Desktop Operating System upgrades and migrations to ensure installed applications are compatible with the new environment. If an environment does not have a lot of locally installed applications and heavily dependent on web applications, cloud applications, and Microsoft App-V, then AppDNA is not going to be beneficial in that organization.
IBM Lift is the most effective tool for migrating mass data from different on-premises applications into the cloud with high speed. I would recommend it since it offers two data migration options; Disk transfer service and cloud mass data migration, which all work perfectly well.
Citrix AppDNA has a user friendly interface for admins to use and the product is updated well by Citrix Support.
It does not take a lot of resources to deploy AppDNA and can be done within a work week even for a large environment.
The reports not only show compatible and incompatible applications, but provide suggested solutions for incompatible applications to resolve and make them compatible with new Operating System.
If you have Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop Platinum, AppDNA is included and no additional cost.
Citrix AppDNA should get more frequent updates on application compatibility list and provide even more detailed suggestions for fixes and perhaps auto-fix feature for some applications.
Compatiblity with legacy Operating Systems could be expanded to include more applications and OS to increase usability.
A good essential tool that should be marketed more by Citrix to organizations for usage beyond Citrix environment. Most non-Citrix IT personnel and management are unaware of the benefits of AppDNA and it's ability to help with desktop Operating System migrations.
Even though it can be hectic to migrate data into the cloud with IBM Lift, the support team is free and highly knowledgeable. Also, IBM Lift is well documented in detail explaining all methods to migrate data easily.
AppDNA is more robust and provide a nice report of application compatibility list to review and segment verified applications from problematic applications. It takes one step further from the Microsoft Windows Migration Tool by providing solutions to fix the problematic applications.
Before Implementing IBM Lift at SquareTrade, we were using AWS Database Migration Service, which was not only expensive but didn’t offer automatic rapid recovery from common issues during data migration.
AppDNA was relatively easy to deploy with a small team of 3-4 support IT personnel and took a week to deploy and another week for us to configure and use.
Great tool to cut down on manual process of testing initial application compatibility before system upgrade.
If you are a Citrix Platinum customer, there is no reason not to use this tool and a great way to consider upgrading to Platinum if you are an Advance or Enterprise customer.
For a single large organization (over 3000 desktops), if you are planning a desktop Operating System upgrade you need to take a look at AppDNA.
