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Migrating Legacy SANs to Microsoft Cloud Azure Services | @CloudExpo #Cloud

Eliminate downtime and risks during an otherwise nerve-wracking migration process.

Migrating Legacy SANs to Microsoft Cloud Azure Services Is Now a Real Possibility

Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform, a growing collection of integrated services - analytics, computing, database, mobile, networking, storage, and web. In the 12 months since Build 2014, Microsoft has delivered over 500 new Azure services and features, and greatly expanded the footprint and capabilities of what Azure delivers. Here's a snapshot of Azure Allure, articulated by Microsoft exec Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of Cloud and Enterprise, at the Microsoft Build 2015 conference in San Francisco:

  • 19 unique Azure regions up and running worldwide, with over 90,000 new Azure customer subscriptions per month
  • 1.4 million SQL databases being used by applications hosted inside Asure
  • About 160,000 SQL databases created or dropped each day in Azure
  • Over 50 trillion objects stored in Azure Storage
  • 425 million users in the Azure Active Directory system
  • 3 million developers registered with Visual Studio Online services

While Microsoft Cloud Azure Services is enticing to enterprises around the world, the fact is migrating legacy storage area networks (SANs), has traditionally not been an easy task.

Bloor Research has studied the costs and challenges of data migrations, and after a decade of analysis concluded that, in 2011, the average budget for a data migration project was $875,000. Despite spending that kind of money, only 62% of such projects were brought in "on time and on budget." The average cost of budget overruns were $268,000, according to Bloor.

Based in Syosset, NY, Cirrus Data Solutions, a Microsoft Azure Certified Cloud Partner, is a privately-held developer of enterprise-class zero downtime Data Migration and Caching Servers for legacy to cloud, cloud to cloud, and other data storage transfer needs.

The vendor's Data Migration Server (DMS) provides a simple solution that addresses large-scale migration projects under tight deadlines. DMS eliminates both the need for downtime and the load placed on virtual machines associated with migrating from their legacy locations and can be throttled so that there is no effect on production. The plug-in-play software appliance, in addition to supporting common storage management practices, supports all types of data migration schemes including:

  • Local storage refresh
  • Local to remote (data center move)
  • Legacy to cloud (physical to virtual)
  • Cloud to cloud
  • Cloud to data center

"Azure is an attractive cloud platform for companies to offload their workloads," said Wayne Lam, CEO of Cirrus Data. "We are pleased to add Azure as a tested and optimized migration destination to help companies eliminate downtime and risks during what is otherwise a nerve-wracking migration process."

Nicole Herskowitz, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Microsoft Azure, said. "Cirrus Data Solutions DMS solution provides a unique toolset that eliminates much of the work and complexity associated with a migration from on premise data centers."

For more information visit http://www.cdsi.us.com/ or email [email protected].

More Stories By Michael Krems

Michael Krems has been following developments in IT solutions since the late 1990s, when he lived and worked in Silicon Valley during the bubble build and bubble burst. In his strategic communications work with IT solutions enterprises, he has gained familiarity with vendors and technologies in anti-malware, anti-spam,, business process management, CRM, data analytics, data center migrations, data security, document management, e-commerce, e-Discovery, email and messaging infrastructure, ERP, healthcareIT, knowledge management, Internet security, IT automation, manufacturing automation, mobile applications, mobile computing, network monitoring, social networking, software code development, video gesture control, video surveillance, and web site development.

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