XP migration – what the smart companies are doing?

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“This could introduce risk to the business, particularly as many organisations applications require Windows in order to run effectively.”

He says that if a company runs a virtual environment via something like Citrix XenApp or Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Services, it may have the ability to move to an alternative operating system, but ultimately it still needs to consider mission critical applications and their dependency on Windows.

Hosted desktop
“One way to overcome the XP migration dilemma is through the introduction of a centrally hosted desktop system such as XenApp or Remote Desktop Services. These will allow you to extend the life of your current desktop estate, or in other words to convert your PCs to terminals using scripting and deploy a Windows 7 or 8.1 estate to your users,” says Miller.

With a virtual desktop solution, Miller says companies can address their office users, mobile workforces and promote flexible working solutions, while retaining control and maintaining security within their environment.

Meanwhile there are many organisations out there already making use of virtualisation technology to help them manage their IT infrastructure and this presents other XP migration opportunities, according to Grace O’Rourke Veitch, country manager for Ireland with Citrix Systems.

If you virtualise you gain the opportunity of embracing new devices that are coming into the organisation in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programme, as well as look at where you could roll out thin clients. You can repurpose old PCs by centralising and virtualising the applications so they can be delivered to any device, Grace O’Rourke Veitch, Citrix

Adapting to needs
“We have many customers who have been using our technology for application virtualisation for many years but maybe haven’t fully connected the dots to realise how it can help them transition away from XP and towards newer version like Windows 7 and 8,” she says.

“Everyone knows the technology is out there but the challenge is in understanding how to adapt it to the specific infrastructure and needs of the individual company. What we’re being asked by our customers, and what our partners are being asked, is ‘how can we actually go about doing this ourselves?”

The key questions facing companies setting out on an XP migration strategy are highly predictable — how to do it, how long it is going to take and how much is it going to cost?

“The thing to know first of all is that it’s not an all or nothing scenario. You don’t have to make radical change — you can largely keep the applications and environments you’re already using, just in a virtualised environment,” says O’Rourke Veitch.

“50 per cent of XP applications will work in Windows 7 and 8 and there are other application migration tools that will help a transition.”

Read More: longform migration Windows XP