One of the most popular free tools used by enterprises today for large enterprise migration projects is Microsoft’s User State Migration Tool (USMT). However, IT personnel declared a clear preference for PCmover Enterprise over free alternatives, including USMT, by a 3 to 1 margin. Enterprises who evaluated Laplink’s product cited its ability to migrate data that other tools missed, as well as the ease to implement customized rule sets and work flow as their reasons for preference.
While USMT has no licensing fee, it requires weeks or months of time spent on development and testing for migration projects. If an organization doesn’t currently have the resources to code and test with XML files, money must also be spent on technical experts. Investing in development and testing is an ongoing cost due to high maintenance needs; updates to OS and PC environment or to the staff roster require further updates to USMT.
Laplink’s PCmover Enterprise typically costs an enterprise less than $10 per PC deployed while generating labor savings of over $300 per PC deployed. PCmover doesn’t require any complex scripting or integration; evaluation of pilot projects are offered at no cost and VIP engineering assistance and support is included for free. There’s no need to reconfigure PCmover Enterprise when changes are made to the employee roster, OS, or PC environment, making maintenance extremely simple.
PCmover Enterprise helps automate large-scale PC deployment projects, ultimately reducing end-user downtime and accelerating PC replacement cycles. PCmover includes a Policy Manager Module that provides organizations greater control over the migration process without the need to create labor-intensive scripting. The ability to migrate registry entries and even transfer applications ready-to-use coupled with complete flexibility results in PCmover often being the tool of choice in most migration scenarios.
USMT has a limited interface and requires extensive scripting and testing. As migration scenarios become more complex, USMT requires even more labor. USMT can’t successfully migrate installed applications or application settings that aren’t stored in the user profile.
A desktop support technician from a large, national telecommunications company had this to say about USMT: “USMT should be considered a ‘partial migration’ tool. It’s good for transferring user profiles, but misses a great deal of data, including registry keys and settings.”
