Desktop Migration - Flawlessly managing complexities and saving critical data

Komputer Kraft Consulting (KKC) heads up Migrate7 in the APAC region for enterprise desktop migration in complex environments.

Perhaps one of the main reasons why the US government, Pentagon and major global corporations use Migrate7 is because of its fit for policy and the ability of the installation and configuration to be matched with need.

With a 99% proven capture rate of critical settings and files, the solution provides extreme confidence in automating large groups, specific configurations, customised settings and rapid deployment.

"Being an IT manager or executive for an organisation undergoing a migration can be a challenge," says Tranxition Founder and CEO Kelly Mackin.  "The possibility that data will be lost or be compromised in any way is a constant worry, but it doesn't have to be.  With Migrate7, IT professionals are able to quickly deliver flawless migrations every time."

Grant Scurrah says "other tools in the market don't do this and the costs for a limited service outweigh the compelling need.  Organisations find that they have delayed taking action simply because it's been too hard and the risk is greater than the need, until announcements are made that the risk of not upgrading becomes a guillotine."

"I have heard a few personal horror stories of free solutions and basic tools pushing pop ups - encouraging an upgrade…and these solutions simply cannot be entertained when settings, passwords, drivers and files are a day to day need for business operations and staff efficiency.

One of the big questions we are asked about is moving applications across systems. Tranxition, the developers of Migrate7, have defined the best approach.

The goal of any migration should be to make sure that the new system is reliable. With that as the goal, the best approach is to use a system imaging solution to "lay down" the OS and applications.  It is a much more effective approach and is one of the secrets to Migrate7's reliability.

If there are custom applications, Migrate7 can move custom registry keys and applications on a case-by-case basis.

Organisations such as Health, Emergency Services and Defence have a vast variety of applications and augmented groups, all requiring specific and critical capture. This often cannot be left up to individual staff and creating a migration policy is one of the first steps in overcoming these problems.

"Migrate7's unique processes ensure that users' data is always there, right where it should be, therefore preventing crises so they never happen," continues Mackin.

Being able to create a policy also hinges around knowing what technology is out there to facilitate the policy.  KKC works with organisations to design and implement policy for migrations.

Companies use Migrate7 in a variety of ways. They script it through ITSM solutions, login scripts, appliances and through email links sent to users.  Migrate7 supports all of these use cases in a sensible, easy-to-use set of methods well known to IT professionals.

As a case in point, the American military's Defence Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA), the inventors of the Internet, had a thousand desktop PCs to upgrade and migrate, and most were running older versions of Windows with over 200 custom applications located on those systems.

Lockheed Martin's Mike Geffert, Customer Support, RSIS, an IT manager responsible for DARPA's computing infrastructure, says, "Tranxition is a key element to reaching our department's refresh cycle goals. We need it to ensure our researchers have very limited downtime in this mission critical environment.

The DARPA IT support costs were rising quickly as their modest IT department struggled to keep up with a policy stating that desktop and laptop hardware had to be replaced every two years and software could only be two revisions behind, including service packs.

Additionally, users expected that each time a system was refreshed, every icon, piece of data and application setting was exactly the same as on their old PC.

DARPA needed to ensure all of these settings and data could be migrated properly to the new computers, sometimes on different operating systems. Not only that, researcher downtimes had to be kept to an absolute minimum because their work contributes to time-sensitive military missions.

A cost-effective process for upgrading the thousand PCs and 200 custom applications was imperative as there were few IT staff that could help analyse which files to move to preserve user data and configuration information and then actually perform the migrations.

"Up to this point, I was trying to determine which settings, registry keys and hidden files to move for each application by creating up to 50 screenshots for every machine each time it needed to be replaced or software upgraded," says Geffert.  "Once I started to examine all the application settings, registry keys and system files for each application, I realised I didn't have the time to become an expert for each one and needed Tranxition's software to help me move all these files accurately.

Geffert understood his constant migration process needed to be accurate and controlled to avoid accidently omitting the registry keys or system files that their applications relied on. If these requirements could be satisfied with Migrate7's embedded knowledge of the settings that needed to be moved, he knew that he would not have to manually configure the thousand PCs he was managing.

"This process had to use Migrate7's built-in application settings expertise and some user involvement to make it work," says Geffert.

Commercial-grade migration technology like Migrate7 is key to delivering a great user experience that also enables IT to reach its goals for the migration.  It's a perfect win-win.

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