As organizations increasingly modernize their infrastructures, a notable shift from traditional systems—like Microsoft Windows and Oracle databases—towards open-source solutions is evident. The surge in cloud adoption reflects a desire for the unmatched agility, cost-effectiveness, and scalability that AWS provides. Customers are not just seeking savings; they’re also aiming for faster innovation, enhanced performance, and improved reliability. AWS offers a multitude of pathways for organizations looking to transition from legacy systems, whether that involves moving away from mainframes, migrating from Windows to Linux, or exploring non-relational databases.
In this ongoing blog series, we will highlight customer success stories that illustrate the benefits of modernization and the positive impact of moving away from outdated technologies and restrictive licensing agreements.
Breaking Free from High Costs and Restrictive Licensing
Cost is often the primary discussion point when considering cloud migration, and it largely depends on how vendors structure their pricing. AWS enables customers to convert capital expenditures into variable costs, allowing them to pay solely for what they consume while also achieving better performance and reliability. AWS has consistently reduced prices—over 76 times since its inception—thanks to our economies of scale, which allow us to deliver cloud services more efficiently than traditional vendors. For instance, Dow Jones estimates that moving its data centers to AWS could lead to $100 million in savings on infrastructure.
In stark contrast, legacy vendors like Oracle utilize complex licensing schemes that trap customers, especially concerning database services. Numerous organizations have voiced frustration over the high and punitive licensing practices of older database providers like Oracle and Microsoft. While these companies may offer cloud solutions, their reliance on locking customers into their own ecosystems raises concerns about their competitiveness. For example, Oracle’s recent policy changes effectively doubled the licensing requirements for customers wishing to maintain services with AWS or other preferred clouds. One customer reported that upon wanting to discontinue a product under their Oracle support contract, they were informed that while they could stop using the product, their support fees would remain unchanged. This isn’t genuine cloud computing.
Similarly, Microsoft has altered Windows Server licensing to further entrench customers within their cloud environment, often limiting choices or raising costs for alternative cloud options. AWS, on the other hand, continuously innovates to enhance the customer experience. Recently, we introduced the AWS Launch Wizard to streamline SQL Server deployments with high availability, and we’ve improved the experience for Dedicated Hosts. The AWS License Manager also simplifies the management of licenses for both AWS and on-premises servers from vendors like Oracle and Microsoft.
Empowering Choice Through AWS Modernization
At AWS, we firmly believe that cloud computing must be distinct. However, many customers find comfort in familiar technologies. For those looking to migrate Microsoft and Oracle workloads to the cloud, we’ve dedicated over a decade to making AWS the premier platform for these workloads—longer than many other cloud providers. Experience counts, and our consistent track record of innovation has earned the trust of customers with their most critical workloads. AWS was the first major cloud provider to offer Windows Server instances back in 2008, and now, an extensive range of industries—including Adobe, Autodesk, and Siemens—rely on us for vital Windows services like Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL Server. According to IDC, moving Windows workloads to AWS can lead to a 56% reduction in operational costs over five years, along with a staggering 442% increase in ROI.
Modernization transcends merely shifting workloads to the cloud; it often necessitates transforming those workloads as well. Our support for open-source software like Linux and MySQL is rooted in the belief that open-source communities deliver features and innovations more swiftly without binding customers to outdated vendors. In recent years, open-source technologies have emerged as leaders in innovation, particularly in the realm of big data (such as Apache Hadoop and Spark), while Linux containers have been available long before Windows containers. Relying on Windows can subject customers to unpredictable pricing and licensing changes from Microsoft, resulting in diminished innovation. AWS actively promotes open-source software to minimize vendor lock-in, allowing you the freedom to run your workloads as needed, whether managed, self-managed, or serverless.
Consider the example of Tech Innovations, a leading provider of digital solutions for the entertainment sector. They transitioned their Windows-based Content Management System (CMS) and Digital Rights Management (DRM) from an on-premises setup to AWS. Previously constrained by their on-premises environment, Tech Innovations found that the move to AWS significantly enhanced their flexibility and scalability. By leveraging services like Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Spot Instances, they expanded their applications globally, reduced time-to-market, and slashed costs for their digital media supply chain by 70%. “Transitioning to AWS allowed us to provide more competitive pricing for our customers,” stated Tech Innovations’ Chief Technology Officer, Sarah Lee. “Moreover, our service scales more rapidly, enhancing performance and availability.”
As Tech Innovations looks to the future, they are adopting a more operating system-agnostic strategy. Although they currently utilize products developed on Microsoft .NET and SQL Server on AWS, they are keenly interested in exploring open-source alternatives such as Amazon RDS and databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL.
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This blog post serves as a reminder that modernization is not merely about technology; it’s about empowering organizations to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. To explore more about this subject, visit this other blog post.
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