Customers are reaching a saturation point with vendor-supplied information about migrations, according to SIG-Migrate chairman and Speedware product marketing manager Nicolas Fortin. After a meeting of many vendors, and just a handful of customers, at the SIG’s HP World event, Fortin said that he heard information on migration was still widely scattered across an array of Web sites and not easy to find. The SIG formed a committee to create a SIG-Migrate Web site, proposed as a central information point to consolidate what customers need to find by browsing Web pages from HP’s Platinum partners, HP info, and advice from other services and tools firms. Fortin said there’s a lot out there, but it could be easier for customers to find.

“Apparently, based on the feedback received during the meeting, the current migration-related Web sites or sections (3kWorld, Interex, HP) do not meet these needs adequately. These sites apparently contain lots of information, but it is scattered and not easy to find. In order to be successful, the proposed Web site would have to contain unbiased, factual, pertinent e3000 migration-related information that would be easy to find for the visitors. A strong emphasis would have to be put on the interface, category browser or search engine and on content that would have a focus on real migrations whether they are in-progress or completed.”

Migration activity was hard to spot among HP World attendees, according to Speedware executives like Fortin and marketing director Chris Koppe. “Although it’s slow right now, we expect the value of the SIG will increase,” Fortin said. “It might be an issue of promotion and consolidation.” Mike Dixon of Transoft and Long’s Drugs’ Donna Garverick were voted onto the SIG’s executive committee at the HP World meeting. Fortin said there was some discussion of merging the SIG with the MPE Special Interest Group, but plenty of dispute over whether that was a good idea. “I asked whether it made sense to keep the SIG alive,” Fortin said, “considering the lack of activity on the listserver during the year, and everyone agreed that it definitely should, and that with time, the SIG value should improve.”