Migrating Applications to the Cloud: Rehost, Refactor, Revise, Rebuild, or Replace?

Published: 03 December 2010

ID: G00207162

Analyst(s): Richard Watson

Summary

The CIO issues a simple directive: "Move some applications to the cloud." To do this, architects face bewildering choices. In this Decision Point, Principal Research Analyst Richard Watson steers architects to a choice from among five alternatives: Rehost on HIaaS, refactor using SIaaS and PaaS, revise for HIaaS or PaaS, rebuild on PaaS, or replace with SaaS. The decision must consider an organization's requirements, evaluation criteria, and architecture principles. However, no alternative offers a silver bullet: All alternatives require architects to understand application migration from multiple perspectives and criteria, such as IT staff skills, existing investments, and application architecture.

Table Of Contents

©2020 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and its affiliates. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without Gartner’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization, which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although Gartner research may address legal and financial issues, Gartner does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by Gartner’s Usage Policy. Gartner prides itself on its reputation for independence and objectivity. Its research is produced independently by its research organization without input or influence from any third party. For further information, see Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity.