Microsoft's Windows Vista™ operating system is known for its multiplier effect. For every dollar of Windows Vista sales, solution providers can expect $10 or more in additional revenue in hardware, software and services. Many customers are putting Vista migrations on hold until after the release of Service Pack 1. If you wait until then to discuss migration solutions, you risk losing business to a competitor.

Planning for successful Vista migration takes approximately 18 months, according to a Gartner report, CIO Update: A 2008 Windows Vista Deployment Begins with 18 Months of Preparation.

"Successful Vista migration begins with meeting customer concerns head on," says TJ Alldridge, product marketing manager at Symantec. "We suggest addressing customer hesitation by initiating a conversation today and putting together a Vista migration solution for a test environment. This solution should include all hardware, software and services for scoping out the migration, automating the deployment, retiring obsolete systems and managing the post-deployment environment. A small solution sale today can lead to large deployments in the future."

To help solution providers accomplish this, Symantec offers Ghost Solution Suite (Ghost), the industry's most widely-used and trusted solution for system imaging, deployment and ongoing management. By specifying Vista-ready Ghost 2.0 for migration projects, solution providers gain a powerful, automated tool for migration planning and budgeting, OS migration and software administration. Ghost works with Vista as well as other Windows and Linux environments.

In addition, Symantec offers proven, Vista-ready products to help ensure desktop security and availability. Recommending these together with Ghost as part of an overall migration solution will help you cash in on the Vista multiplier effect.

The Vista Migration Solution
While hesitant to roll out Vista companywide, many customers are likely to consider small test projects in a department or group. Your best approach is to specify a comprehensive Vista solution, including all software, processes and services they will need for all phases of migration.

"If you just sell customers a five-user Vista license for their test environment, you're likely to leave money on the table," Alldridge says.

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is a key element in any pre-migration test. Not only must solution providers test the proposed Vista environment for hardware and software compatibility, but they must also formulate a plan for identifying compatible systems; deploying OS, applications and user data; integrating new systems; and retiring old systems. Ghost is capable of managing the entire process.

Pre-migration Support
A common reaction to Vista migration is fear, as in, "We don't know where to start and what it will cost." Solution providers can assist by identifying which systems are Vista-ready and which need to be upgraded or replaced.

Vista offers several basic standalone tools for hardware and software discovery and assessment, whereas Ghost Solution Suite provides a single, integrated tool. Ghost allows easy identification of which machines will support the new OS using built-in Vista filters. With insight into the overall migration costs, customers can budget for upgrades and new systems.

Migrating to Vista
Ghost Solution Suite is well known for its power and efficiency in OS migrations. Solution providers use it to design images, deploy images to machines and migrate each user’s unique PC personality to new systems.

Images include not only Vista, but all the needed applications, such as line-of-business software, productivity applications and security software. "We at Symantec estimate that the typical Vista image will be 5 gigabytes -- a huge amount of data to send across the network," Alldridge says. "Ghost accelerates and streamlines deployment by multicasting the image so a single 5-gigabyte image is pushed to all machines simultaneously."

Such efficiency dramatically reduces both overall network traffic and OS deployment time, unlike Microsoft's free tools, which "unicast" the image to each machine sequentially. Multicasting also streamlines companywide deployment of large applications such as Office 2007, estimated to be a few gigabytes. Ghost can also multicast non- Microsoft deployments, such as Adobe or Oracle.

After the Migration
After obsolete systems are decommissioned, solution providers use Ghost's GDisk technology to completely and securely wipe data from the hard drives. This service, which meets strict U.S. Department of Defense standards (DoD 5220.22-M), helps ensure that confidential information cannot be recovered and stolen.

Ghost also is useful after OS deployments to send out network- or department-wide patches, and to manage new systems that are added over time, whether Vista or other environments. For example, groups of Vista users and Windows XP users can be created, with different patches and updates automatically sent to each group.

Cross-sell and Up-sell Opportunities
The Vista multiplier effect highlights the opportunity to sell new software as part of a migration solution. Symantec offers several products that complement and enhance the new OS.

Desktop virus protection. Although Vista incorporates security enhancements, it does not include antivirus. Symantec recommends that Vista migrations include desktop antivirus software, intrusion prevention and a personal firewall -- as provided by industry-leading Symantec antivirus solutions.

Backup protection. Even the most careful migration projects can introduce errors, creating a need for some form of system and data protection. Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery Desktop Edition is the ultimate "do-over" button. In the event of a problem, a few simple commands can roll back systems to pre-migration status. If a system becomes compromised, its point-in-time snapshot, including all settings, applications and data, can be restored from external storage in minutes, not hours or days.

Help desk support. Help desk personnel need Vista-ready utilities to manage new and upgraded systems. Symantec's Vista-ready pcAnywhere provides support through its powerful remote control and system management capabilities.

Getting Up to Speed
To help channel partners implement the Vista migration process, Symantec offers valuable resources for Symantec Partners. To become a Symantec partner, go to our partner site: https://partnernet.symantec.com.

• NFRs of selected Symantec solutions are available (including Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 2.0).
• ROI Calculator indicates potential cost and time savings for end-customer organizations.
• Blitz in a Box is everything you need for a simple Vista migration call campaign.
• FAQs, comparison charts and data sheets tell the Symantec story.
• Customer-facing presentations help move clients toward a sale.
• Compass Opportunity Mapping (Compass,) is a powerful new tool that allows you to better understand sales opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling.

Armed with sales support and a compelling story to tell, Symantec's partners are well positioned to profit from the Vista multiplier effect, as they roll out Vista migration projects companywide.

Symantec Products for Windows Vista Migration

Symantec offers a number of products to assist solution providers in Windows Vista migration projects. From small test environments to enterprise-class migrations, Symantec's solutions will help solution providers profit from the Vista opportunity, while helping customers reap the benefits of the new operating system.

Product	Unique Selling Proposition	Description
Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 2.0	Simplifies all aspects of a Windows Vista migration, from inventory assessment to migration to ongoing management.	Provides rapid and reliable Windows Vista migration. A proven, trusted and affordable tool for imaging, deployment and management of mixed Microsoft Windows and Linux systems. Enables hardware and software inventory, file- and sector-based imaging, OS migration, software distribution, PC "personality" migration and secure system retirement.
Symantec AntiVirus	Protects desktops and servers against viruses and spyware.	Combines real-time malware protection for enterprise workstations and network servers with graphical web-based reporting and centralized management and administration capabilities. Support for Windows Vista makes product especially valuable in the 2007-2008 timeframe.
Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery Desktop Edition	Restores Windows systems anytime, from anywhere to virtually any device.	Combines the speed and reliability of diskbased, bare-metal Windows system recovery with dissimilar hardware restoration. IT administrators can minimize downtime for critical IT services by rapidly recovering entire systems to dissimilar hardware platforms or virtual environments.
pcAnywhere	The world's leading remote control solution.	Connects to remote devices simply and securely for better management of computers and easy resolution of help desk issues.