We are often asked if we can help with a GroupWise to Office 365 migration project. We have migrated many GroupWise Postoffices to Office 365 Exchange Online. Some migrations are phased over a period of time, whereas others are a single event cutover event.
For any GroupWise to Office 365 migration project you need to consider how to migrate, and if you need coexistence between GroupWise and Office 365. Unlike migrating off on-premise Exchange to Office 365, these two areas are complex and may require 3rd Party software – from Quest (Dell) for example. There are other options available to migrate off GroupWise other than the Quest tools.
Careful design and planning is required for any migration, but especially so for GroupWise migrations. There are a lot of areas to consider, especially if you need coexistence between GroupWise and Office 365. You will want the migration to Office 365 to be as fast as possible whilst minimizing the business risk.
GroupWise to O365 Migration Considerations
Here are some example GroupWise to Office 365 migration areas to consider:
- Active Directory UPN values may need to be modified to comply with Microsoft recommendations
- Advice may be needed on what to do with GroupWise Libraries
- Setting up a shared SMTP namsepace routing model
- Running GroupWise Client alongside the Outlook Client
- GroupWise Archive Files
- Provision and test the Office 365 platform
- Robust coexistence allowing both mail platforms to run side by side for a long period
- Avoiding network saturation during migrations
- Taking into account slow data upload limits to Office 365 dictated by Microsoft
- SPF, DKIM, DMARC controls should be reviewed for effectiveness
Our team have done many successful GroupWise migrations (from 1,000 to 14,000 seats). Our success is achieved by following a structured, robust, approach which we have refined during the many email migration projects we have completed. The team here are also qualified in the Quest tools for this type of migration.
GroupWise to Outlook Changes
A GroupWise migration to Office 365 also needs to consider the email client changes. GroupWise has it’s own GroupWise email client. This will need replacing by the Outlook client, which will be a significant change for most people. Focus will be needed on staff who use delegation and shared mailboxes, as they way have to adapt their ways of working to align with how Outlook does various functions.
GroupWise to O365 Coexistence
The least risk approach is to establish some level of coexistence between GroupWise and Office 365. This may only be for mail flow and a common address book. However, coexistence will allow for a lower risk email migration from GroupWise to Office 365, as the speed of the GroupWise to Office 365 mailbox migration can be adjusted, depending on what issues are encountered.
GroupWise is a fantastic email system, however, the collaboration features within Office 365 are forcing many organizations away from it. Here at emailmigrations.com we do not see anyone migrating to GroupWise, which is sad, as we like GroupWise as it offered competition to the Microsoft world.
GroupWise SMTP Relay & Application Integration
Care will be required to ensure any custom configurations used by applications for sending email via GroupWise are transitioned across to Office 365. Stricter authentication standards are used by Office 365, which may require effort to re-engineer solutions in place within GroupWise.
Summary
For a successful GroupWise migration or coexistence project, you are recommended to hire an expert consultant. We have experience working with multiple versions of GroupWise, and have migrated 100+ companies to Office 365 Exchange Online. Get in touch for a free consultation for your GroupWise migration project.