Mainframe data replication strategy for the AWS Cloud - AWS Prescriptive Guidance

Mainframe data replication strategy for the AWS Cloud

Vaidy Sankaran and Pablo Alonso Prieto, Amazon Web Services

February 2025 (document history)

Enterprises seek to unlock innovation and agility while still maintaining their legacy mainframe workloads. This makes cloud adoption imperative. This guide addresses key business use cases, considerations, and a methodical approach for successful mainframe data replication to the AWS Cloud.

Data replication to the AWS Cloud can be a pivotal component in an enterprise-level mainframe modernization journey. The decision to replicate mainframe data in the cloud might be driven by several compelling business needs, such as:

  • Unlocking insights – Mainframe data presents a valuable resource for advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning initiatives. By replicating data to the AWS Cloud, organizations can unlock new insights, enhance decision-making processes, and fuel transformative AI-driven strategies.

  • Driving agility and growth – Data replication facilitates augmentation and the development of new channels. This can accelerate business initiatives and foster agility. This approach enables enterprises to swiftly adapt to evolving market demands and seize growth opportunities through agile deployment of data resources.

  • Facilitating a migration – Integral to major migrations, data replication supports intermediate integration and data consistency across migrated and non-migrated workloads. This facilitates seamless transitions, mitigates operational disruptions, and lays the foundation for a cohesive, modernized infrastructure that is aligned with business objectives.

Intended audience

This strategic approach is recommended for executives and architects at enterprises that are considering modernizing their mainframe workloads and adopting the AWS Cloud. This guidance is highly recommended if data replication is identified as a critical component of your modernization strategy.