Complete shift to Windows 7 at large firms by end-2010

Complete migration to Microsoft's new operating sytem Windows 7 in large enterprises will happen only by the end of 2010 in the Gulf and the UAE, say industry players.

Two thirds of businesses in the Gulf are expected to shift to Windows 7 eventually as the new operating system is likely to become the new standard for most commercial PCs in the next 12 months.

Large enterprises will take their time as there is no time frame set by Microsoft to migrate and there will be compatibility issues with core business applications, which normally take a long time to centralise and work on new Microsoft releases.

Analysts said at least 80 per cent of corporates are still on XP as they were not satisfied with Vista. While Windows 7 is a significant improvement from Vista, analysts pointed out that Windows 7 is not a major architectural release as it builds on the plumbing changes Microsoft made in Vista.

Migration costs are also not an issue as most enterprises have agreements with Microsoft.

Emirates Business spoke to Wilson Xavier, Windows Business Group Manager at Microsoft Gulf; Maninder Singh, Vice-President and head-end user computing services at HCL Technologies; Jeff Jacob, Unit Manager – Microsoft from IT distributor Mindware; Navneet Tandon, Vice-President - ERP and Services from system integrator company Raqmiyat; Shankar Das, Group CIO at construction firm Al Jaber Group of Companies; and Faizal Eledath, CIO of Dubai Bank.

Are customers showing interest to migrate to Windows 7? What kind of customers and from which parts of the Gulf are showing interest?

Xavier: Feedback from IT professionals in the region has been very positive. Right from the time of Windows 7 Beta and RC releases, we distributed trial versions to thousands of customers in the region. This allowed them to experience the product in reality where they were able to provide real life feedback. We have had enterprise customers such as Emirates airline, Arab Media Group and Petroleum Development of Oman in the Gulf, reviewing and piloting the operating system and received excellent feedback from them.

For SMBs, we put in place the Windows 7 Small Business Ignite Program as part of our rapid deployment phase prior to the launch. Through this program, SMBs had the opportunity to test drive the Windows 7 Beta. The Windows 7 Professional edition has been designed with small businesses needs in mind. We have had several SMB/mid-market customers who evaluate the new OS and are in the process of migration.

Singh: We have all seen the huge success of Windows XP and the disappointment with Windows Vista. This major gap, created due to the failure of Windows Vista, is actually an opportunity.

Enterprises have been waiting for eight years for an upgradation in their desktops and Windows 7 is the answer. A latest Forrester study has revealed the tremendous enterprise interest in Windows 7.

Two-thirds of all businesses already expect to migrate to Windows 7 eventually, it states, while declaring that Windows 7 will become the new standard for most commercial PCs in the next 12 months. The Gulf is not an exception to this global trend. The same kind of interest is being seen in the Gulf as well.

Jacob: Yes, a great number of customers have migrated to Windows 7, with more showing interest on adopting the latest version of the operating system. However, the customers who are going for the initial buy are primarily in the consumer market, while the retailers and the street channel business have shown considerable interest for Windows 7. By the launch date [October 22, 2009], Mindware sold out the consumer SKUS [semi knockdown units] such as the Windows 7 Home Premium and the Windows 7 Ultimate editions, and see the same demand across the Gulf.

Tandon: The extensive ad campaign and the widespread media coverage on the launch of Windows 7 have generated tremendous awareness among customers. However, we have yet to see if users are actually interested to migrate.

Das: Small and medium businesses are well positioned to be early adopters of Windows 7.

Large enterprises will take their time as there will be compatibility issues with their core business applications, which normally take a long time to centralise and work on new Microsoft releases. The larger the portfolio of business applications within an enterprise, the longer it will take for the adoption of a new operating system such as Windows 7.

Eledath: Our team is currently studying Windows 7 from the stand point of internal application compatibility, security, stability and functional-enrichment.

Do you foresee higher number of customers moving from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7?

Xavier: Absolutely, while Windows XP is a great operating system that was revolutionary for its time, it is based on technology that is almost 10 years old. Since then, Microsoft has upgraded its security, reliability, usability, connectivity and performance and Windows 7 takes advantage of all of these improvements.

As for users migrating from Vista to Windows 7, they will experience a straightforward upgrade process, due to the higher hardware and software compatibility between Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft is also making sure end-users have tools, such as Windows Upgrade Advisor and Windows Easy Transfer to make the upgrade process even smoother.

Singh: As Vista was not a success, many users are still hung on to XP and they truly need to upgrade their desktop with the latest software as in a year or two. XP may become obsolete for even individual users. We are sure there would be mass upgradations.

Jacob: We will be seeing a surge in demand for upgrade from XP to Windows 7 in the coming six to eight months. Corporates, 80 per cent of whom are still on XP, had not reacted favourably to Vista which also will be a driving force for encouraging the move to Windows 7.

Tandon: As of now, we see no visible trend. Many users are on XP, and I think they will want to migrate to a more stable and manageable Windows 7, while majority of those who are asking us about the latest Windows version are Vista users.

Das: Al Jaber will not move to Windows 7 now, but will shift after the core business applications are certified for it.

Eledath: Any migration initiative in Dubai Bank goes through a process of evaluation, business-case development, testing and then roll out. Once the due diligence and the decision is completed, roll out will be carried out in phases.

Is there a timeframe for Windows XP users to migrate to Windows 7?

Xavier: As Windows 7 has been built on the Windows Vista platform, we expect it will run on most if not all applications that run on Windows Vista. While we know that enterprises will want to complete a thorough compatibility testing with any new operating system, the transition to Windows 7 is expected to be much faster.

Singh: It is actually a matter of choice. Basic programs may be running on XP or Vista but as more and more advanced softwares are being introduced, it would be very hard to keep up with everything with the older operating systems. Windows is much faster and more user- friendly than Vista or XP, which would make it more popular among the majority.

Das: There is no set timeframe as the move will be dictated by the time core business applications get certified for Windows 7.

Eledath: Looking to the past, early adopters of Vista faced many challenges with respect to ease-of-use, stability with certain applications and its overall stability. Our plan is to evaluate the technology in our environment, seek feedback and learn from other enterprises and if found fit, start the migration process in phases. If all goes well, we would look at migration by the end of next year.

How expensive is it to migrate to Windows 7 for a large enterprise and an SMB?

Xavier: Microsoft has found that most businesses go through a multi-phase process when rolling out a new operating system. First, a company must make a business case for deploying a new technology, followed by testing and standardising applications. Different companies have different time allocated to these phases and many go through pilots prior to the roll out of the new OS. This process usually requires about six to 18 months to plan, pilot and roll-out across large enterprise organisations. Most of the companies are also providing end-user and IT training for their employees as a part of the deployment project for seamless migration. Microsoft supports the deployment cycle of a new OS by providing products to make the process as painless as possible. This can help significantly reduce the total cost of ownership of the operating system and the entire application management lifecycle.

Singh: Windows 7 is very useful for large enterprises. It is more secure and requires less memory to operate. Its security features and the speed of functioning are the main reasons for which enterprises are going ahead with mass deployments. It allows seamlessness in operations across an enterprise, irrespective of geographies.

Jacob: Compared to older migrations of Windows, adopting Windows 7 will be relatively inexpensive. Microsoft has an on-going promotional offer under its volume licensing program, where the end-customer who has XP or Vista on their existing machines can upgrade to Windows 7 on a 15 per cent discounted price. This should help corporates save on their migration.

Tandon: The cost of migration depends upon the licensing agreement the customer has with Microsoft. If the customer has a software assurance agreement/enterprise agreement with Microsoft, there will be no licensing cost. Customer only have to pay for services.

Das: Al Jaber has an enterprise agreement with Microsoft in place. We also have the technical resources who will do the rollout, in-house. So the cost would be negligible for us.

For customers with enterprise agreements in place with Microsoft, the costs will come down to the manpower costs associated with the process of migration.

Eledath: Since we subscribe to Microsoft's enterprise agreement, licence cost is taken care. There are other administrative, resource and logistic costs that we have to consider before making our decision.

Do you have an insight on the number of firms or individual users who will migrate to Windows 7?

Xavier: We are seeing very positive momentum among enterprises and mid-market customers to deploy Windows 7, at the same time there is very high level of excitement among small business and consumers to upgrade to the new OS. And this message and feedback has been consistent during the Gitex launch, roadshows and customer and partner events across the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. And most importantly their keenness to migrate follows actual pilots in their environment where they experience the benefits of Windows 7.

At this point of time, we are already engaged with customers across sectors such as oil and gas, telco, banking, education, aviation, transportation, utility, media verticals, who are in various deployment planning stages as well as governments.

Tandon: At present it is difficult to quote a definite number. However, we expect a good interest and response given the level of enthusiasm customers have for Windows 7.

What do you think are the main challenges of Windows 7 and the advantages it has over the previous versions?

Singh: Technical advancements have given Windows 7 a very good speed and it has been made fairly user friendly. It comes with a touch screen interface which was not there in the earlier operating systems.

A more attractive look has been given to many applications such as Word Pad, Paint and Calculator. The best thing is that it is best suited for laptops, which are increasingly becoming popular. There are many other features which have been added, which the users would find beneficial like multi lingual user interface.

Jacob: With Windows XP being a proven stable OS, in addition to Microsoft announcing that support to XP will remain for a longer period than usual, the challenge for Microsoft is how to convince corporates to migrate. As far as advantages are concerned, Windows 7 has satisfied the technology savvy customer's requirements in terms of stability, speed, and compatibility, among others.

Tandon: Windows 7 offer numerous advantages, including faster speed, beefed up security, and easier manageability. It is also more stable and reliable in comparison to its predecessor.

Das: It appears to be more stable than its predecessors.

Eledath: Any new development comes with its own challenges, what worries an organisation the most is the ability of the new technology to adapt to an environment without disrupting existing services and to live up to its claimed functionality.

So far during our evaluation we have found challenges with desktop security applications compatibility and limited support from some of our application vendors on Windows 7.

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