It’s not so much a matter of "if" but "when" for most organizations regarding migration to Windows Vista. Laying the groundwork now for this migration can yield higher ROI than waiting until later. This Computerworld Technology Briefing explains it all.
computerworld
TechnologY
BriefingSOPERATING SYSTEMS
Windows Vista®
Migration:
The Business
Value Proposition
Table of Contents Sponsored byThe Value of Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Down to Business: Making the Case forWindows Vista Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6The Power of Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Best Practices for Windows Vista Migration Success . . . . . .11
Insights from Computerworld Strategic Partner Content UPGRADE GUIDE answers to this question, IT profes-sionals should consult the Windows Vista ROI Calculator. With this Excel-based tool, once you enter in-formation about a specific business The Value of environment, it will return highly detailed answers tailored to your enterprise. CIOs can use the tool Windows Vista to gain an understanding of which groups of users will benefit most The migration to Windows Vista® sooner vs. later from Windows Vista, and therefore, offers business opportunities, benefits and ROI. which users should be the first to receive upgrades. In general, experts say, the best approach is to deploy Windows Vista to groups of users in conjunc-By Stan Gibson ith the scheduled tion with their hardware upgrade end of Microsoft cycle. "If an enterprise is doing a Windows® XP refresh, an IT simplification or inte-shipments at the grating an acquired company, then Wc lose of June 2008, many enterprises the enterprise should look to are receiving a wake-up call that it's a migration to the new OS at the time to get serious about deploying same time," Dwyer says. "It can Windows Vista®. For those who do deliver bigger bang for the buck." not yet have plans, time is getting Indeed, experts say the case for short, but it's still not too late to a move to Windows Vista is most draw up a migration blueprint and clear-cut when moving from older move to Windows Vista to gain the systems, such those running solid benefits that it can provide. Windows 2000. Putting Windows Vista in place The potential benefits of Win-sooner rather than later means dows Vista fall into several catego-receiving a higher return on the ries, including: security, manageabil-investment of deploying the operat- ity and user experience. ing system, says one expert. "If you move to Windows Vista now, you'll Securityget more years out of your OS tran- Microsoft has taken operating sition," says Damian Dwyer, EMEA system security to a new level in senior manager, End User Comput- Windows Vista. Most important ing Practice at Dell Global Infra- is User Account Control (UAC), structure Consulting Services. which limits the ability of corporate With the imperative of Windows end users to introduce malware onto Vista looming, how should you en- their systems as well as limits data gineer a migration that delivers the leakage by controlling what data greatest benefits of Windows Vista users may store on such devices as to your organization with the lowest USB drives. The Windows Vista cost and least disruption? To gain ROI Calculator often demonstrates
TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING . WINDOWS Vista Migration: The Business Value Proposition . June 2008 significant return on investment multiple hardware abstraction lay-due to UAC. ers. However, Windows Vista imple-These improvements "A lot of users have local admin- ments drivers for multiple hardware istrator rights on their machines mean that Windows types," says Jeremy Chapman, se-today. That can cost a lot of money nior product manager for Windows in calls to the help desk because us- Vista can be imple- client team enterprise product man-ers may do something that causes mented more rapidly agement at Microsoft.their machine to behave in ways Another plus is that operating they don't understand," says Kevin and less expensively system images can be sent out to Hanes, senior manager for product than previous operat- networked computers much faster management and marketing at Dell. than previously, thanks to improve-"Also, there are huge costs if a user ing systems. Ongoing ments in Microsoft's software distri-gets something malicious and opens bution tools. "There is less network maintenance costs it with local administrator rights. traffic to send out images to target Some of the big viruses have spread will al... [download for more]
