Original reporting by SiliconANGLE. This article summarizes and expands on the announcement for a DevOps engineering audience.
What Is AWS MAP for Windows?
Amazon Web Services announced the general availability of its Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) for Windows in April 2020. The service had been previewed at AWS re:Invent 2019 in December of the previous year. MAP for Windows is designed to help enterprise customers plan and execute large-scale migrations of Windows-based workloads — including applications running on Windows Server and SQL Server — to the AWS cloud.
The program bundles prescriptive guidance, access to AWS experts and tooling, training resources, and service credits intended to reduce the financial and technical risk of moving to the cloud at scale.
Key Goals of the Program
- Risk reduction: Structured methodology and expert involvement lower the chance of migration failures or extended downtime.
- Licensing cost optimization: AWS MAP for Windows is specifically designed to help customers reduce Windows and SQL Server licensing costs by encouraging adoption of cloud-native and open-source alternatives where appropriate.
- Scalability: The program targets large-scale migrations, not one-off workload moves, making it relevant for enterprises with significant Windows estates.
The Three-Phase Migration Framework
AWS MAP for Windows follows a structured three-phase approach:
Phase 1: Migration Readiness Assessment (MRA)
The process begins with a Migration Readiness Assessment. AWS experts and partners evaluate the customer’s existing environment — infrastructure, applications, dependencies, and licensing posture — to identify gaps, risks, and opportunities before any workloads are moved.
Phase 2: Mobilization
The mobilization phase addresses the gaps and issues identified during the assessment. This may involve refining the migration plan, upskilling teams, setting up landing zones, establishing governance, and running pilot migrations to validate the approach before full-scale execution.
Phase 3: Migration and Modernization
The third phase is the actual migration, carried out with support from AWS Professional Services (ProServe) and certified partners within the Amazon Partner Network (APN). This phase can also include modernization work — for example, moving from licensed SQL Server to open-source database engines, or re-platforming Windows workloads onto managed AWS services.
The Licensing Friction Context
At the time of the re:Invent 2019 preview, then-AWS CEO Andy Jassy publicly criticized Microsoft’s licensing practices, arguing they restrict how enterprises can deploy Windows Server and SQL Server in third-party cloud environments. This competitive tension was part of the stated motivation for building a dedicated program to help customers navigate — and potentially reduce dependence on — Microsoft licensing costs when migrating to AWS.
For DevOps and infrastructure teams, this is a practical consideration: the program explicitly supports paths toward open-source database engines (such as PostgreSQL or MySQL on Amazon RDS) or Linux-based workloads as a way to reduce ongoing licensing spend.
Market Context: Windows Workloads on AWS
AWS cited figures from International Data Corporation (IDC) at the time of the announcement, claiming that AWS hosts nearly twice as many Windows Server instances as Microsoft Azure. This statistic was used to position AWS as the de facto cloud for Windows workloads — and therefore a natural destination for enterprises looking to migrate.
Who Should Consider AWS MAP for Windows?
- Enterprises running large Windows Server or SQL Server estates on-premises looking to move to the cloud.
- Organizations with high Microsoft licensing costs seeking to modernize toward open-source or managed cloud-native alternatives.
- Teams that need structured guidance, not just tooling — the program’s value is as much in the expert access and methodology as in the technology.
- Companies that have already started a cloud journey but have stalled on Windows-specific workloads due to complexity or licensing uncertainty.
Getting Started
Organizations interested in AWS MAP for Windows should contact AWS directly or engage an AWS Partner Network (APN) partner with a Windows migration competency. The program is typically initiated with the Migration Readiness Assessment, which can be arranged through an AWS account team or APN partner.