Grid Dynamics Datacenter & VMware Migration

Grid Dynamics' Datacenter & VMware Migration Offering is a professional services engagement that helps enterprises migrate and modernize legacy on-premises VMware and physical datacenter footprints to AWS. Delivered on AWS-approved partner platforms - Matilda Cloud, CloudHedge, and Cast Software - the engagement combines automated discovery, licensing optimization, and agentic code modernization to de-risk and accelerate datacenter exits, countering rising VMware licensing costs, aging hardware refresh cycles, and complex legacy interdependencies.

THE ENGAGEMENT

Envision & Assess: Live, agentless hypervisor discovery and guest-level process tracing map application dependencies via online (Matilda Discover, CloudHedge DART, AWS Application Discovery Service) or offline (CMDB exports, RVTools) discovery paths. Workloads are classified using the 7 R's migration strategy (Retire, Retain, Relocate, Rehost, Replatform, Repurchase, Refactor) into dependency-aware wave move-groups. A TCO and business case analysis compares on-premises run-rates to AWS run-rates, using AWS Optimization and Licensing Assessment (OLA) funding to optimize SQL Server and Windows licensing. Deliverables: Discovery Report, Dependency Maps, 7 R's Portfolio Matrix, TCO & Business Case Analysis, Well-Architected Assessment.

Mobilize & Architect: A production-ready AWS landing zone (e.g., AWS Control Tower) enforces centralized account management, identity federation, and compliance controls. Declarative Terraform/CloudFormation IaC is generated directly from discovery data, with FinOps tagging built in for cost visibility. Modernization patterns are prototyped early using Grid Dynamics blueprints such as Pivotal Cloud Foundry to AWS EKS.

Migrate & Modernize: Servers migrate at scale in optimized move-groups via automated replication engines including AWS MGN, with continuous block-level replication and Change Data Capture for near-zero-downtime database cutover. CloudHedge's CHAI Flow agentic AI harness analyzes and refactors monolithic applications into containerized microservices, auto-generating Helm charts and deployment pipelines; Grid Dynamics' own GAIN platforms extend this modernization work.

Operate, Optimize & Innovate: Cast Software's predictive auto-scaling continuously right-sizes VMs, Kubernetes nodes, and storage. Ongoing SRE and managed services provide 24x7 monitoring and incident management. Grid Dynamics' GAIN platform activates AI and data science capabilities on migrated workloads - custom ML models, intelligent search, and agentic workflows.

PARTNER ECOSYSTEM

Matilda Cloud (continuous discovery, dependency mapping, automated wave planning and landing zone/IaC generation; ISO 27001 & SOC 2 certified, sovereign/air-gapped deployment option), CloudHedge/CHAI (Tri-Vector Assessment across source code, runtime, and workload metrics; 120+ pre-built modernization recipes; self-healing refactoring), and Cast Software (real-time cost optimization, automated right-sizing, predictive performance tuning).

FUNDING & PRICING

As an AWS Advanced Tier Partner with the Migration and Modernization Competency, Grid Dynamics runs this engagement through AWS's funding programs: AWS OLA funds licensing assessment, and AWS MAP funds Assess, Mobilize, and Migrate work up to program caps ($75K Assess cap; $2M combined Mobilize/Migrate cap), targeting a net-neutral or near-zero professional services cost. Assess is fixed-fee ($30-$75/VM or a flat $5,000 data-center read), $0 cost to the customer, up to $75K AWS-funded per engagement. Mobilize is fixed-fee per module. Migrate is priced at ~$1,500/VM plus an AWS migration bounty of $200/VM ($1,700/VM total) for standard moves, or T&M for bespoke refactoring. Operate is a retainer or value-shared managed-services fee.

WHY GRID DYNAMICS

Sovereign, air-gapped deployment for defense, financial services, and regulated enclaves keeps customer IP, credentials, and code inside the secure perimeter. Tri-Vector Assessment evaluates workload, runtime, and source code together to surface migration risk upfront. Assessment tooling feeds directly into deployment engines (AWS MGN, automated Terraform builders), so Phase 1 blueprints become running Phase 3 workloads without manual translation. Beyond migration, Grid Dynamics layers its GAIN AI and data platforms and automated SRE pipelines onto the new AWS footprint to unlock business value from day one.