Migration and modernization have long been critical yet complex processes for organizations aiming to enhance innovation, streamline operations, and unlock new opportunities.
At AWS re:Invent 2024, Dr. Asa Kalade, VP of Migrations and Modernization at AWS, introduced Amazon Q Developer, a groundbreaking AI-powered assistant designed to transform how organizations migrate and modernize workloads. This session highlighted the capabilities of Q Developer and its impact on three key workloads: .NET modernization, mainframe migration, and VMware transformation.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Need for Transformation
As Dr. Kalade noted, migration and modernization align with four critical business priorities:
- Business Transformation: Using generative AI to improve processes.
- Innovation: Moving away from legacy systems to enable rapid application development.
- Data Consolidation: Unlocking insights through AI and machine learning.
- Leadership and Culture: Building a collaborative and forward-looking environment.
However, challenges like getting started, fostering collaboration, and addressing expertise shortages make these initiatives daunting. Q Developer addresses these pain points by leveraging 18+ years of AWS experience and cutting-edge generative AI technology to accelerate and simplify migration and modernization projects.
Key Features of Amazon Q Developer
The session revealed how Q Developer brings together an agentic infrastructure, a new interaction paradigm, and domain expertise to deliver unparalleled efficiency.
Agentic Infrastructure
Breaks down complex projects into manageable objectives executed by specialized sub-agents.
Human-in-the-Loop Collaboration
A chat interface keeps humans engaged for approvals, plan refinements, and interventions.
Domain Expertise
Specialized agents for .NET, mainframe, and VMware workloads leverage AWS’s extensive migration knowledge.
Use Cases
1. Hartford Insurance’s .NET Modernization
Many organizations still rely on outdated .NET Frameworks, creating challenges in cost, scalability, and performance. With Q Developer, teams can automate migration planning and transform legacy code with self-debugging capabilities.
Jermaine Henson CIO of the Hartford Insurance Company, explained how 20-25% of their runtime is based on different versions of .NET and it makes it harder for developers to maintain their code. Using AWS’s automated migration tools they were able to cut manual effort and reduced their modernization times dramatically while achieving faster and more secure upgrades. This led to a 30% reduction in cost.
2. Toyota Mainframe Migration
Brian Kursar, CTO of Toyota explained that Toyota started using IBM Mainframes in 1979 and still relies on them for 95% of their operations. If the mainframe goes down Toyota cannot make cars.
Toyota turned to AWS and to migrate away from unreliable mainframes into the modern and much more reliable cloud infrastructure.
Q Developer AI allowed Toyota to analyze and document tens of millions of lines of legacy COBOL code in a single day, which otherwise would have taken months. Transform entire systems, as Toyota demonstrated by accelerating its supply chain modernization journey.
3. VMware Transformation: The introduction of Amazon Elastic VMware Service
Moving VMware workloads to AWS is now faster and more precise. Q Developer allows customers to automate dependency mapping and network topology creation. AWS also allows customers to generate AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) templates. Which at the end of the day cuts the time to create a migration plan from weeks to hours, enabling scalable and error-free migrations. Customers can use RedHat and Nutanix or use AWS’s newly introduced Elastic WMware Service.
A Catalyst for Innovation
As Dr. Kalade envisioned, Amazon Q Developer heralds a future where organizations can migrate entire data centers in weeks rather than years. By simplifying traditionally complex processes and integrating human oversight, Q Developer paves the way for seamless, continuous modernization.
AWS is now offering a live preview of Q Developer’s capabilities, inviting organizations to explore its potential and provide feedback.now
Ready to Transform? The AWS re:Invent session ended on a note of optimism: with tools like Q Developer, migration and modernization no longer have to be monumental hurdles. They can become catalysts for achieving the business transformation every organization strives for. At Nextlink we are excited to partner with you to bring your company’s operations onto cloud safely and efficiently.
