Small as well as large companies are shifting or planning to shift a sizable amount of their data and applications to the Cloud. However, data migration is a big affair and performing it with your current infrastructure can be complex, time-consuming and expensive.

It becomes even more complicated and expensive in heterogeneous environments i.e. while migrating between different technologies, formats or vendors. Fortunately, new technologies and Cloud Migration tools not only make the process of cloud migrations easier but also speed up the migration process by making use of a single solution that makes the most of product features and minimizes complexity.

Here are a few features that you should look for while choosing cloud migration tools.

1. The tool should support the widest range of storage arrays including IBM, EMC, HDS, HP, Xiotech, Dell, Fujitsu, NetApp, and others.

2. The cloud migration tool should offer capabilities for iSCSI-connected and Fibre Channel-connected storage arrays in different storage configurations, local or distant, i.e. including iSCSI to Fibre Channel, iSCSI to iSCSI and Fibre Channel to Fibre Channel.

3. The cloud migration tool should have the flexibility i.e. it should be able to migrate data from the storage array of one vendor to that of another vendor smoothly. Such a flexible tool can bring about cloud to cloud migration or physical to cloud migration equally smoothly. It can also bring about data migration from local to a remote vendor and allows you to select a cloud provider irrespective of the kind of storage system used by the provider. Thus it maintains a heterogeneous infrastructure.

4. By supporting heterogeneous storage, the cloud migration tool should be the only tool users will require, irrespective of the brands of storage that are present in the cloud. The tool should work in a data center environment today as well as in the future while offering efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

5. The migration tool should be able to support thick-to-thin provisioning throughout various types of arrays. Thin provisioning is a technique to optimize the usage of available storage in a shared storage environment. It depends on the on-demand distribution data blocks, as compared to the traditional method of allocation in advance of all the blocks.

6. The tool should support SANs from all leading vendors, including QLogic, McDATA, Brocade, and Cisco. It should protect legacy infrastructure and should be flexible to invest in the upcoming technology.

Checking these qualities, you can find the right data migration tool and your cloud migration process will be smooth.

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