End users often grow accustomed to their software, warts and all—and when the familiar is replaced by state-of-the-art technology, they have been known to rebel. Take, for example, the near riot among surprised San Jose, Calif. police officers in 2004 after their squadcar computers were updated with a $4.7 million, off-the-shelf spatial information management solution from Intergraph Corporation, of Huntsville, Ala. Many of these officials had never encountered the desktop GUI or used scroll-down menus; further, they feared losing critical seconds trying to understand the new system. Bottom line? Handled differently, the migration might have been more easily accepted at the outset—instead of making the national news as a cautionary tale.

Sometimes the scenario is reversed: Powerful systems that have been the backbone of an organization's operations for years can come under pressure from users who enjoy Windows at home and wonder why the dated green screens at work aren't up to par. That's exactly the scenario that INFOCON, an ISV serving state and local governments, faced when it turned to ASNA (Amalgamated Software of North America, Inc.). With its expertise in migrating AS/400 RPG systems, ASNA translated the high-functioning RPG code into a bilingual .NET application that could speak to both iSeries/i5 RPG and Microsoft SQL Server databases. ASNA's finishing touch was to make the RPG developers—whose domain expertise remains key to INFOCON's success—feel a sense of ownership in the platform makeover via free training and Webcasts.

"Retaining our programming resources was paramount for us," says Aimee Farabaugh, director of software development for INFOCON in Ebensburg, Penn. "Expanding their skills gave them a sense of moving forward and being on the cutting edge, and that really infused them with enthusiasm."

Using ASNA's Monarch tool for code migration was key in reducing development time, according to Farabaugh: "We successfully migrated our first series of inquiry programs for the county access system in one afternoon," she enthuses. Since launching the .NET site, the overall look and feel of the application has improved and INFOCON reports a substantial increase in subscribers.

Why Mess with Success?
Whether it's due to ossified mainframe workflows or platform familiarity, many companies are loathe to face the day when they must move from their existing software solution to something more modern, ubiquitous or full-featured—or all three. Nonetheless, Sun, Microsoft, and IBM all recognize the tremendous opportunity that application migration presents. Big Blue, for example, claims to have invested $1 billion in its small-and-medium business services through its online Migration Station and other offerings. And as of December 2005, through its NXT initiative, Redmond has rounded up more than a dozen prime purveyors of migration expertise: offshore firms, systems integrators, and technology partners with proven records and specific strengths.

ArtinSoft, like the aforementioned ASNA and its RPG-specific Monarch tool, automates code migration from Java to C# so you don't have to. Aztecsoft, along with many of the NXT partners, has offices in all the world's high-tech hot spots (Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune, as well as Santa Clara, Calif. and Bellevue, Wa.). Sonata has helped companies move from HP e3000 Cobol to Microsoft, among other moves. And Aditi offers a free platform strategy evaluation and architecture design session, plus a low-cost prototype to reduce the risk of the migration decision. But is it cost-efficient for small ISVs to enlist such firms?

Losing the Legacy, Dominating the Domain
Software houses that have spent years honing solutions for their niche may find that current approaches to development have passed them by—and risk losing business to newer kids who look slick but lack domain-related depth. That alone is reason enough to reach a wider pool of potential customers through a more standard look and fuller feature set.

"ISVs must pursue contemporary markets to grow their business. The Windows Server and Windows .NET markets are the largest and most robust today. We offer ISVs whose products run on IBM midrange servers access to a much larger and faster growing market," says John P. Ball, vice president of marketing for ASNA in San Antonio, Tex.

There are other very important advantages to ISVs who transform their applications to Windows .NET, Ball opines: Those once proprietary environments can enjoy widely available peripherals and Web services, as well as simpler integration with other applications. "Those of us who work in the Windows .NET world take these capabilities for granted, not realizing the amount of coding and maintenance that goes into performing simple tasks like printing or integrating with RFID products. Worse, there are few standard products for BPM and similar efforts in those older development environments."

Vendor lock-in is another fear many smaller companies seek to overcome. Wright Computer Services, an ISV serving public housing authorities, found that more and more customers were requesting Microsoft-based solutions. With their expertise in SCO Unix, but a much lower comfort level for Windows Server 2003, Wright turned to DTR Business Systems in Walnut, Calif., to migrate multiple servers, Microsoft Exchange groupware supporting more than 100 users, and 70 printers to the new platform—all while maintaining existing service levels.

"Within the Unix community, there is a distrust of outsiders—but we've been in the Unix community since 1983," says Tim Carlson, national account manager for DTR, emphasizing that DTR's role as a systems integrator is to sell hardware, not software. "Our pitch to the software developer is, 'You have a pet store application. Let's start by adding Small Business Server to what you already have and let them play together nicely.' We're helping the software developer understand that Unix may not be around much longer. I mean, SCO Unix is not exactly having a good time of it, if you read the news."

As a result, Carlson feels that adopting Microsoft technology is a better move than migrating to Linux, for three reasons: Ubiquity, transparency, and the desktop. "Microsoft offers things that the Linux world doesn't. It's an easier sell to move to Microsoft than Linux because Microsoft is already there. Linux tends to require more internal technical expertise than Microsoft does," Carlson says. And, in the end, "Linux is going to have an extraordinary uphill battle if it's going to get anywhere near the desktop."

A Win-Win World?
While the NXT initiative is still in its early stages, the delivery partners are optimistic that a new channel for reaching mid-size and smaller ISVs can flourish.

At DTR, Carlson is thrilled to be able to lead calls with the fact that "we're in a select Microsoft program. That gives us enhanced credibility. It also ties us into the mechanisms in place for development—templates, documentation, people—and helps us walk our clients through the issues."

The NXT initiative proves one concept quite clearly: If ISVs have ideas, now more than ever, Redmond is all ears.