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Miramar Systems Inc. later this month will release an interim version of its Desktop DNA Enterprise Edition PC migration tool that adds support for migration to Microsoft Corp.s Office 2003.
The privately held Santa Barbara, Calif., company, which has a number of partnerships with configuration or change management providers such as Novell Inc., Computer Associates International Inc. and Novadigm Inc. and a soon-to-be-completed deal with Marimba Inc., quickly updated its migration tool to also enable auditing of a migration.
The tool includes a new manifest log capability that “lets you know what we put down on a machine and where we put it,” said Greg Goodman, co-founder and vice president of product management at Miramar.
“The manifest log is an XML file that lets you see what files have been saved and the size of those files. We think it will also be used as a data mining tool. You can search through [the files] to know the amount and kinds of data that are on the desktop. An XML file is powerful. You can format it in any way … to extract [data] in different ways,” Goodman said.
Desktop DNA Enterprise Edition Version 4.7, which automates migration of user preferences, data and settings, also adds a DNA Options Editor tool that allows administrators to create or update custom configuration files without requiring XML expertise. The tool provides a help system that walks administrators through different options controls, simplifying the definition of system dependencies.
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The maturity and completeness of Miramars desktop migration tools make the company a technology leader in the desktop migration space, said Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner Inc., in Stamford, Conn.
“Miramar has a relatively mature product, full functionality, and they have lots of relationships with configuration management vendors for enterprises that want to integrate data and settings migration along with configuration management. Its an interesting market that may well be in flux over the next few years as we see what the configuration management vendors do,” Silver said.
Version 4.6 of the tool, which automates transference of user profiles from Windows NT Server 4.0 domains to Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, was released in July. The update is the second this year for Desktop DNA Enterprise Edition. It added new user redirection features and command-line-enabled, user-profile management features to give administrators more migration flexibility, officials said.
