DES-DD33 information source - Specialist - Systems Administrator PowerProtect DD Updated: 2024

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger is planning to leave the company once Dell closes its acquisition of EMC, multiple sources with knowledge of the executive's plans told CRN on Tuesday.

Tony Bates, the former Microsoft executive who joined VMware's board in February, and is currently president of videocamera vendor GoPro, is one candidate being considered to replace Gelsinger, said one source familiar with the CEO search.

Several senior software executives from Dell and EMC are also in the mix for the VMware CEO job, the source added.

[Related: Michael Dell On Dell-EMC's Storage Overlap, Future Acquisitions And The Blockbuster Deal's Channel Impact]

Spokesmen from VMware and EMC denied that Gelsinger is planning to leave the company. "That is categorically untrue," said the EMC spokesman. A Dell spokesman declined to comment.

One high-level EMC source said Gelsinger was directly responsible for the lackluster market performance of the vCloud Air hybrid cloud service, which has struggled to attract customers since launching three years ago. Bill Fathers, the executive in charge of running vCloud Air, left VMware last month.

"There have been a number of missteps at VMware, including vCloud Air," said the EMC source, who didn't want to be named.

The EMC source also suggested that Gelsinger hasn't played a cooperative role in EMC's Federation of subsidiary companies, which includes VMware, RSA, Pivotal, VCE and Virtustream.

"Our success is predicated on people working together -- not apart from one another. Whether it is Virtustream or Pivotal, we need to work together. Pat is not an easy guy to work with. Pat likes to do what Pat likes," said the EMC source.

The feeling inside Dell Technologies and EMC is that Gelsinger is not collaborating with the rest of the technology team, said the EMC source. "The goal of Dell Technologies is to work closer as a team," said the source. "I don't know if Pat is completely on board with that model."

Some of CRN's sources said VMware plans to announce Gelsinger's departure at its annual VMworld conference, which is being held from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1 in Las Vegas.

Shortly after Dell announced its $67 billion bid to acquire EMC last October -- the largest deal in technology industry history -- EMC and VMware agreed to combine vCloud Air and EMC's Virtustream into a cloud joint venture.

But VMware shares plummeted in the wake of the announcement, as shareholders weren't happy that VMware would be taking on $200 million to $300 million in costs associated with the formation of the new cloud company. VMware pulled out of the joint venture in December.

Sources told CRN at the time that the vCloud Air-Virtustream joint venture idea came not from Gelsinger, but from EMC's top leadership.

"VMware didn't want anything to do with the joint venture, and the Virtustream people didn't want anything to do with it, either," one source close to VMware and EMC told CRN in January. "The old guard at EMC was trying to force the entire thing."

Re/code reported in February that EMC CEO Joe Tucci was "said to have been annoyed" by VMware's decision to pull out of the joint venture.

Speculation about Gelsinger's future at Dell Technologies spiked last week after he didn't make his customary appearance at parent company's EMC World event. Gelsinger's traditional keynote slot was filled by Dell CEO Michael Dell.

Gelsinger joined VMware in August 2012 from EMC, where he was president and COO of the storage giant's Information Infrastructure Products division. Gelsinger started his career at Intel and spent 30 years at the chipmaker, serving as its first CTO and leading development of the original 486 processor.

Gelsinger immediately won favor with VMware partners and customers by ending vRAM, the controversial vSphere server virtualization licensing scheme that Maritz had introduced. Gelsinger also unwound Maritz's strategy of building a portolio of apps free from any ties to Windows, selling Zimbra and Socialcast in 2013.

Under Gelsinger's leadership, VMware's annual revenue has grown from $4.6 billion to around $6.5 billion. Although sales of the vSphere server virtualization cash cow are declining, Gelsinger has steered VMware's focus toward NSX software-defined networking and VSAN software-defined storage businesses, which are both seeing promising revenue and customer growth.

Gelsinger also pulled the trigger on VMware's largest acquisition ever -- its $1.54 billion purchase of AirWatch in 2014 -- giving the virtualization vendor much-needed credibility in a mobile device management market in which it had long sought traction. AirWatch had total bookings of $370 million in VMware's fiscal 2015.

Meanwhile, Gelsinger has seen several of his top executives depart over the past nine months, including CTO Ben Fathi, COO Carl Eschenbach, CFO Jonathan Chadwick, and Martin Casado, the former CTO of Nicira and head of VMware's security and networking business.

During VMware's first quarter earnings call last month, a Wall Street analyst asked Gelsinger if these departures would impact VMware's business. He responded by noting that VMware is still having no problem attracting top talent.

"I want to just say overall, we've managed through these transitions highly effectively, and I'm quite proud of my leadership team in getting that done," Gelsinger said.

"We purchased the array through Dell for their support of EMC products," said Mark Craft, systems administrator at Dewberry and Davis. "So far, we haven't had any complaints."

But such a deal represents a big source of complaints among EMC solution providers. Many say the Hopkinton, Mass., storage vendor's Clariion reseller pact with Dell,now a year old,is squeezing their business because the direct computer seller wields a pricing advantage. Some EMC channel partners, in fact, say that Dell hardware in the data center almost ensures a lost sales opportunity for them, and others are concerned that Dell, Round Rock, Texas, could gobble up other segments of the EMC channel.

Their dismay comes with good reason, since Dell has become EMC's biggest storage reseller. EMC CEO Joe Tucci said at a accurate conference that one-third of the vendor's Clariion revenue comes via Dell, with solution provider and direct sales also each accounting for one-third of the product line's revenue. The Dell business, however, is the fastest growing segment of the three, Tucci said.

The Dell-EMC alliance particularly has become a thorn in the side of storage solution providers in the enterprise Windows space. For example, Pat Edwards, vice president of sales at Alliance Technology Group, a Hanover, Md.-based solution provider, bristles when people call Dell a reseller of EMC products.

"We're not in the same category with Dell," Edwards said. "EMC gets away with [selling around solution providers by saying that they don't sell direct. They sell to a direct manufacturer like Dell and wash their hands of it."

For storage-only solution providers, selling to a customer that has Dell servers in place is tough, Edwards noted. "If I want to compete there, I have to sell Hewlett-Packard, IBM or Sun servers. But I don't lead with servers," he said. "I will provide servers as a bundle with storage if customers need it. But it's not our business."

If a solution provider enters a customer site and sees Dell products on the floor, it's assumed that the customer shops only for the best price, Edwards added. "Our salesperson will ask if the customer is talking to other vendors. If they say no, we know they're lying," he said.

The Dell relationship is one of the few black marks on EMC's otherwise channel-friendly record, the storage vendor's partners say. Yet Gregg Ambulos, vice president of global channels at EMC, said there's no reason for solution providers to compete with Dell head-to-head on Clariion arrays.

Most of EMC's Dell business should come from the low-cost Windows NT market with EMC's new CX200 entry-level array, while solution providers can serve customers with the midrange CX400 and enterprise-class CX600 arrays, Ambulos said. What's more, solution providers' ability to offer customers complete solutions separates them from low-cost providers like Dell, he said.

"If a solution provider wants to compete head-on with Dell on hardware price, nine times out of 10 Dell will win," Ambulos said. "But if they target solutions, nine of 10 times the VAR will win."

While Dell receives better pricing from EMC than solution providers do, the arrangement is no different than the volume pricing EMC offers its largest partners, Ambulos said, adding that he can't recall a single solution provider that has left EMC because of its Dell relationship.

"If this was having a dramatic impact on the market, we would have a lot of partners question the relationship," he said. "Dell is a key partner of ours, but so are other channel partners."

J. Edward McCann, regional manager at Continental Resources, a Bedford, Mass.-based solution provider, said his company isn't very worried about competition from Dell right now. "Dell has done a real good job with its pricing. Once a customer has Dell servers, storage sales are tough. But if we are talking about a large solution, we can beat Dell," he said.

However, as Dell grows the market share for its EMC arrays in the Windows space, there's nothing to prevent it from entering the Unix space, said McCann, whose company is a Sun Microsystems partner.

"If Dell comes in from the NT side to my Unix side and offers service contracts that cost a third of mine, it will hurt the channel. If there is a large enough price delta, common sense says it will hurt us," he said.

And that scenario stands as a real possibility, if things go according to Dell's plans. When EMC introduced its CX600 array in August, Dell said it would use the array to enter the heterogeneous Unix/NT enterprise space and target Unix-only shops for the first time with its commodity-based pricing model.

But since then, Dell has relied on services and its ability to target key markets to ensure that it doesn't compete on price alone, said Terry Klein, vice president of the Advanced Systems Group for Dell Americas. Dell, which sells the Clariion arrays under the Dell-EMC name, is rarely the low-cost leader, Klein said. About 80 percent of the installation and product-readiness services related to Dell servers and Dell-EMC arrays are done by Dell staff, with help from EMC personnel when needed, he said.

"Because we mandate these services, we find that [with the real end-user sales price for the entire bundled configuration, we are rarely the low-cost Clariion provider to an end user," Klein said.

"We may have really aggressive hardware rates, but we find that very few other [EMC channel partners are mandating three years [of warranty or their own installation and/or minimal set of product readiness," he said. "Most of them have one year of service-type of warranty agreements. It's something that we battle with our sales organization about because that's not a typical Dell proposition. We're used to being low-cost, and we end up having to sell more on the value of understanding how this space works."

Because of such services, Dell ends up with a higher price than its competitors,including solution providers,in about eight out of 10 cases, according to Klein. However, about 95 percent of storage sales have gone into Dell server environments, he added.

"There are very few cases where we're going to sell the EMC product where we don't already have the servers," Klein said. "[These customers value our knowledge of Windows. They value our knowledge of the Linux environment. And they value us doing complete sets of server-storage consolidation. If we don't have that element with the customer, it doesn't matter if we're the low-cost provider or the high-cost provider. They won't buy it from us."

The frequency with which Dell competes against solution providers depends on the customer type, according to Klein. For instance, in the Fortune 2000 space, it's rare for Dell to go up against EMC channel partners, but in the government space,where Dell's server market share tops 50 percent,competition depends on which integrator owns a particular government contract, he said.

Similarly, while Dell pretty much owns the state and local government market and the education space either directly or via its relationship with EDS, it has trouble against EMC partners in the health-care arena, Klein said.

Indeed, if EMC solution providers leverage the Dell-EMC relationship, it can mean more business for them, said Bill Taylor, director of EMC's global channel development group.

"I can guarantee you that a lot of our partners are doing well with the Clariion business because of all the Dell hype," Taylor said. "It's a brand-name recognition game."

Some solution providers say they're finding that Dell's sales of Clariion arrays can even benefit their business. "We can get some services from Dell because of customer needs," said Chris Swahn, national president of sales at Amherst Corporate Computer Sales and Solutions, Merrimack, N.H. "Our technology, integration and delivery capabilities offer value to our customers. We do a lot of imaging, ghosting and loads on Dell servers."

For Amherst, the Dell-EMC alliance is a minimal factor in the midrange and enterprise spaces, but that could change, said Swahn. "Even in the midrange shops that have Dell relationships, we're not seeing a lot of action with Dell storage. Of course, maybe the other shoe will fall, and [Dell will come in later," he said.

A former EMC partner, Amherst is mulling the possibility of reuniting with the vendor now that its channel-unfriendly past is fading away, according to Swahn.

"EMC wants to get into the SMB market. [Now they're looking at how to do it," he said. "They already have the best technology. So we're evaluating them again, based not on technology but on their channel capabilities."

Alliance Technology Group also had previously dropped EMC's Clariion line, but the solution provider recently decided to restart its Clariion relationship with the vendor, Edwards said.

And those solution providers likely will see more competition. Looking ahead, Dell and EMC executives expect their relationship to expand.

In late October, the vendors announced that EMC had licensed Dell to manufacture the entry-level CX200, slated to ship early this month. EMC's Tucci also said he isn't ruling out the possibility that Dell could eventually make Clariion storage arrays for the rest of EMC's channel,a move that some industry observers say would put EMC partners in the difficult position of purchasing EMC products from its strongest competitor.

"We are not closing any doors," Tucci said. "We continually [review it, like any relationship. In any relationship, you plant the seeds, grow and learn from each other. Right now, far and away, the volume seller by Dell will be the CX200. And they are manufacturing it to control their own destiny."

The fact that future EMC arrays could be manufactured in conjunction with Dell doesn't concern Kevin Reith, manager of strategic technology at Info Systems, a Wilmington, Del.-based solution provider.

"Who makes it is not important," Reith said. "I believe in the virtual organization: Do what you do best, and let others do the rest. So it doesn't bother me. What's more important is how they support and market the products."

STEVEN BURKE contributed to this story.

Melissa King began writing in 2001. She spent three years writing for her local newspaper, "The Colt," writing editorials, news stories, product reviews and entertainment pieces. She is also the owner and operator of Howbert Freelance Writing. King holds an Associate of Arts in communications from Tarrant County College.

If you need to move, convert or migrate your data, you’ll need the right tools for the job. Here are the top picks for your data migration needs.

As your technology and data use cases evolve, so too do the complexity and volume of data that you store, process and share. In many cases, your legacy data storage systems and applications cannot handle this increased volume while simultaneously ensuring your data is secure and accessible.

The solution that many businesses are turning to is migrating data to more advanced and high-capacity storage setups, but with so many different types of files, formats, devices and systems involved in the transfer process, many businesses hesitate to get started with a data migration plan.

SEE: Check out TechRepublic Premium’s data migration testing checklist for pre- and post-migration.

Although data migration is often a grueling, tedious and time-consuming process, with the right data migration tools at your disposal, it doesn’t have to be. Data migration tools can automate various data migration and management workflows, offer self-service interfaces to your team and provide other features that make the data migration process more secure and seamless. In this guide, we cover some of the top data migration tools for businesses of varying sizes and backgrounds.

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Top data migration tools: Comparison chart

AWS Database Migration Service: Best for features and advanced functionalities

Amazon Web Services offers a variety of data migration tool sets, but one of its standout service tools is AWS Database Migration Service. The service allows you to migrate different types of workloads — applications, websites, databases, storage setups and physical or virtual servers — as well as data centers from an on-premises environment, hosting facility or another public cloud environment to AWS.

With this tool, your source database stays active throughout the migration. This reduces downtime for apps that depend on the database and allows you to migrate the database quickly and securely. Furthermore, this service can transfer data to and from the most commonly used commercial and open-source databases.

SEE: Read our full review of AWS DMS.

Pricing

AWS DMS has both free and paid plans. The Free Tier includes up to 750 hours of Single-AZ dms.t2.micro instance usage each month for one year.

The paid plan is available in the following tiers:

• On-demand instances pricing: This plan lets you pay for database migration capacity by the hour with no long-term commitments. For instance, T3 CPU Credits are charged at $0.075 per vCPU-Hour.
• Serverless pricing: This plan allows you to only pay for the capacity you use on a per-hour basis. For instance, one DMS Capacity Unit (DCU) costs $0.087 per hour for Single-AZ and $0.173 per hour for Multi-AZ, while 384 DCUs cost $33.219 per hour for Single-AZ and $66.439 per hour for Multi-AZ.
• Homogeneous data migrations: $0.0824 per migration hour.
• General Purpose (SSD) Storage: It costs $0.115 per GB per month for Single-AZ or $0.23 per GB per month for Multi-AZ.

These rates are not cast in stone; the real price you will pay for AWS DMS will vary based on the size of the data you are migrating. You can also use the AWS pricing calculator for DMS to create your custom estimate.

Key features

• AWS DMS Fleet Advisor helps automate migration planning, streamline database and analytics fleet transfers to the cloud and suggest optimal migration pathways.
• Provides several ways to transfer files in and out of AWS through online data transfer methods.
• Using the Snow product line, you can transfer data in and out of AWS via offline methods.
• Enables both homogeneous and heterogeneous migrations, which means you can move data between both similar and different database providers.

Pros

• Supports migration between over 20 databases and analytics engines.
• Highly scalable and easy to set up.
• User-friendly.

Cons

• Data type conversion could use some improvement.
• Some users find this tool pricey.

Fivetran: Best for automated data migration

Fivetran is a cloud-based ETL data migration tool that lets data engineers spend more time generating insights and less time on tedious engineering tasks. With connectors that deploy in a few minutes, automatically adapt to source changes and require zero maintenance, Fivetran simplifies data migration by automatically taking care of all data integration tasks.

In addition, it enables users to centralize and streamline their data operations, including database and application integration, process orchestration and metadata management.

SEE: Read our full review of Fivetran.

Pricing

Fivetran offers a usage-based pricing model, meaning you will only pay for the monthly active rows (MAR) you use each month. It offers a 14-day free trial, allowing you to try the tool before making a purchase decision.

• Free plan: Free for unlimited users and up to 0.5M monthly active rows.
• Starter: This plan is ideal for small teams with up to 10 users.
• Standard: Designed for fast-growing teams, this plan supports unlimited users.
• Enterprise: Best for large, global teams requiring real-time data delivery and advanced security. This plan supports unlimited users.
• Business critical: For global enterprise teams needing a high level of data protection and compliance. This plan supports unlimited users.

Each plan offers a 14-day free trial, allowing you to try the tool’s features and functionalities before making a purchase decision.

Key features

• Connectors offered for various data sources, including applications, data warehouses, databases, functions, events and files.
• Uses dbt core to monitor pipelines, load data and prompt dbt models to transform data.
• Users can automate and orchestrate their data workflows via the Fivetran dashboard.

Pros

• Supports multiple data sources.
• Intuitive user interface.
• Efficient user support representatives.
• Comprehensive documentation.

Cons

• Connectors don’t offer support for data lakes.
• Some users consider this tool expensive.

Microsoft Data Migration Assistant: Best for data warehouse data migrations

Data Migration Assistant, or DMA, is a tool from Microsoft that enables you to upgrade your database schema and data from a source SQL Server environment to a target SQL Server environment. With this migration tool, you can move schema, data and uncontained objects from your source server to your target server.

The best part about using this tool is that it will help you identify compatibility issues that may impact functionality in your new SQL Server database version. DMA automates database migration, while simultaneously maintaining minimal downtime. It also provides support for Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB migration to Azure from on-premises and other cloud environments.

Pricing

The tool is available in two versions:

• Standard compute: This pricing tier offers 1-, 2- and 4-vCore options (a vCore represents a logical CPU) and is generally available and free to customers. This is ideal for small to medium-sized business workloads and only supports offline migration.
• Premium compute: It offers 4-vCore at $0.37 per hour. This plan is ideal for large or business critical workloads. It supports online migrations, offline migrations and faster migration speeds.

You can use the DMS Premium 4-vCore for free for 6 months or 183 days before incurring any charges. Your free usage time is calculated from the DMS service creation date.

Key features

• Ability to analyze on-premises SQL Server instances migrating to Azure SQL database(s).
• Identifies and resolves compatibility issues blocking migration from on-premises SQL Server database(s) to Azure SQL Database(s).
• Identifies partially supported or unsupported features used on the source SQL Server instance.
• Detects issues, such as behavior changes and deprecated features, that may affect migration to an on-premises SQL Server.

Pros

• Ease of use.
• Fast migration process.
• Issues detection.
• Highly scalable and adaptable.

Cons

• The interface could be improved.
• First-time users may need to invest more time in learning how to use the tool.

Dell EMC Intelligent Data Mobility: Best for data migration to new storage

With Dell EMC Intelligent Data Mobility, users can manage workloads and data migration by leveraging technology, automation and Dell EMC expertise.

This solution is built on modern architecture that delivers a flexible design. It also integrates seamlessly into current business needs, with comprehensive coverage from capture to consumption. This provider’s methodology is built around three pillars: discovery, planning and execution.

Pricing

The pricing for this product is not publicly advertised on the vendor’s website. Buyers are encouraged to contact the vendor for a custom quote.

Key features

• Data migration in discovery, planning and execution phases.
• Extensive automations and workflows.
• Support for remote data transfer of up to 35TB, across up to 15 Hosts and 15 LUNs per host.

Pros

• Customizability.
• Accelerates time-to-value.
• Offers in-region and remote resources.

Cons

• Documentation could be improved.

Hevo Pipeline: Best for integration with various data sources

Hevo is a cloud-based, no-code data migration platform that simplifies migration from legacy platforms to modern data storage solutions. Users can replicate data from over 150 connectors and migrate it into databases, data warehouses and other analytic tools such as Hadoop, SQL Server and Amazon Redshift.

Hevo specifically allows you to preload transformation and overrides auto schema mapping. With this feature, you can leave the app to do its own tweaking to get your data ready for migrations. With a suite of features aimed at speeding up your processes and saving time, Hevo also allows you to monitor your workflow to resolve any issues before they disrupt business operations.

SEE: Read our full review of Hevo.

Pricing

Hevo Pipeline offers three pricing tiers. The amount you will pay depends on your desired features and the number of events.

• Free: At no cost for up to five users per month. It includes 1 million free events and 50 selected connectors.
• Starter: The amount you will pay for this plan depends on the monthly events you will run.
  • 5 million events: $239 per month when billed annually or $299 per month when billed monthly.
  • 20 million events: $399 per month when billed annually or $499 per month when billed monthly.
  • 50 million events: $759 per month when billed annually or $949 per month when billed monthly.
  • 100 million events: $1,159 per month when billed annually or $1,449 per month when billed monthly.
• Business: Custom pricing.

Key features

• Supports pre-load and post-load data transformation.
• Automated schema management syncs your data destination regardless of changes in source data.
• Supports three ingestion modes: Log-based, Table and Custom SQL.

Pros

• Drag and drop interface for non-technical users.
• Intuitive and easy-to-use interface.
• Easy setup and configuration.
• Seamless data integration.
• Highly rated customer support team.

Cons

• Its knowledge resources — documentation and video tutorials — could be improved.
• The pipeline scheduling feature could use some improvement.

Integrate.io: Best for prioritizing quality support over cost

Integrate.io is a data migration tool that provides users with a single interface for migrating, transforming and managing data between different applications. This tool helps organizations integrate, process and prepare data for analytics in the cloud. The solution is scalable and cost-effective, with an intuitive interface and a highly automated workflow.

Integrate.io’s ease of use enables users to focus on their business without worrying about the complexities of data migration. Integrations are available via REST API or direct FTP uploads to make it possible for even non-technical personnel to work seamlessly with their technology stack while using this tool.

SEE: Read our full review of Integrate.io.

Pricing

The amount you will pay for this tool depends on your selected plan and desired features.

ETL and Reverse ETL

• Starter: $15,000 per year. Ideal for basic ETL needs and running pipelines.
• Professional: $25,000 per year. Ideal for those with high data security needs and basic ETL needs and for running pipelines.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing. Ideal for companies looking for advanced security, features and support.

ETL and CDC

Pricing for this plan varies based on your data management needs.

• 5 million rows: $159 per month when billed annually or $199 per month when billed monthly. Overage per million rows will cost you $49.
• 15 million rows: $340 per month when billed annually or $430 per month when billed monthly. Overage per million rows will cost you $32.
• 40 million rows: $630 per month when billed annually or $788 per month when billed monthly. Overage per million rows will cost you $22.
• 75 million rows: $1,005 per month when billed annually or $1,256 per month when billed monthly. Overage per million rows will cost you $15.
• 150 million rows: $1,723 per month when billed annually or $2,154 per month when billed monthly. Overage per million rows will cost you $13.
• 300 million rows: $2,729 per month when billed annually or $3,411 per month when billed monthly. Overage per million rows will cost you $11.
• 600 million rows: $3,733 per month when billed annually or $4,667 per month when billed monthly. Overage per million rows will cost you $9.

DWH Insights

• Essentials: Available for free and includes 30 vCPUs. Additional vCPUs will cost $9 per vCPUs per month.
• Growth: Costs $750 per month and includes 50 vCPUs. Additional vCPUs will cost $14 per vCPUs per month.
• Enterprise: It costs $1,450 per month. Custom vCPUs.

Key features

• Supports over 200 data sources.
• Supports data movement into Hadoop HDFS, MongoDB, SQL Server, Elasticsearch and Redshift.
• Uses REST APIs to connect to any data source.
• Encrypts data at rest.
• Offers round-the-clock customer support.

Pros

• Responsive support.
• Ease of use.
• Intuitive user interface.

Cons

• The error debugging process could be improved.
• Some users consider the tool pricey.

IRI NextForm: Best for file conversion and legacy data type translation

IRI NextForm is a data migration tool built on Eclipse. This tool can migrate, reformat, convert, replicate, federate and report data from one system or format to another. In addition, it can move information from legacy systems into new environments and upgrade old database engines and other components that may not have native export capabilities.

SEE: Read our full review of NextForm.

Pricing

This tool’s pricing depends on the edition you need:

• Lite: It is free for a single Windows PC based on 2018 build, JRE 7, but costs $1,000 for a current, permanent single-PC version without support. If you need support, it charges $125 per file or incident hour or $1K per year for 10 incident hours and upgrades.
• COBOL (Featuring: Lite + Micro Focus libraries): It costs $3,500 for Windows systems, $4,500 for x86 Linux and $5,500 for Unix (AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, MacOS) systems.
• DBMS (Featuring: Lite + ODBC libraries): $5,000 to $25,000, depending on databases and hardware platforms.
• Legacy (Featuring: Lite + Proprietary drivers): Pricing varies based on data sources and hardware platforms.
• Modern (Featuring: Lite + Proprietary drivers): Pricing varies based on data sources and hardware platforms.
• Premium (Featuring: Lite + Multiple libraries): Pricing varies based on data sources and hardware platforms.

Key features

• Able to structure previously unstructured data.
• Remaps data types, record layouts and file formats.
• Built-in report generation.
• Can convert EBCDIC data files (including zoned and PD fields) to ASCII.
• Cross-platform format allows it to run on Windows, Unix and Linux systems.

Pros

• Converts over 100 data types.
• Offers a free edition.
• Extracts values and metadata from document file formats such as HTML, Microsoft Office and PDF.

Cons

Stitch Data: Best for ease of use

Stitch Data from Talend is an ETL tool that helps you transform, cleanse and prepare your data so it’s ready for analysis. Stitch can also extract and load structured or unstructured data from various sources, like databases and spreadsheets.

With these capabilities, you can execute your analytical workflow with a single tool. With its diverse connectors, Stitch provides customers with an easy way to migrate their complex databases without coding.

Pricing

• Standard: Starts at $100 per month or $1,000 per year for five million rows. This plan is available for up to five users.
• Advanced: $1,250 per month, billed annually. It includes 100 million rows per month.
• Premium: $2,500 per month, billed annually. It includes one billion rows per month.
• Stitch Platform: Custom pricing. Ideal for agencies that need client data pipelines in one place.

Key features

• Supports popular databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle and Amazon Redshift.
• Offers over 130 connectors.
• Automates data ingestion.

Pros

• Easy to set up and configure.
• Easy to generate reports.
• Not as expensive as many competitors.

Cons

• The user interface could be improved.
• Steep learning curve.

IBM Informix: Best for real time analytics

IBM Informix is a Data Migration solution that works with SQL commands and migrates data from one IBM Informix database or operating system to another.

Integrating SQL, NoSQL, JSON, time-series and geographic data is made simpler with IBM Informix’s migration tool. It also has an intuitive GUI that simplifies workflows, allowing users to migrate data between various database types and platforms.

SEE: Read our full review of IBM Informix.

Pricing

The following is the IBM Informix on cloud pricing. Contact the vendor for on-premises pricing.

• Small plan: $1,310 per instance.
• Medium plan: $2,300 per instance.
• Large plan: $4,180 per instance.
• Extra large plan: $8,360 per instance.

Key features

• Offers self-management and automated administrative capabilities for edge, cloud and on-premises analytics.
• Real-time analytics.
• Automated data management.
• Offers high availability data replication.

Pros

• Easy to maintain.
• High scalability and availability.
• The setup process is relatively simple.

Cons

• Platform tends to be slow during big data transfers.
• Some users find the tool pricey.

Matillion: Best for flexible deployment

Matillion is a cloud-based ETL solution that enables you to migrate data between systems, databases and platforms. This tool primarily lets you load, transform, sync and orchestrate data in a centralized location with built-in analytics capabilities.

In addition, Matillion allows users to sync data back to business and operational applications through reverse ETL with pre-built connectors. They can also manage complex pipelines through a single dashboard and customize ETL for organization-specific infrastructure.

Matillion pricing

Matillion offers three pricing plans with different features:

• Basic: It costs $2 per credit and starts with five users.
• Advanced: It costs $2.50 per credit.
• Enterprise: It costs $2.70 per credit.

Matillion features

• Offers low code/no code GUI.
• Users can create their own connectors.
• Deploys flexibly with SaaS and hybrid options.
• Supports Amazon Redshift Spectrum, Amazon S3 components, Amazon SNS and SQS alerts.
• Compatible with Azure Synapse-specific functionalities, such as practicing from Blob Storage and alerts and notifications through Azure Message Queues.

Matillion pros

• Easy to use.
• Drag and drop functionality.
• Responsive support team.
• Users find the platform stable.
• Extensive native connectors for different applications.

Matillion cons

• Some users consider this tool pricey.

What is data migration?

Data migration is the process and strategy for transferring data from one system, database or storage device to another environment or setup. It can be used in various situations, such as when new hardware needs to be set up and old hardware needs to be decommissioned or when a company is working to move all of its workloads to the cloud.

SEE: Explore these best practices to follow for data migration.

In addition, when upgrading to new software versions, companies will often migrate their existing data to continue using it in their new environment without rebuilding everything from scratch.

Key features to look for in data migration tools

There are many factors to consider before deciding which tool to use for your data migration project, but here are some key features you should look out for.

Compatibility with multiple sources and destinations

A good data migration tool will allow you to migrate from multiple sources and destinations simultaneously, saving time when setting up new connections and users. It’s also helpful when migration software is integrated with various cloud storage providers, such as AWS S3 or Google Cloud Storage, so it’s easy to switch between providers if you use them for backup purposes.

Interoperability with legacy systems

Legacy systems have their own formats and schema that don’t always translate well to new destination formats. Thus, it’s essential to have an easy way to convert those old data formats into what is needed for the new system. The best data migration tools provide plug-ins or modules that easily convert those files into the necessary formats while keeping all the original content available and secure.

Integration with third-party products

Some companies use third-party products, like SharePoint to store documents or Outlook as an email client, but these products may not work well if your organization chooses to migrate away from Office 365. To make this transition easier, find a tool with integration capabilities that span across product suites and solutions that are most important to your business.

Self-service deployments

With many data migration solutions, it’s common to join a long waitlist before your data gets migrated. However, with self-service deployments, customers can set up the task and workflows themselves by downloading the application and following a series of steps.

SEE: Check out this guide to the roles and responsibilities of the data migration team.

More complex data migrations may not be a good fit for self-service migrations, but regardless, it’s still important to find a vendor that offers the right amount of flexibility and access for your team.

Automated workflows

Data migration involves moving vast amounts of data and often includes complex processes. It’s a good idea to find a tool that offers an automated workflow to streamline those processes. To ensure the integrity of your data, it’s recommended to automate your data migration testing process.

Auto-detection of missing items

Auto-detection of missing items saves valuable time when dealing with an extensive database or repository. This means that when something goes wrong — like you accidentally deleted a row of data — the program will detect this error and pause the entire process as soon as possible.

Benefits of data migration tools

Scalability

Scalability is a major perk of data migration tools. It can take from a few weeks to even months to scale a physical infrastructure up or down. A cloud-hosted data migration tool can be scaled up or down, depending on your requirements, in minutes or hours. This saves you both time and money.

Improved data security and compliance

Data migration tool providers invest significantly in their software security to ensure the safety of their customer’s data. These tools are also built to comply with various regulatory and privacy standards, including SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO, GDPR, CCPA and others. This allows you to share your security burden with your data migration tool provider.

Cost savings

It is expensive to build a data migration solution that can process large volumes of data. Most cloud providers offer usage-based pricing, which means you will only pay for what you use — this can be a significant cost saver.

In the case of a self-created and self-managed data migration tool, you may spend more adding new features as your data needs increase; with a cloud provider, you can simply scale up to meet your needs during peak periods and scale down as needed.

Data analytics

Data migration software analytics capabilities provide users with insights that can be used to make informed decisions about their business, products or service delivery. This will help steer the company in the right direction, optimize operations and Improve customer experience.

How to choose the right data migration tool

In order to choose the right data migration tool, you need to consider your business-specific needs and how much time and resources it will take for your organization to perform the necessary migration tasks. It is also important to remember that some tools can only be used on one type of device, while others can work across all kinds of platforms. A comprehensive tool that supports all platforms is ideal if you’re migrating a mixed environment of server, desktop and mobile device data sources.

SEE: Use this data governance checklist from TechRepublic Premium for your organization.

As far as pricing goes, it usually depends on the number of users in your company and whether you want to use an online or offline solution. Other factors to consider include the file formats you plan to migrate as well as bandwidth constraints. TechRepublic recommends that you shop around and compare products before making decisions. Most importantly, read customer reviews for each product to determine what works for your specific line of business and data needs.

Review methodology

We researched hundreds of data migration tools and narrowed down our list to the best 10 in 2023. Our top picks balance quality service, with moderately expensive or affordable pricing and offer value for money. We gathered primary data about each data migration tool from the vendor’s website.

We also analyzed users’ feedback on reputable review sites like Gartner Peer Insight to learn about current and past users’ experience with each tool. This data was used to create each data migration software product overview; determine what and who each tool is best for; and learn about their features and functionalities, pricing, strengths and weaknesses.

Read next: Explore our list of the top data integration tools.

Preparing for the Evaluation Period

Please be aware that classes need to meet minimum enrollment, have at least one instructor listed, and not be on an exceptions list (more information available in the CTEC Guidelines section) in order to be evaluated. Individuals listed as Course Coordinator in CAESAR are not considered instructors and also not evaluated.

All instructors and TAs who should be evaluated need to be listed in CAESAR. If they are not listed in CAESAR on the primary scheduled component (i.e. lecture rather than discussions), they will not be included on the evaluation form.

Please make sure to review all instructor/TA assignments for your department's classes to ensure the correct individuals are evaluated, and to prevent issues with missing instructors/TAs.

Accessing Reports as an Administrator

To access available individual admin reports for instructors and TAs in your department (security access required), select from the following options:

1. Sign in to CAESAR as an administrator and navigate to "Search CTECs for Admin" Instructions: https://www.northwestern.edu/ses/staff/ctecs/running-ctec-instructor-reports-in-ses-caesar.html
2. Visit the Blue system directly (https://northwestern.bluera.com/northwestern)

To access available individual reports published to students for instructors outside of your department, sign in to CAESAR as an administrator and navigate to "Search CTECs" or "Search CTECs FLUID".

To request administrative access to department instructor reports (only recommended for those who should also have Student Records access), please submit the Request New or Additional Administrative Access to CAESAR form (select "CTEC Department Reports"). Contact ctec@northwestern.edu with any questions.

• Access to course survey data gathered prior to Winter 2016 will only be through CAESAR and the Cognos BI reporting application.
• Course survey data gathered Winter 2016 and later will be linked through both CAESAR and Blue, and also available through the Cognos BI reporting application.
• Reports for courses taught prior to 2009 can be requested from the CTEC Office: ctec@northwestern.edu

Cognos BI - Aggregate Reports

Aggregate reports (the data can be queried across terms, courses, instructors, etc.) for instructors and TAs are available through Cognos BI. The data available in BI include numerical response averages to core standard questions, and do not include department specific or qualitative questions. Those with Administrative access to CAESAR should have access to pull BI reports. Full instructor reports can currently only be pulled individually through CAESAR or Blue.

Spring 2020 Reports

Per the recommendation of the Provost office, deans, and faculty senate, Spring 2020 reports are not published to administrators and may not be used to inform faculty hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions.

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