Technology is always on the move.

That is really the driver behind the Migration Expert Zone. Information technology grows and changes constantly and its our job to keep up with it and make sure our organizations take fullest advantage of all it has to offer.

2012 brought more change and more growth than ever before. Looking back, we started off the year talking about how we now had a meaningful choice to migrate from existing platforms to new on-premise platforms or to cloud-based platforms. That has been a big theme throughout the year as more functionality becomes available in the public cloud, and more definition has emerged about best practices for private cloud deployment.

Migration Tools

We talked about new tools coming out from companies like Bioware and Binary Tree, and then later in the year Dell acquired Quest Technologies and we learned a lot about Quest Workspace Desktop Virtualization from Quest Software and Quest’s best practices strategy for application migration and more. Of course, Quest wasn’t Dell’s first acquisition in the migration space. We also spoke often of solutions from the Dell KACE division, including the Dell KACE Appliance.

Also on the tools side, Microsoft took us from Migration Assessment & Planning Toolkit (MAP) version 6.5 all the way to version 8 with increasing functionality at every upgrade.

Device & Desktop Migration

We examined multiple strategies for achieving a safe, secure, well-facilitated user experience allowing users to “BYOD” – bring whatever device they preferred to use to live, work and play. From data containerization to MDM, to leveraging Virtual Desktop Interfaces (VDI) to deliver desktops to PCs, tablets, even smartphones, we looked at many ways to achieve real BYOD.

Remember back in April when everyone announced the “DeathWatch” – two years until Microsoft withdraws mainstream support for Windows XP? This was followed by questions about whether users would move to Windows 7 or “Wait for 8.”  That question was quickly answered and we’ve seen dramatic upticks in Windows 7 migrations as everyone begins to bring Windows 8 into their testbeds to help them figure out when they’ll be making their next move. It certainly won’t be another 10 years.

Server Platform Migration

Perhaps the most profound migrations, however, were from previous versions to the latest Microsoft System Center 2012 and Microsoft Windows Server 2012, which, taken together form the comprehensive Microsoft strategy for the Cloud OS. Companies and organizations of all sizes are now planning their strategies around leveraging all the new private cloud functionality and multi-platform management capability offered in this new evolution of primary systems software. 

With multi-vendor mobile device management, virtualization optimization and automation, sustainability advances and full orchestration, this new environment holds tremendous promise for creating the much-sought-after world in which users can get what they need to do what they need to do on whatever device they choose from wherever they happen to be. 2012 will be remembered as the year that it all came together.

Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!!!