Note: Company Rebranding
Please note that the company name "SRS" mentioned in this case study refers to our former branding. We have since rebranded to "Stratify IT." While the name has changed, our commitment to delivering exceptional services remains the same. For the most current information, please visit our website or contact us directly. Thank you for your understanding.
Migrating a Client from Novell GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange
In 2005, a business consulting firm in Seattle brought in SRS, a New York City IT consultancy, to handle an email migration for one of their clients, a company in New York City. The job: move the client off Novell GroupWise and onto Microsoft Exchange without disrupting their work.
Business Challenge
GroupWise was getting in the way. Mailboxes were too big for the target Exchange version, the logins between the two systems didn't line up, and some mailboxes risked corruption. There were no good migration tools for this path, and the third-party options were expensive. On top of that, the client needed near-zero downtime and uninterrupted email access throughout.
How SRS Approached It
SRS worked the problem from the client's side, not just the technical one:
A migration plan built for this client
SRS sat down with the Seattle firm to pin down the requirements and the real complications, then built the migration plan around them rather than off a template.
People who knew both systems
The SRS team had hands-on experience with both GroupWise and Exchange, so they could work out the right path through the tricky parts instead of guessing.
Keeping the cost down
Rather than buy expensive third-party migration software, SRS wrote its own scripts and tools to move the data.
Protecting the data
SRS put safeguards in place during the move to avoid data loss and keep the migration secure.
Timing the cutover
SRS scheduled the migration around the client's downtime limits, so email stayed available and the business kept running.
Results
For the Seattle firm and their New York client, the move paid off:
The migration went through
SRS moved the client from GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange with the data intact and nothing critical lost.
Better email day to day
On Exchange, the client got a stronger set of email and collaboration tools than GroupWise had given them.
Almost no downtime
By managing the cutover carefully, SRS kept email access uninterrupted and stayed inside the client's downtime limits.
Money saved
Skipping the pricey third-party tools, and not needing the Enterprise edition of Exchange, kept the cost down for both the Seattle firm and their client.
Support after the move
SRS stayed on afterward to help the client settle into Microsoft Outlook and to deal with other IT issues as they came up.
Conclusion
SRS got the client from GroupWise to Exchange cleanly by treating it as a business problem, not just a technical one. Working around the hard parts and the downtime limits, they left the client with better email and a smoother way to work together.
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