow-on SOW
Target Operating Model design, Cloud Platform Engineering function, and FinOps practice stand-up are natural post-migration follow-ons. WAR (Well-Architected Review) recommended as a migration-track deliverable.
My Role & Contributions
Assessment & Financial Modeling
- Co-led engagement scoping and delivery of the Cloud Business Case & Migration Roadmap — primary author of the executive presentation delivered to Global Commercial Real Estate Firm leadership in February 2025
- Directed CloudScape-based infrastructure discovery across all 4 DCs — 1,816 VMware inventory processed, 1,052 servers scoped with R-factor dispositions and application complexity assignments
- Drove the 5-year financial model: on-prem cost decomposition (DC/licensing split), AWS EC2 and EC2+RDS scenarios, EDP + workload credit structuring, PS cost and credit offset, year-by-year migration ramp model
Architecture & Migration Roadmap
- Produced the migration roadmap: DC sequence recommendation (Sydney → EMEA → Lisle), complexity wave assignments, non-prod bundling strategy, and 24-month parallel migration timeline
- Led technical architecture sessions — AWS technology mapping (EC2, RDS, FSx, EDR, Citrix DaaS, AWS VPN), Big Rocks identification and resolution path for all 5 major challenge areas
- Defined the migration PS team model (2/3/4 pod options), effort assumptions, and LOE validation with delivery team. Team composition by role and engagement assumptions documented.
- Authored Next Steps framing and migration authorization narrative for executive leadership buy-in
Engagement Context: This was a Cloud Business Case & Migration Roadmap engagement — the assessment SOW was delivered as a standalone consulting deliverable (Feb 2025) ahead of a migration program authorization decision. The financial model, migration roadmap, and technical architecture are fully documented in the executive presentation. The client had an existing AWS infrastructure foundation (landing zone, Direct Connect, CCOE), which made this an accelerated assessment engagement rather than a greenfield cloud readiness effort. Client identity anonymized.