New Toolsets From Quest Speed Windows Migration Projects
Quest also debuted a new release of its Recovery Manager for Exchange - Discovery Edition software that aids organizations making the transition to Microsoft's Office 365 cloud email and application suite.
"We see pretty strong interest from our resellers and our system integrator partners to provide a migration solution," said Scott Lang, product marketing director for Quest's Windows group.
[Related: Microsoft Issues Two-Year Warning For End Of Windows XP Support ]
Quest is targeting the new ChangeBASE and Workspace Asset Manager releases toward current owners of Windows XP who are ready to upgrade to Windows 7. Microsoft will drop all support for Windows XP in April 2014, and the number of users making the switch is accelerating.
But, 57 percent of all Windows users are still on Windows XP, according to statistics developed by Net Applications, while 32 percent have moved to Windows 7 and 11 percent are on Windows Vista.
The demand for migration tools will also be fueled by upcoming new releases of other Microsoft products such as Office 14, Internet Explorer 10 and Windows 8, said Shayne Higdone, Quest senior vice president and general manager of Quest's user workspace management and monitoring product line.
The new Quest Workspace ChangeBASE 5.0 offers more detailed information about application compatibility issues during system migrations and how to fix those problems. New application readiness dashboards simplify tracking of application compatibility projects, according to Quest. And a new feature automates application virtualization to Microsoft App-V, VMware ThinApp, Citrix XenApp and Symantec SWV.
New in Quest Workspace Asset Manager 9.0 is automatic software metering and improved license management automation. The toolset also offers better visibility over an entire application environment, according to Quest, and improved integration with Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix EdgeSight for more centralized management of virtual software environments.
The new Quest Recovery Manager for Exchange - Discovery Edition recovers emails and performs email discovery across on-premise and cloud systems. The product makes Exchange recovery easier without requiring a dedicated recovery server, according to Quest, and it uses a single console for retrieving message-level data from Exchange backups or Office 365.
The toolset can assist with email system migrations by supporting email discovery during upgrade projects -- working with both on-premise Exchange and Office 365 -- and recovering emails lost during the transition.