Microsoft Acquires Mover, A File Migration Solution

The startup, which enables migrations to SharePoint and OneDrive from rival file sharing services, shouldn't be confused with Movere, which Microsoft acquired last month to drive Azure IaaS adoption.

Microsoft on Monday revealed the acquisition of cloud migration startup Mover, not to be confused with Movere, which it bought the previous month.

Mover, based in Edmonton, Canada, offers a platform that enables migrating files and data to Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive, enabling collaboration with other Office 365 components.

The Redmond, Wash.-based cloud giant has been on a tear looking to add tools, services and programs that give partners and customers a wide selection of options for moving workloads to its many cloud services, both at the application and infrastructure layers.

[Related: Microsoft Bolsters Azure Data Offerings With Acquisition Of BlueTalon]

Mover, based in Edmonton, focuses on file migration services, "including admin-led and self-service offerings," blogged Jeff Teper, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Office, SharePoint, and OneDrive.

"As customer demand to move content to the cloud continues to grow, Mover will help make it easier than ever for customers to migrate files to Microsoft 365," he said.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Microsoft 365 suite brings together Office 365 productivity applications along with Windows 10, device management and security into a single comprehensive offering.

Mover supports migrations to Microsoft from more than a dozen of its competing enterprise file sharing providers, including Box, Dropbox, Egnyte, and Google Drive.

The deal comes less than two months after Microsoft acquired Movere, a migration specialist with technology for easing Infrastructure-as-a-Service adoption. That company, based in Microsoft's backyard of Bellevue, Washington, offers cloud-based software that discovers servers and devices across heterogenous environments and provides cloud-readiness assessments in advance of migrations to Azure Cloud and, at least before the deal, Amazon Web Services.

Mover will complement both the Microsoft FastTrack service, which enables adoption of Microsoft cloud products like Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility Suite, and a specialized SharePoint Migration Tool for moving on-premises SharePoint sites to the cloud.

"Mover will enhance these offerings with proven tools, plus more self-service options over time," Teper said.

And Movere's technology will offer another native alternative to Azure Migrate, as well as integrated third-party solutions.

In addition to building out a migration tooling portfolio, Microsoft has also been looking to programmatically encourage its use by leveraging its massive channel to drive adoption and defection from rival providers.

In July, Microsoft launched the Azure Migration Program (AMP), which provides proactive, end-to-end guidance and tools for customers to move to the cloud, including technical skill-building, free Azure migration tools and offers to reduce migration costs.

The company will share more about the integration of Mover technology and new Microsoft 365 migration capabilities at its Ignite 2019 conference in November.