Migrating to SharePoint 2010 Without Migrating a Mess

Migrating to SharePoint is typically a one-shot deal, says Rick Pleczko, Idera CEO.  “You have source and destination and a transformation. Our migration solution is designed to allow you to migrate en masse but have other capabilities as well.”

“What tends to happen” with SharePoint adoption in the first place, he says, “is department A starts to use SharePoint, then department B, then C, then they realize they need to structure it better” but by then there’s a bit of a mess. “If you’re migrating to 2010, it’s better not to migrate your existing mess. The whole idea is you organize during your move. And you want the ability to keep organizing as you continue with SharePoint.”

Which is why the first component of Idera’s SharePoint migration suite is SharePoint information architect, which captures the architecture of a SharePoint farm, enabling administrators to visualize the structure,  edit it using a graphical editor, and deploy changes to a production environment.

Then SharePoint content organizer steps in and organizes metadata in bulk. Users can apply metadata and relocate files anywhere in SharePoint with just a few clicks.

Finally SharePoint migration manager does the heavy lifting,  enabling administrators to move or copy content between SharePoint servers and bulk load files into SharePoint while retaining content characteristics such as document properties, column values, and version history.

“There are a heck of a lot of mixed environments—2007 and 2003. But the amount of people committing to SharePoint 2010 is greater than I’ve ever seen in a Microsoft product,” Pleczko says. “I see the same feeling in people as when SQL Server 2005 was released. It had a compelling enough value proposition.

The Idera SharePoint migration suite is available today and is priced at $7,495 per seat. Idera SharePoint migration manager, SharePoint information architect, and SharePoint content manager can also be purchased separately beginning at $3,995 per seat. Idera’s website has more info.