Unlock VMware Modernisation Opportunities
Guide customers towards the right cloud strategy
with TD SYNNEX and AWS
Organisations across EMEA are reviewing infrastructure, virtualisation and cloud strategies as requirements evolve. They may need more capacity, stronger resilience or a better platform for future applications. For partners, this creates an opportunity to lead strategic conversations and help customers make informed choices.
Modernisation is not a single technology decision. The right approach depends on the customer’s business goals, workload requirements, existing investments and readiness for change. It may involve extending VMware into AWS with Amazon Elastic VMware Service, introducing AWS alongside current infrastructure, adopting cloud in phases or moving selected workloads towards AWS-native services.
TD SYNNEX and AWS can help you develop the knowledge, approach and pipeline needed to participate.
Your VMware opportunity
TD SYNNEX wants to help partners better understand the evolving VMware market, identify new customer opportunities and grow their AWS business.
To support this, we have put together a range of enablement assets, training resources and partner support activities. Selected partners may also become eligible for MDF funding and additional activation support.
Help customers navigate VMware modernisation
Start with the customer, not a predetermined destination
Infrastructure built several years ago may no longer provide the flexibility customers need today. Demand can change quickly, recovery expectations are higher and new digital initiatives may require capabilities that existing environments were not designed to support. At the same time, customers need to protect business continuity and make responsible use of established skills, tools and investments.
This is why the conversation should begin with the environment itself. Partners should understand what the customer runs today, how workloads behave, which systems depend on one another and what the organisation wants to achieve. Technical findings should then be considered alongside risk tolerance, security and compliance needs, available skills, budget and timescales.
Some applications may be stable and business-critical, with VMware processes the customer wants to retain. Other workloads may face capacity constraints or may be suitable for a new operating model. New applications, analytics platforms and AI initiatives may be better suited to AWS-native services from the outset.
By assessing these factors before recommending a route, partners can replace uncertainty with a practical roadmap. The goal is not to force change. It is to help each customer choose a suitable starting point and create options for future evolution.
Why this opportunity matters
Turn infrastructure decisions into long-term customer value
Customers need advisers who can connect technology choices to business outcomes. Partners that provide this guidance can deepen existing relationships while developing new sources of services revenue.
A VMware modernisation discussion can create opportunities across:
- Environment discovery and workload assessment
- Dependency mapping and suitability analysis
- Infrastructure and application architecture
- Hybrid cloud planning and implementation
- Migration preparation and execution
- Security, resilience and operational improvement
- Cloud optimisation and cost management
- Managed services and ongoing customer support
- Application modernisation, analytics and AI
The commercial opportunity is broader than a single migration project. A customer may begin with disaster recovery, additional capacity or an Amazon EVS assessment, then adopt further AWS services as confidence and requirements grow. Another customer may start by prioritising a small group of workloads for AWS-native modernisation.
Partners can meet immediate requirements while building a longer-term relationship around optimisation, managed services and expansion. TD SYNNEX and AWS provide guidance, enablement and access to relevant programmes to help turn credible customer conversations into qualified opportunities.
There is No Single Path to Cloud
Choose a starting point that reflects each customer’s priorities and readiness for change
Every customer begins from a different position. Some want to test cloud value without changing core systems. Others require additional capacity, stronger resilience or a new platform for emerging applications. VMware-focused organisations may prioritise familiar operations, while others may be ready to modernise selected workloads.
The most productive conversation focuses first on what the customer is trying to solve. Is continuity, speed, resilience or innovation the priority? How much change is acceptable? Which dependencies must be understood first?
Once these questions are answered, partners can help customers compare practical routes and choose an appropriate next step.
Where partners add value
Make complex choices easier
Partners can create momentum through a clear, evidence-led process.
Discover
Identify business drivers, infrastructure pressures, renewal points, capacity requirements and planned transformation initiatives. Look for signals that merit a broader cloud strategy discussion.
Assess
Review workloads, utilisation, dependencies, networking, storage, recovery requirements, licensing considerations and operating practices. Establish which applications are suitable for change and which require continuity.
Recommend
Compare the available approaches against the customer’s objectives. Explain the trade-offs between speed, familiarity, operational change, transformation potential and long-term flexibility.
Plan
Create a realistic sequence of activity. Select an initial use case, identify technical prerequisites, agree responsibilities and define how progress will be measured.
Deliver
Support architecture, implementation, migration and operational readiness using the appropriate expertise, tools and AWS programmes.
Expand
Continue creating value through optimisation, managed services, application modernisation, automation, analytics and further AWS adoption.
Understanding modernisation paths
Phased hybrid cloud adoption
Introduce hybrid connectivity and selected cloud services over time. This route can suit customers with a low tolerance for disruption that want to learn, build internal confidence and expand gradually. A useful next step may be to identify one lower-risk workload or business use case for evaluation.
AWS alongside existing infrastructure
Add AWS capacity for a defined requirement while established systems remain in place. Potential use cases include disaster recovery, backup, additional resilience or a new application. This can allow customers to explore AWS without requiring immediate changes to core infrastructure.
VMware extension with Amazon EVS
Amazon Elastic VMware Service enables customers to run VMware Cloud Foundation directly within Amazon VPC. Customers can retain familiar VMware software, skills and operational processes while gaining access to AWS scale, resilience and services. It is designed to support customers that want to extend or migrate VMware workloads without replatforming or refactoring first.
AWS-native migration and modernisation
Move suitable workloads towards AWS infrastructure or cloud-native services to improve agility and create a foundation for new applications, automation, analytics and AI. AWS Transform for VMware can automate activities including discovery, dependency mapping, wave planning, network conversion and migration execution.
The right strategy may combine more than one route. A customer could retain selected workloads on VMware, use Amazon EVS for continuity and modernise other applications where the business case supports it. Assessment determines what belongs where, what should move first and how risk can be managed.
Move From Customer Interest to Qualified Opportunity
Develop the knowledge, services and delivery to support your VMware modernisation conversations
A successful engagement does not have to begin with a full migration project. It can start with a question about resilience, a workload review or a discussion about future business requirements. The important step is to turn that interest into a structured assessment and achievable plan.
This assessment-first approach gives the customer evidence before committing to change and helps the partner identify where further services may add value.
Why Participate?
- Identify VMware modernisation opportunities.
Access practical tools, resources and training. - Learn about different modernisation approaches, including Amazon EVS and AWS-native options.
- Discover relevant AWS programmes that may support customer projects.
- Explore new business opportunities.
- Become eligible for MDF funding and additional activation support.
Programme overview
Your journey from registration to activation
1. Register
Share details of your VMware customer base, AWS practice, capabilities and interests.
2. Qualify
The TD SYNNEX team will review your information and discuss your goals, current capabilities and potential customer opportunities.
3. Enable
Access guidance and training that build confidence in modernisation discussions.
6. Activate
Progress appropriate opportunities through assessment, migration, modernisation or partner-led services, subject to applicable requirements.
5. Develop
Work with TD SYNNEX and AWS resources to shape the customer proposition, clarify the possible route and define a suitable next action.
4. Identify
Explore customer profiles, workloads and business situations that may merit an assessment or further planning.
Participation, programme support, funding and incentives are subject to eligibility, approval and applicable AWS terms. Registration does not guarantee access to a particular programme or commercial benefit.
AWS programmes supporting modernisation
AWS Optimisation and Licensing Assessment
OLA analyses resource use, licensing and dependencies to help build a data-led business case for migration. It can identify potential cost optimisation and inform decisions about compute, storage and licensing before the customer commits to a route.
AWS Migration Acceleration Programme
MAP provides an outcome-driven methodology with tools, training, specialist expertise and potential financial investment for eligible projects. Its phases help customers assess readiness, mobilise resources then migrate and modernise workloads with a stronger operational foundation.
AWS Transform for VMware
AWS Transform for VMware uses agentic AI to automate activities from discovery to cutover, including dependency mapping, wave planning, network conversion and execution.
Amazon EVS technical resources
AWS provides interactive demonstrations, documentation and expert guidance covering Amazon EVS architecture, prerequisites, automated setup, workload migration, environment management, backup and storage integration.
Start Building the Opportunity
Prepare customer conversations, strengthen your understanding and identify the next step
The resources we’ve put together will support different stages of the partner journey, from market opportunity and your role as a trusted adviser, through to enablement and customer engagement, and on to broader infrastructure conversations and potential cloud paths.
Who should participate?
This initiative is relevant to partners that support customers with VMware, virtualised infrastructure or wider cloud and modernisation requirements.
It may be a good fit if your organisation:
Has an existing VMware customer base
Provides infrastructure, cloud, consulting or professional services
Delivers migration, implementation or managed services
Wants to develop an Amazon EVS proposition
Plans to offer workload assessments and modernisation roadmaps
Is building or expanding an AWS practice
Sees potential for AWS-native, hybrid or greenfield opportunities
Has leadership support for developing a repeatable customer motion
Wants to create longer-term value beyond a single project
You do not need an advanced AWS practice to express an interest. The qualification process will establish your present capabilities, customer potential, areas of interest and most appropriate next step.
Resources
Partner opportunity video
A concise introduction to the changing infrastructure opportunity, the value of a customer-led hybrid cloud strategy and the support TD SYNNEX and AWS can provide from assessment through long-term expansion.
Accelerating VMware Migration to AWS case study
See how Jedi Hill ATLAS used TD SYNNEX enablement, an AWS Optimisation and Licensing Assessment and MAP support to build a business case, progress a 214-virtual-machine migration and expand its AWS practice.
VMware workload datasheet
Learn how to understand a customer environment, compare phased hybrid, adjacent AWS, Amazon EVS and accelerated modernisation approaches then introduce cloud capabilities at a pace aligned with business needs.
Path to AWS partner guide
Use a quick decision framework to match customer priorities and tolerance for change with a suitable cloud starting point, including a recommended next action for each path.
Register your interest
Tell us about your customer base, capabilities and potential opportunities. A TD SYNNEX AWS specialist will contact you to discuss the initiative and the most appropriate next step.