App/OS Migration

Accelerate application/operating system migration projects

Solution architects can use Skytap Cloud to migrate to newer versions of operating systems and software applications. They can easily create cloud-based environments that represent previous and new versions to more accurately conduct verification and acceptance testing.

Moving from one version of an operating system or application the next version is a complex challenge for many mid-market and enterprise organizations. Your business users require a hands-on experience to evaluate how the new functionality will fit their business process. You are challenged by IT budget constraints, and the hardware and software resources required to deliver the desired experience.

This creates a unique dilemma for IT developers and consultants: How do you deliver easy, fast, and secure app/OS migration experiences your business users, while lowering IT costs and resources?

Leveraging Skytap Cloud for application/OS migration resolves this dilemma

The Skytap Cloud empowers IT, developers and consulting organizations to migrate to newer versions of business applications or operating systems without requiring any code changes or application rewrites. With Skytap Cloud you can create entire virtual datacenters, including clustering and fail-over support using an easy-to-use web UI in seconds. Skytap provides migration environments that are secure and easily accessible by your business users and clients. At the same time, IT managers get the visibility and control they need to centrally manage application images, usage, and security policies.

Skytap Cloud can be used for a broad range of scenarios including:

• Enterprise application/OS migration labs
• Homegrown legacy application migration
• Application customization development and testing environments
• Business user assessment and acceptance testing
• New application roll-out training

Top 5 Features and Benefits at a Glance

Accelerate application/operating system migration projects

Using the Skytap Cloud Intelligent Automation Platform, you can create a centralized repository of multi-machine virtual datacenters that can run enterprise applications or operating systems without any code changes. IT developers and consultants can use Skytap Cloud to provision new migration environments and run multiple usability and functional acceptance test sessions concurrently. You can deploy these environments instantly and customize and scale the machine configurations for per-your-application or operating system evaluation needs. Once a migration is completed, environments can be deleted or saved for archival purposes.

Provide a rich, hands-on migration experience

Business users can access their own application instances using SmartClient (a browser-based client) from any location with Internet connectivity. This feature enables migration environments typically delivered using physical hardware to be transformed into a web-based virtual environment. Your users get hands-on experience and spend more time validating the newer version without travel or the constraints of a physical lab. The same console also provides IT developers and consultants with an "over the shoulder" view of the entire virtual environment, including the user view. They can start, stop, view, and suspend migration sessions and collaborate with users to maximize their understanding of usability and functional acceptance evaluations.

Test your applications in production-like virtual data centers

With Skytap Cloud, developing a multi-tier application with clustering and fail-over support is remarkably easy. You can create multiple networks in each configuration, add multiple network adapters to each virtual machine, connect them to different networks, configure routing policies, and ensure you have an accurate depiction of production environments while you develop and test. You can easily create a hybrid cloud for each migration project by connecting your customized migration instances via an IPsec VPN tunnel to show the full value of your new solution. Advanced networking configurations can also be saved as templates for safe keeping or rapid re-deployment.

Enable collaboration with projects, groups, and roles

Using the projects, groups, and roles features within Skytap Cloud IT developers and consultants can create different groups of users, and share cloud resources via projects. Project teams with multiple members can collaborate to create, review, and approve new features in the application or operating system version to which you are migrating. Each team member can be provided a specific role in the system with specific permissions to view, edit, change, or publish application changes.

Align cloud usage with business goals

You can provide complete virtual datacenters to different migration teams who can scale resources up and down as needed. You can also easily assign role- and project-specific quotas and restrict usage that is not consistent with business goals, and you will only pay for what you use. Virtual datacenters can be configured to suspend automatically when not in use and you can review cloud usage to audit individual user, group, or project-level actions. This feature gives you the complete visibility and control you need to align your costs and usage with critical business goals.