Email archive migration solution
The Windows-based solution is built according to a client-server model and ensures secure migration of legacy email archives to alternative archives and messaging platforms.
Challenge
Operating in the email management domain, our customer was looking for a partner to deliver specialized software for email archive migration. The system would need to be compatible with multiple platforms with 100% data integrity in order to facilitate and speed up email content relocation.
Owing to our software engineering skills and competence in data migration services, Itransition successfully passed the bidding process and got engaged in the full-scale project implementation.
Solution
Created for the Windows OS, the solution supports smooth migration of legacy email archives to selected environments, both on-premises and in the cloud. The solution enables seamless, selective and auditable transfer of data from/to 25+ archive systems without compromising data integrity, ensuring that it remains accessible during the migration and preserving the continuity of business processes.
- Fast Data Processing. The solution automates email archive migration through a pre-tuned migration engine that creates a direct pipeline between virtually any third-party archive and Exchange and/or Office 365 using the Exchange Web Services API. The multi-threaded engine delivers an unmatched processing rate: it extracts, converts, and writes data at the speed of over 1.5 GB per minute.
- High Data Fidelity. The solution automatically checks all migrated items and transfers them to a new environment step by step, which minimizes the risk of data loss. To get even more benefits out of email data migration services, the users can leverage built-in reporting and analytical tools to detect and troubleshoot the issues at the item level.
- Flexible Migration. The solution allows users to analyze the email archive content, profile it, perform selective content migration, define retention policies, remove duplicate data, and filter out obsolete data. The platform also provides users with tools for legacy data clean-up and generates detailed reports for data traceability. For example, the system helps email admins identify heavy, unsafe, or suspicious content that should be separated or removed from the migration queue.
- Zero Impact on Users. The solution reads archive databases during migration while keeping data and user access settings unchanged. The solution gathers, analyzes, and migrates data in the read-only mode so that the source archive doesn’t stop its operation, with end users continuing their work without any disruptions. The solution also supports scheduled migration and allows for limiting the bandwidth usage to ensure uninterrupted migration regardless of the network capacity.
- Versatile Platform Support. The delivered solution offers custom connectors that support migration between and within different versions of commonly used archive formats. It can also be used to migrate email content from outdated and unsupported archives to newer and more capable environments, be they cloud or on-premises.
Technologies
The solution utilizes .NET as the main technology framework and the Windows Communication Foundation for inter-process communication. The client UIs are built using Windows Forms and Windows Communication Foundation based on Infragistics components. The database layer is built on Microsoft SQL Server.
The reporting functionality is based on DevExpress, a powerful suite for generating complex and detailed migration reports. Our .Net developers also integrated the solution with a variety of archive systems, including ArcTitan, Barracuda Message Archiver, HP Consolidated Archive (HPCA), Veritas Enterprise Vault, Dell EMS SourceOne, EMC Centera, and more. By utilizing the Apache log4net logging library, Itransition’s team managed to simplify the application development substantially.
Results
The developed platform now processes large data volumes reliably and up to 10 times faster than equivalent products. This solution helped our customer keep their market leadership position and quickly gain new users for their email data migration services.
Since the first release, more than 800 companies have already enjoyed the benefits of this fastest migration solution with near-zero processing errors and the highest data fidelity.
Itransition keeps providing custom software development to the customer as the solution has been evolving and getting new features. The improvements include an ever-increasing range of compatible archive platforms, as well as enhanced user experience, data security, and administration capabilities.
Satisfied with the productive partnership, the customer invited Itransition’s team to join the second major stage of the project to adapt the original platform to Mac OS.
