Laplink Helps Migrate From XP to Windows 7

The VAR Guy  - Matthew Weinberger
Jan 11, 2010
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Pop quiz, hotshot: You’re a VAR, and you have a client with a network running nothing but Windows XP — and they decide they want to move over Windows 7. Microsoft doesn’t offer an upgrade path from one to the other: you’d need to do a clean install. What do you do? A potential answer: Laplink, whose signature PCmover software apparently offers channel partners the ability to migrate entire networks to new operating systems or new hardware entirely.

Laplink’s been in the migration game for a little over 26 years now, and while the method of choice has ranged over the year from special cables to TCP/IP, the basic concept has stayed the same: bring over all the old files, registry entries, even wallpaper from an old computer or even installation to a new one. In fact, if you need to bring data over from a DOS machine, they’ve still got you covered. They do other things, too: they have a solution for disk imaging and another for defragmenting.

Partners are going to be most interested, though, in the enterprise applications of PCMover to swiftly install software or operating systems.

Still, Laplink only officially opened their reseller program in October 2009. The company’s main selling point to VARs, says Laplink Channel Manager Brian Schaper, is that offering an upgrade or migration service is an ideal way for resellers to supplement the shrinking margins on hardware and software. Laplink has already signed up 1,000 resellers and managed service providers as partners, and the company is actively seeking more partners.

© 2010 The VAR Guy