• Windows to Linux: Moving Made Easier With New Migration Tool

The role of Alacos is often likened to being "the aspirin of the IT world," Luis Aguilar Lemarroy, VP of technology and development for migration specialists Alacos, told SYS-CON group publisher Jeremy Geelan in an interview with SYS-CON.TV (http://sys-con.tv) at Web Services Edge 2005 in Boston.

Alacos, based in Seattle, develops state of the art migration software and provides professional Linux migration assessment and consulting and has spent the last 18 months developing a robust software program to automate and manage desktop and server migration.

"The program saves businesses and individuals time and money through increased efficiency," said Aguilar, who pointed out that the factors involved in a successful migration include eliminating fear of change among the executives concerned, assuring them that the transition will be smooth and the result will be a better system.

"A lot of corporations ask us when is Linux going to be ready for the enterprise," he added. "But I always say, well when was Windows ever ready for the enterprise?"

View Luis Aguilar With Jeremy Geelan Live on SYS-CON.TV  

In his article in this month's LinuxWorld Magazine, "Migration Planning for Linux Desktop Adoption: Five Steps for a Successful Windows-to-Linux Migration Plan," Aguilar explains how Alacos uses a best-practices desktop migration methodology called Migration Mapping that consists of 5 key steps necessary to a successful migration:

1. Audit the Current Environment
2. Analyze the Audit Data
3. Design the Solution
4. Map to an Organizational Matrix
5. Automate the Organizational Transition

"The most important part of a Linux desktop migration is to develop a rigorous migration plan during the pre-migration phase," Aguilar writes.  "Following these five key steps provides a data center approach to revising an organization's desktop and software infrastructure." 

Alacos won the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Award for Best Integration Solution at LinuxWorld Boston 2005, awards coordinated each year by the editors of LinuxWorld Magazine. The company helps companies migrate from Windows 98, 98SE, ME, NT, 2000, and XP to Red Hat 9, SuSE 9.1, Novell Linux Desktop, Fedora 1/2/3, Mandrakelinux 9-10, TurboLinux 10, Sun JDS 2.0, Xandros, Linare, Lycoris, and Debian.

View Luis Aguilar With Jeremy Geelan Live on SYS-CON.TV