250 TB of Data Migrated to Azure in 16 Days, Saving Millions for a Fortune 500 Mining Company at No Cost.

For a Fortune 500 multinational mining company, the need to consolidate data centers and migrate legacy infrastructure to Azure cloud environment was paramount. Seeking cost savings, improved data management, and efficient risk management, the company turned to Data Dynamics, who, in collaboration with Microsoft, offered an innovative solution of FREE migrations to Azure. With 250 terabytes of data containing 84% cold data, the migration presented several challenges, which were met with a remarkable outcome.

Business Need

Consolidation and Cost Savings

  • Data Center Consolidation: To merge two data centers and leverage Azure’s cloud environment for streamlined data management.

  • Cost Savings: Closing data centers to alleviate the escalating expenses related to data center management.

  • Phase-by-Phase Migration: Vision to move all legacy infrastructure to Azure in a systematic, phased approach.

Challenges Faced

Overcoming Cost and Data Optimization

  • High Data Center Costs: Escalating CapEX and OpEX associated with on-prem data centers, ranging from server hardware and software licensing to network infrastructure and support costs.
  • Archiving and Storage Optimization: Struggling to archive data efficiently due to the presence of 250 TBs of data with 84% consisting of cold data.

Solution Offered

FREE Data Migration into Azure with Data Dynamics
To address the challenges at hand, the company opted for Data Dynamics’ Mobility software, enabling FREE migrations, supported by Microsoft through the Azure File Migration Program. This solution provided the following capabilities:

Mobility

Facilitating free migration of large amounts of unstructured data from on-premise data centers to Azure

Automated and Policy-Based Migration

Identifying matching shares/exports for seamless movement and providing policy-based automated migration

Efficient Data Consolidation

Migrating data from two data centers by scanning 10s of billions of files and consolidating it within Azure File Share

Minimal Disruption to Business for Cutover

Migrated data with seamless efficiency, ensuring business operations remained undisturbed during the data cutover process

Business Impact

Cost Savings and Enhanced Efficiency
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Data Center Consolidation: Consolidated migration of data from on-premise data centers into Azure File Share resulted in enhanced data management, infrastructure optimization, improved efficiency, and next-level risk management.

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FREE Migration: Leveraging Microsoft’s sponsorship, the company saved substantial migration costs.

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Rapid Migration: The company migrated millions of files within a mere 16 days, achieving remarkable speed, security, and efficiency.

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3X Faster Migration, 10X More Productivity: The automated and policy-driven migration approach accelerated the process and boosted productivity tenfold.

Conclusion

Data Dynamics, in partnership with Microsoft, played a pivotal role in the Fortune 500 multinational mining company’s successful data migration to Azure File Share. By overcoming challenges related to cost, data optimization, and consolidation, the company reaped the benefits of streamlined data management, cost savings, and heightened efficiency. With their legacy infrastructure effectively transitioned, the company is now poised for a data-driven future, unlocking new opportunities and advancing in their phase-by-phase journey to Azure’s cloud environment.
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