Why Bristol is in the middle of every current migration cycle
Bristol concentrates firms feeling current migration triggers — VMware Broadcom on Temple Quarter fintech estates, Cisco end-of-life across multi-site WECA networks, NHS BNSSG cloud-shift programmes, Filton aerospace consolidation onto HCI.
VMware → Nutanix for regulated Bristol estates
Broadcom's pricing is forcing the question on Temple Quarter fintech and NHS BNSSG customers. We run VMware → Nutanix AHV, vSAN ESA, or Azure Stack HCI depending on customer stack preference.
Cisco → Fortinet for WECA + multi-site
Bristol multi-site customers (WECA estate, multi-branch retail, BCC) consolidating ageing Cisco onto Fortinet single-pane — driven by SD-WAN refresh and TCO pressure.
On-prem → AWS / Azure UK
Bristol fintech and aerospace customers lift-and-shifting from South West DC footprint to AWS eu-west-2 or Azure UK-South — FCA-aware for fintech, MOD-aware for aerospace.
Exchange-on-prem → M365 for WECA + universities
Frequent second-wave for Bristol public-sector — Exchange-on-prem to M365 GCC, on-prem PBX to Teams Voice, integrated with the customer's existing identity stack.
What a Servnet Bristol migration delivers
Discovery + bill-of-quantities
Complete picture of the current estate turned into a migration BoQ defendable at CFO/CTO review.
Target architecture design
Reference architecture for the destination — Nutanix cluster sizing, vSAN ESA tier, AWS landing zone, FortiGate topology.
Pilot environment in week 3-4
Non-production pilot built on the new platform with two weeks of soak.
Wave-based migration with parallel-run
Production workloads migrated in waves — low-criticality first, then BAU, then customer-facing systems last.
Weekend cutover windows
For Temple Quarter fintech and Filton aerospace, cutover Friday-evening onwards with engineers on-site through the weekend.
Old-platform decommission + ITAD
Once the new platform has run clean, decommission begins — chain-of-custody, NCSC-aligned wipe, certified disposal.
Bristol migration engagements we run
- ▸Temple Quarter fintech off VMware to NutanixBS1 / BS2 fintech with 150–500 VMs moving from vSphere to Nutanix AHV — typically 10–14 weeks discovery-to-decom.
- ▸WECA Cisco → Fortinet multi-siteWECA estate + BCC multi-site Cisco ASA + Meraki consolidating onto FortiGate + FortiSwitch.
- ▸Bristol fintech on-prem → AWSTemple Quarter scale-ups moving South West DC footprint to AWS eu-west-2 — with FCA outsourcing-materiality memo prepared.
- ▸NHS BNSSG to Crown Hosting / AzureBNSSG-affiliated trusts migrating off ageing on-prem to Crown Hosting or Azure UK-South — DSP Toolkit + HSCN retained.
- ▸Filton aerospace HCI consolidationAirbus / BAE / Rolls-Royce supply customers consolidating multi-site IT onto Nutanix or vSAN — MOD-aware, NCSC-aligned.
- ▸Universities to M365 + AzureBristol + UWE migrating Exchange-on-prem + on-prem file servers to M365 + SharePoint + OneDrive.
How a Bristol migration runs week-by-week
Weeks 1–2 — discovery + estate map
Automated discovery + interviews with application owners. Produces migration BoQ and risk register.
Weeks 3–4 — target design + pilot build
Target architecture signed off. Pilot environment built and non-critical workload landed.
Weeks 5–8 — wave migrations
Production workloads migrated in 4–6 waves. Customer change board signs off each wave.
Weeks 9–10 — soak + decom
New platform runs clean for soak. Once signed off, decommission begins.
Bristol vendor migrations — common questions
We're a Bristol fintech with 200 VMs on vSphere — Broadcom has tripled. What's right?
For most Temple Quarter fintech with that footprint, Nutanix AHV (regulated-friendly, predictable per-node pricing). Model 3-year TCO including migration — typical Nutanix payback is 14–22 months on a 200-VM estate.
Can you migrate without taking down our Temple Quarter trading?
Yes — point of parallel-run. Build the new platform alongside the old, migrate trading-critical systems last, validate during pre-open hours, only cut over once your team signs off.
How do you handle FCA outsourcing materiality for a Bristol cloud migration?
For FCA customers we produce technical input — which IBS touch the migrated platform, destination region resilience, exit plan. Your compliance team writes the final memo.
Can you do Cisco → Fortinet across WECA + 3 councils with no downtime?
In most cases yes — install Fortinet in parallel, migrate sites one at a time over evening windows with rollback ready.
How long does 200-VM VMware → Nutanix take in Bristol?
Discovery → final-VM-on-new-platform is typically 10–14 weeks. Actual migration work is shorter (4–6 weeks); rest is discovery, design and soak.
We're a Filton aerospace supplier with inherited multi-site IT — can you consolidate?
Yes — frequent engagement for aerospace-supply customers. Discovery across estates, target design (typically Nutanix HCI), consolidated migration with NCSC-aligned baseline.
Other services we deliver in Bristol
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