Symantec Migrates Masses Of Enterprise Desktops

Figuring to take advantage of the boom in replacement PCs, Symantec on Tuesday unveiled a new server-client system for migrating data and application settings from one Windows machine to another.

Last week, research firm Gartner estimated that 100 million PCs will be replaced this year, and nearly another 120 million in 2005, more machines than were swapped out during the 1998 and 1999 run-up to Y2K.

That's the market Symantec is after with its new Symantec Client Migration 3.0, a package that lets enterprises offer employees a self-service, Web-based migration tool for shifting everything from desktop settings and e-mail options to Microsoft Office documents and browser bookmarks from an old machine to a new system.

"Client Migration will move the complete PC personality of a user to a new system," said Thom Bailey, Symantec's director of product management in its enterprise administration group. "Operating system provisioning tools are often not sufficient," he said, and "data and desktop settings migration must be part of an overall plan for OS deployment and application provisioning."

Using technology acquired from its purchase of Virtual Access Network, a migration tool maker known for a product called The Van, Symantec has built a server-client solution, said Bailey, that offers a different approach to migration.Rather than require software to be deployed on the PCs at both ends of the migration chain, Symantec's system uses a server-client model where the client is run via an ActiveX control.

Administrators can set up Web sites within the network for self-serve migration, or craft scripts in either XML or text that automate the process for forced migrations.

A server component, called Symantec Migration Server, resides on a dedicated system and handles all the actual migration chores, including client logins and storing the applications to be moved or upgraded. The Migration Console is the single control point for creating and posting migration projects, while the Migration Client uses a browser interface and an ActiveX control that's automatically downloaded to the end-users' systems.

The solution also includes the AutoMigrate tool for automating migrations and AutoInstall, an application packager.

Users can be directed to an internal Web site, where they log in to the Migration Server. That system then scans the client desktop or laptop, and migrates data and settings based on the employee's choices. Alternately, administrators can create scripts, and using AutoMigrate, execute migrations on specific machines, groups of machines, or an entire company's systems without any user interaction."An administrator could set up a migration project so that after workers leave on Friday, the server retrieves all users' settings, migrates their data, and even upgrades applications. When the employees return on Monday, everything is ready."

Client Migration 3.0 supports a range of applications -- settings can be migrated from same version to same version, or from one version to the next version -- including all of the Microsoft Office line; Adobe Reader, Illustrator, and Photoshop; AOL Instant Messenger; Lotus Notes; Network Associates' VirusScan; Symantec's own anti-virus software; and Palm Desktop.

When combined with Ghost 8.0, Symantec's operating system provisioner, administrators can also schedule automatic OS upgrades at the same time as application, data, and settings migrations.

Security provisions within Client Migration, said Bailey, include optional encryption of the migrated data -- useful when top level executives' machines are swapped out -- and six levels of access rights to the data and settings stored on the server.

On the client side, Symantec's migration package requires Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP Professional. (It won't migrate to or from Windows Me- or Windows XP Home-based PCs, however.) The server component runs on Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows XP Professional.Client Migration will be available later this month at prices starting at $15.30 per seat for a 10-seat license.