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Azure infrastructure migration

Virtual machines, networking and identity services into Azure — sized against real usage, with an honest recommendation to retire the servers that do not need to move at all.

Typical timeline3 weeks – 4 months
PriceFixed, after scoping
Delivered byOur US engineers
Invoiced inYour currency
01 — Overview

What this engagement is

Virtual machines, networking and the identity services behind them, moved into Azure. Sometimes a full estate; more often a handful of servers that are the only reason a rack still exists.

One honest note before anything else: Azure infrastructure work is delivered by our engineers in the United States, with the local entity holding the contract and the client relationship. It is the same organisation and the same partner programme, but it is a different team from the one that runs our European migrations, and you should know which people are doing which work.

The most common version of this project is not a lift-and-shift. It is replacing a server whose only remaining job is serving LDAP to one application — which Entra Domain Services can do without a server at all. We would rather retire the machine than move it.

02 — Outcomes

What you get out of it

01Workloads running in Azure, sized against real usage rather than the specification of the hardware they replaced
02Networking and identity configured so that access behaves the way it did before
03Servers that did not need to move retired instead, with the reasoning written down
04A cost baseline for the first month, and the difference from the estimate explained
05Backup and recovery configured and tested, not assumed
06Documentation someone else could operate from

“On the project side, I got great help moving my infrastructure to Azure. Moving workloads is not easy, and they did a great job of it.”

“As a leader, most of the responsibility falls on me and my peers to lay out our expectations for the business. Once we do that and they understand it, they deliver. Delivering on time is something I am consistently impressed with.”

03 — Deliverables

What you receive

Current-state assessment. Servers, roles, dependencies, actual utilisation, and which of them exist only to serve one application.
Target architecture. Landing zone, networking, identity, and the sizing rationale for each workload.
Retire-or-move decision per server, with the reason. Not everything should move.
Migration plan in waves, with the rollback position for each.
Cost estimate before, and a cost baseline after, with the variance explained.
Backup and recovery configuration, with a documented restore test rather than a promise.
Handover documentation, written for whoever operates it next.
04 — Plan

How the work unfolds

Weeks 1–2

Assessment

Servers, roles, dependencies and real utilisation. The interesting output is usually the list of machines that do not need to exist.

Weeks 2–3

Architecture and sizing

Landing zone, networking, identity. Sizing against measured usage rather than the original hardware, because that is where the cost estimate becomes real.

Week 3

Cost model

What it will cost per month, with the assumptions stated. Reserved instances and commitment terms considered here rather than after the first invoice.

Weeks 4–8

Migration waves

Workloads move in waves with a rollback position for each. Nothing moves without a way back.

Per wave

Validation

Application owners confirm the workload behaves, before the source is retired.

Final week

Optimisation and handover

Sizing reviewed against a month of real usage, backup restore tested, documentation issued.

Moving servers, or retiring them?

Send the server list and what each one does. Part of what you get back is which of them should not move at all, with the reasoning.

Fixed, after scoping · 3 weeks – 4 months

“I deal with protected health information and company-confidential data, so I have to have the gold standard of environments, and that is what Azure brings. To set it up I needed someone who knew what they were doing, at the right price point.”

“It saves me hundreds of hours, because there is no way I could have set this up by myself. It feels like I have an IT department in my company whenever I need them.”

05 — Before we start

What we need from you

An Azure subscription, or one quoted by us as your CSP
Administrative access to the current estate
A named owner for each workload who can confirm it works after the move
Agreement on the maintenance windows available
Realistic expectations about cost — Azure is not automatically cheaper than hardware you have already bought
06 — Working together

Who does what

IT Partner

  • Assess the estate and measure real utilisation
  • Design the landing zone, networking and identity
  • Recommend retire-or-move for each server, with reasoning
  • Produce the cost model before you commit
  • Migrate in waves with a rollback position
  • Test backup and recovery rather than configure and assume
  • Hand over documentation

Your team

  • Provide access and name workload owners
  • Confirm each workload works after its wave
  • Approve the architecture and the cost model
  • Decide the maintenance windows
  • Own vendor conversations for licensed applications
  • Decide when the source is retired
07 — Scope

What is not included

×Application re-architecture. Moving a virtual machine is not modernising the application inside it. Refactoring is a separate project, and where it is Power Platform or Microsoft Graph work it sits with our development practice.
×Third-party licence transfers. Software licensed to specific hardware may need renegotiating with its vendor; we flag it, you resolve it.
×Ongoing Azure cost management. Available separately if you want us watching it.
×Physical decommissioning and disposal.
×Microsoft 365 workloads. Different discipline entirely — see the migration services.
08 — Fine print

Limitations and technical notes

!Delivered by our engineers in the United States. Same organisation, same partner programme, different team from the European migration practice. Meetings are in English and time zones are managed around your working day.
!Azure is not automatically cheaper. A server you already own has a sunk cost; an Azure virtual machine has a monthly one. The honest case for moving is usually resilience, or a lease ending, rather than price.
!Sizing from the old hardware specification wastes money. Most on-premises servers are dramatically over-provisioned. We size against measured usage and review after a month of real data.
!Some servers should not move. A machine whose only job is LDAP for one application can often be replaced by Entra Domain Services. We have done exactly that rather than migrating the server.
!Egress charges surprise people. Data leaving Azure costs money. Architectures that chat across the boundary cost more than the estimate suggests.
!Reserved instances change the economics substantially but commit you for a year or three. That decision belongs in the cost model, not in a panic after the first invoice.
09 — Questions

Asked on almost every first call

Who actually does the work?

Our engineers in the United States, with the entity in your country holding the contract and the relationship. Same organisation, same partner programme, different team from the one running European Microsoft 365 migrations. We say so because you should know who is touching your infrastructure.

Will Azure be cheaper than our servers?

Often not, and we will say so during the assessment. Hardware you already own has no monthly cost. The honest reasons to move are usually a lease ending, a refresh nobody wants to fund, resilience, or getting out of a data centre — not the invoice.

Do all our servers need to move?

No, and part of the value of the assessment is the list of servers that should be retired instead. We have replaced a domain controller whose only remaining job was serving LDAP to one application with Entra Domain Services, which removed the server entirely.

How long does it take?

Three to six weeks for a small estate, two to four months for a larger one. The assessment and the application owner sign-offs vary more than the migration itself.

What does it cost?

A fixed price for the project, quoted after the assessment. Azure consumption is separate and billed by Microsoft — we can be your CSP for it, in your currency, or not.

Can you also buy the Azure subscription for us?

Yes, as your Cloud Solution Provider, invoiced in your local currency by the entity authorised for your country. It is not a condition of the project.

10 — Related

Worth reading next

Scoping costs nothing

Tell us the shape of it and we will tell you what it involves

Answer the form or write to us. You get back a written scope, a sequence and a fixed price — usually within one business day, and nobody rings you unless you ask.