AWS Transform: AI-Powered Service Accelerates Enterprise Workload Modernization

AWS' AI-powered workload modernization service is now generally available - SiliconANGLE

AWS' AI-powered workload modernization service is now generally available Amazon Web Services Inc. today announced the general availability of Transform, a new service that accelerates the migration and modernization of enterprise workloads using agentic artificial intelligence. The service, which was initially previewed at AWS re:Invent 2024 as Amazon Q Developer transformation capabilities, targets legacy VMware, mainframe and .NET workloads. AWS said it can reduce project timelines an average of fourfold compared with manual transformation and up to 80-fold in the case of VMware migration. AWS Transform leverages specialized AI agents to automate migration tasks, the cost and complexity of which hold enterprises back from transitioning more workloads to the cloud. Synergy Research Group Inc. estimates 37% of data center capacity remains on-premises. AWS said 70% of Fortune 500 companies still rely on at least some software written over two decades ago. "Some of these applications are really big, spanning hundreds of thousands of lines of code," said Sriram Devanathan, general manager of Amazon Q Apps and AWS App Studio. "The biggest challenge customers have is often understanding their code bases -- not just moving them, but reimagining them." AWS Transform supports three primary workloads: Windows-based .NET applications, mainframe applications and VMware environments. For .NET applications, the service facilitates migration from Windows to Linux, potentially reducing operating costs by up to 40% by eliminating Windows Server licensing fees, Devanathan said. The AI agents guide users through analysis, planning and automated code transformation, including unit test execution and Linux-readiness validation. For mainframe workloads, AWS Transform decomposes monolithic Cobol applications into manageable components. The service uses graph neural networks to analyze dependencies, generate technical documentation and refactor code into Java and the open-source PostgreSQL database management system. AWS said its approach reduces the typical multiyear mainframe modernization projects to months. "We take you into a deployable state in AWS," said Devanathan. "On the mainframe, we support basic Cobol, JCL [job control language] and screens written in BMS [Basic Mapping Support]. We can modernize the user interface and enable a variety of use cases." He noted that the service includes testing capabilities as part of its workflow. "We first get the documentation, then decompose it into use cases, augment them and derive test cases that serve as final verification," he said. "Even if you come in with no documentation, we derive it from Cobol code and experts can add more information." For VMware environments, AWS Transform automates application discovery, dependency mapping, migration planning and network configuration conversion to replicate on-premises VMware setups into AWS EC2 instances, including virtual private clouds, subnets and transit gateways. "We analyze your network setup, routing, and subnets, then help you plan in which waves you want to move and replicate that into an AWS network equivalent," Devanathan said. AWS said traditional network configuration tasks that take two weeks can be completed in one hour, while migration wave planning can be reduced from weeks to minutes. "In the case of VMware, we saw as much as 80 times faster migration compared to a manual approach," he said. AWS Transform employs a multi-agent, multi-model approach, employing AWS Bedrock-powered foundational models and graph neural networks. Each agent is responsible for specific tasks such as analysis, planning and reasoning. "We use a variety of models powered by Bedrock," Devanathan said. "The agents work back from a set of goals and sub-goals, and we are constantly trying various models." Transform is currently free to encourage customer migration to AWS. The service integrates with the company's Migration Acceleration Program and Experience-Based Acceleration programs.

Transform Enterprise Workloads up to 4x Faster with Agentic AI

AWS Transform Now Generally Available to Accelerate Enterprise Migration and Modernization You're likely aware of the huge appetite organizations of all sizes have to leverage AI technology to rethink their business and deliver intelligent, data-driven outcomes faster. Recent research shows that 64% of enterprises are investing in AI in 2025, and 63% are accelerating cloud migration plans. The correlation between these is important for you: migrating your mission-critical applications and data to build a trusted foundation is what transforms good AI into great AI. This increasing need to move to the cloud doesn't change the fact that migrating and modernizing workloads remains one of the most tedious (but critical) projects for your enterprise to undertake. At AWS, we've spent nearly two decades leading enterprise migration and modernization, helping tens of thousands of customers like you transform their businesses. Despite that, 75% of enterprise workloads remain on premises, with 70% of Fortune 500 companies still running on software written over two decades ago. And traditional migration and modernization projects often stretch to 18 months or more, creating a bottleneck in your path to AI innovation. In 2024, we asked ourselves: What if we could combine our 19 years of migration expertise with the latest advancements in AI to eliminate bottlenecks and accelerate transformation projects from years to months or even weeks? The result is AWS Transform, a revolutionary service that uses agentic AI to accelerate and simplify the migration and modernization of your infrastructure, applications, and code. Introducing AWS Transform: The Future of Your Enterprise Modernization AWS Transform (previewed as Amazon Q Developer transformation capabilities at re:Invent 2024) uses specialized AI agents to remove the heavy lifting and automate complex migration and modernization tasks for your VMware, mainframe, and .NET workloads, delivering completed transformation projects up to 4x faster. This new agentic AI service uses AWS advancements in foundational models, LLMs, machine learning, graph neural networks, automated reasoning, and AI infrastructure to deliver an entirely new migration and modernization experience for you. And the results from our preview speak for themselves: AWS Transform agent for .NET can modernize Windows-based .NET applications to Linux up to four times faster than traditional methods and realize up to 40% savings in licensing costs. AWS Transform agent for mainframe can decompose monolithic z/OS COBOL applications into components that can be run in the cloud in minutes instead of months. AWS Transform agent for VMware can automate the conversion of on-premises VMware network configurations to AWS equivalents up to 80 times faster than manual approaches. AWS Transform uses a chat experience that acts as a knowledgeable transformation assistant, helping you specify objectives, share project context, assess business plans and cost savings, review and adapt transformation plans, review and approve code and infrastructure suggestions and more. AWS Transform also brings together your cross-functional teams in a unified web experience where you can review tasks, track progress, and collaborate throughout the project keeping you in control of transformation plans for your most complex legacy applications including: Modernizing Windows-based .NET Applications to reduce costs by up to 40% The AWS Transform agent for .NET accelerates your .NET Framework application porting from Windows to Linux, reducing operating costs by up to 40%. This cost savings is achieved by reducing your Windows Server licensing costs, version upgrades, maintenance, and end-of-support challenges, while also shrinking transformation costs across analysis, planning and refactoring. Using the .NET agent, you can chat using natural language to share transformation objectives and project context, and have AWS Transform analyze dependencies, apply domain expertise from past modernization journeys to develop customized modernization plans, and autonomously transform code, execute unit tests, generate transformation summary, and validate Linux-readiness. AWS Transform enhances performance and scalability of your applications by transforming .NET Framework application code to cross-platform .NET which is Linux ready, and porting private packages, automating unit test execution, and providing explainable transformation decisions. This new agent enables you to transform hundreds of applications in parallel with consistent results through a unified web experience, streamlining collaboration across your teams and empowering you to efficiently tackle large-scale modernization projects. "By using AWS Transform for .NET to port one of our .NET Framework applications to .NET Core 8, we reduced 70% of the modernization effort, with 100% success. As we continue our modernization process for the entire core application, we estimate a total development time and effort reduction of up to 80%. The next steps include incorporating one of our major backend applications into the transformation effort from Windows to Linux, deploying it on Amazon ECS and AWS Fargate as microservices." - Enrique Zazueta, Grupo Tress Internacional (GTI), Director of Software Development See Demos and Technical Deep Dive in AWS Transform for .NET Blog Post >> Accelerating Mainframe Modernization from Years to Months You can now streamline your entire modernization process with the AWS Transform agent for mainframe, accelerating timelines by up to 50% while reducing risk and complexity. Through the chat interface, you can define high-level modernization goals and negotiate your job plan. When you're ready, AWS Transform processes your mainframe applications written in COBOL, JCL (Job Control Language) and those relying on CICS (Customer Information Control System) transaction manager, BMS (Basic Mapping Support) screens, DB2 databases, and VSAM (Virtual Storage Access Method) data files. You'll benefit from advanced code analysis that rapidly identifies dependencies and missing files, reducing downstream project delays. Using Graph Neural Networks, you can decompose your monolithic applications into manageable modules, enabling targeted modernization approaches while preserving your critical business logic. Throughout the project, AWS Transform acts as your AI assistant, learning from your progress and answering questions about your programs based on generated technical documentation. When you're refactoring applications, you can convert your COBOL, JCL, and DB2 to Java and Postgres, leveraging state machines and state transition graphs for enhanced accuracy. For reimagining your applications, you'll get comprehensive technical documentation, business rules, and logical flows extracted from millions of lines of your code. With intelligent orchestration of AI agents, you can modernize your mainframe applications in the cloud with greater speed, simplicity, and confidence while preserving your institutional knowledge through detailed documentation. "By leveraging AWS Transform's AI agent functionality, we were able to significantly streamline the process that would typically require experienced engineers to accurately interpret, document, and verify the relationships between programs and the logic of business codes. For instance, in the analysis of complex components -- a task that would normally take approximately one month -- we confirmed that the same process could be completed within just about one week. This represents a major step forward in enhancing both efficiency and productivity." - Hitoshi Okayama, General Manager, Broker Dealers System Service Department, Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. See Demos and Technical Deep Dive in AWS Transform for Mainframe Blog Post >> Reducing VMware Modernization Planning from Weeks to Minutes You can avoid rising VMware licensing fees while optimizing your infrastructure and reducing operational overhead with the AWS Transform agent for VMware. The chat interface guides you to add connectors to your on-premises VMware environments or upload your asset inventories from third-party tools. After you specify your goals, the agent automates tasks such as application discovery, dependency mapping, migration planning, network conversion, server migration, and EC2 instance optimization. You'll have the ability to review, approve, and edit artifacts through a human-in-the-loop mechanism. Using Graph Neural Networks, you can analyze your network traffic and communication patterns to identify dependencies and automatically generate optimal migration wave plans. You can convert your complex network configurations to AWS equivalents, including VPCs, subnets, security groups, and transit gateways, while addressing your network migration challenges through enhanced capabilities like isolated VPCs and flexible Hub-and-Spoke configurations. With AWS Transform for VMware, traditional network configuration tasks that typically take two weeks can be completed in one hour, and migration wave planning that usually requires weeks of analysis can be completed in 15 minutes. "At SourceFuse, we're excited about the transformational potential of AWS Transform for VMware. By automating critical steps like dependency mapping, network translation, and wave planning, we've seen execution times improve by up to 90%, while reducing manual effort by 80%. This capability empowers us to deliver faster, lower-risk migrations, helping our customers achieve cloud readiness sooner and build a scalable, future-proof foundation on AWS." Rajiv Lokare, Head of DevOps, SourceFuse See Demos and Technical Deep Dive in AWS Transform for VMware Blog Post >> Ready to start your transformation? We are excited about the significant shifts we've been able to drive by applying agentic AI to reducing transformation complexity and accelerating timelines. This is the just beginning of our journey of rethinking the migration and modernization of your most critical workloads and we look forward to helping you use AWS Transform to start yours. Reach out to your AWS team or one of our AWS Migration and Modernization Competency partners today to leverage our Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) and Experience-Based Acceleration (EBA) programs to plan your transformation. Or dive into AWS Transform on your own to experience the power of agentic AI and intelligent automation for unprecedented speed, scale and performance as you migrate and modernize to AWS and embrace AI to drive innovation for your business. Visit the AWS Transform page for Demos, Documentation and more >> or Get started in the AWS Transform console >>