Look before you leap

Anyone preparing to make the switch to Windows 7 faces a host of important questions. Reliable answers and analysis are available via an application readiness check from the T-Systems Test Factory.

To hear Goldman Sachs analysts tell it, Windows 7 has almost magical powers. In late 2009, the investment bankers predicted that Microsoft’s new operating system would pull the IT industry out of the doldrums. Organizations, they said, were increasingly ready to adopt Windows 7. The number of major corporations who already decided to switch is impressive: from BMW and Ford to Intel and E.ON. Ninety-four of the 100 CIOs surveyed plan to roll out Windows 7. Nearly one-third intend to make the leap this year; another 28 percent will follow in 2011. Lower costs and higher worker productivity are among the expected benefits cited by Karl-Erich Probst, CIO BMW Group, for example.

Before they leap, however, BMW and most other enterprises plan to look very closely at the new operating system. Windows 7 will be put through its paces in various pilot projects. In Mannheim, Germany, T-Systems has set up a test factory to run around 3,500 application compatibility tests per year. In 2009, it focused heavily on Windows 7 checks. Its engineers use a “special agent tool”, an application-readiness test that assesses migration risk. After the test, customers receive the results for each application and a recommendation for how to proceed. The test factory and T-Systems’ Client Engineering unit are run by Michael Birzele, who knows the possible pitfalls in switching to Windows 7.

Mr. Birzele, forecasts for the corporate uptake of Windows 7 are all over the map. Information Technology Intelligence says that nearly 40 percent of 1,200 enterprises surveyed are in a holding pattern. They’re also worried about compatibility.
Birzele: Windows 7 is a worthy successor to XP. I do, nonetheless, have to agree with people who advise exercising caution. So much has happened in software since the launch of XP or Vista that it would be foolish to expect all programs to run perfectly on Windows 7. In our tests, the average incompatibility rate was around 16 percent. Or, to look at it more positively: four of every five applications run natively on the new operating system. That’s an excellent result.

What should organizations be asking before migration? Are there many problems with custom software?
Birzele: If you’re planning to migrate, you should ask a lot of questions. Is Windows 7 compatible with my customized office products or business applications such as SAP, Siebel, Navision or Archive? Will our hardware drivers work? Which applications run smoothly as is? Which ones need to be adapted first? And even: Do I need new hardware for the migration? Generally speaking, custom software causes the most problems in combination with other applications. The key word is interoperability. Proprietary programs have to be thoroughly tested and assessed prior to migration. If you’ve stuck with the typical Microsoft paradigm, you’ll find everything much easier.

What can organizations do if a program doesn’t run well on Windows 7?
Birzele: They can turn to virtualization solutions. With Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MEDV) or Application Virtualization (APP-V), missioncritical applications can be up and running in very little time. This isn’t a silver bullet, though. We therefore recommend that our customers consider standardization and end-user needs when approaching the solution.