While they may have been reliable in the past, legacy systems often become a burden as technology advances. They can impede your operations, introduce security risks, and increase maintenance costs.
As newer technologies emerge, sticking with outdated systems can leave businesses struggling to keep up with the competition. When it comes to modernization through cloud migration, a few different options are available.
Rehosting moves your applications to the cloud with minimal changes. Replatforming involves making slight adjustments to optimize performance. Refactoring is the most intensive, involving a complete rework of the application to leverage the cloud’s capabilities fully.
Every method has its benefits, which vary depending on what your business is looking for from the migration process.
Rehosting
Rehosting, also called “lift-and-shift,” is the simplest method of migrating applications to the cloud.
The process involves moving your applications to a new cloud environment with little to no modification to the underlying architecture. Because the application remains largely unchanged, rehosting allows for a quicker transition to the cloud, minimizing downtime and disruption.
The primary benefits of rehosting include the speed of the migration process and its overall cost-effectiveness.
Since rehosting doesn’t require extensive changes to the application, it’s less expensive overall. It also carries fewer risks than more complex migration strategies, making it an attractive option for organizations looking to reduce costs and migrate quickly.
Rehosting is particularly suitable for applications that need immediate performance improvements without extensive redevelopment. It’s also a practical choice when major changes to the application aren’t feasible due to time constraints, budget limitations, or the complexity of the application itself.
Replatforming
Replatforming is a balanced approach to cloud migration that involves moving applications to a new platform while making minor optimizations.
Unlike rehosting, which requires no changes, replatforming allows organizations to tweak certain aspects of an application to better leverage cloud capabilities, without the need for a full architectural overhaul.
The primary benefits of replatforming include enhanced performance and scalability. By making targeted adjustments, applications can run more efficiently and scale more effectively in the cloud environment. These improvements often translate to a better user experience as applications become faster and more responsive.
Replatforming is particularly effective when minor changes yield major functional enhancements. For instance, swapping out a component for a cloud-based alternative can yield noticeable performance gains in systems and applications.
It’s often ideal for applications that need better integration with other cloud services or systems, enabling smoother workflows and more powerful functionality without the need for a complete rebuild.
Refactoring
Refactoring is the most intensive cloud migration strategy, involving a complete rewrite of an application’s code to enhance its structure and performance while keeping its core functionality intact.
It allows the application to take full advantage of cloud environments, significantly improving scalability, flexibility, and efficiency. Refactoring can offer several substantial benefits, particularly in maximizing overall performance while improving scalability.
Redesigning the application to utilize cloud-native architectures, such as microservices and serverless computing, allows businesses to enhance the application’s performance and scalability with demand. It also prepares the application for future needs, making it easier to maintain and adapt as technology and business requirements evolve.
Refactoring is ideal for applications that require significant updates to keep up with contemporary standards. Legacy systems, which are often hard to maintain or integrate with more contemporary technologies, can be modernized to meet today’s standards and expectations.
When long-term adaptability and maintainability are necessary, refactoring provides a solid foundation for the application to grow with the business.
Comparing the Three Approaches
When comparing rehosting, replatforming, and refactoring, the differences in scope, time, cost, and impact on operations become clear.
- Rehosting involves the least effort, as it requires minimal changes to the application, making it a quicker and more cost-effective option.
- Replatforming requires moderate changes, adding some complexity and cost but offering better performance and integration.
- Refactoring demands the most extensive changes, with significant time and financial investments. Still, it provides the greatest long-term benefits in scalability and adaptability.
Each approach also has its own respective impact on your ongoing operations. Rehosting is the least disruptive of them all by allowing businesses to migrate quickly with minimal downtime. Replatforming may cause some interruptions as optimizations are made, while refactoring can be the most disruptive due to the all-inclusive nature of the changes.
When deciding which strategy to use, business goals and priorities are essential. For those focused on speed and cost, rehosting may be the best choice. If scalability and performance are your top priorities, replatforming or refactoring might be the more suitable option.
The availability of resources, such as budget, time, and technical expertise, also significantly affects how smoothly the process will go. On top of this, the complexity of the application and its dependencies must be considered, as more complex systems may benefit more from thorough refactoring.
Case Studies/Examples
Different cloud migration strategies are suited to various business needs, and real-world examples can help illustrate when each approach is most effective:
- Rehosting: General Electric’s Oil and Gas division successfully used rehosting to migrate its oil and gas applications to the cloud. Without fundamentally overhauling application architecture, GE reduced costs by around 30% while benefiting from the reliability and security offered by cloud service providers.
- Replatforming: A large media company moved hundreds of web servers to AWS, replatforming in the process by switching from WebLogic to Apache Tomcat. The move saved millions in licensing costs and improved performance. Replatforming allowed the company to optimize its infrastructure with minimal changes, making it a cost-effective solution to go with.
- Refactoring: Netflix is a prime example of refactoring; the company re-architected its applications to fully exploit cloud-native features such as horizontal scaling and microservices on AWS. The transformation enabled Netflix to handle massive streaming demands globally, significantly enhancing performance and scalability.
Each example highlights how important it is for your chosen strategy to be aligned with your business goals and needs.
GE’s rehosting strategy offered a quick win with cost savings, while the media company’s replatforming allowed for moderate optimizations. Netflix’s refactoring demonstrates the potential long-term benefits of fully embracing cloud-native architecture despite the higher initial investment.
The main takeaway in all of this is that the choice of strategy should align with an organization’s goals, resources, and the complexity of the applications involved.
Teaming With The Experts in Cloud Migration
Depending on your business needs, replatforming and refactoring each offer distinct paths to cloud migration.
Rehosting, the simplest approach, involves moving applications with minimal changes, offering speed and lower costs. Replatforming allows for some optimizations to enhance performance and integration without a complete overhaul. Refactoring, the most intensive, re-architects the application to fully leverage cloud-native features, providing long-term scalability and flexibility.
Picking the right strategy for your organization means carefully considering your broader business goals, your available resources, and the complexity of your applications.
Searching for a partner to support your organization’s cloud migration process? Set up a consultation with Orases online or call 301.756.5527 to get started. Our team is here to help you streamline your sales process and boost your efficiency with custom software solutions built to handle your needs.
