Software developed in Vancouver a boon for small business looking to upgrade computers
Peter Wilson
Sun
Emir Aboulhosn (front) is Laplink’s global marketing vice-president and general manager of Laplink Canada, whose team developed the graphic interface for PCmover. Photograph by : Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
The imminent arrival of Windows Vista can mean problems for small businesses looking to upgrade their computers to the new operating system, but it’s meant a sales surge for PCmover, software developed, in part, in Vancouver.
Along with that, the Gastown-based sales and development arm of U.S.-based Laplink, has also seen PCmover, which sells for $49.95, adapted by new Intel Mac users.
They, too, want to transfer their old PC set ups — including all their applications — but this time over to their recently-purchased Apple products like the new iMacs.
“The word of mouth thing is really starting to take off,” said Emir Aboulhosn, Laplink’s global marketing vice-president and general manager of Laplink Canada, whose team developed the graphic interface for PCmover.
One of the reasons for this, said Aboulhosn, is that buyers of Dell computers for the home or small business can also purchase PCmover when they buy a new unit.
“And 30 per cent of new business owners actually come back and purchase more multiple licences,” said Aboulhosn. “So suddenly we’ve got this great spinoff effect.”
Even though Vista itself has ways of transferring files from one PC to another, applications are another matter, said Aboulhosn, who joined Laplink in 2004 when his old Vancouver company, SynerDrive Technologies — where he was CEO — was bought by the U.S. firm.
“What we’ve done is actually come up with a way to transfer applications. The myth is that once you install an application on your PC the only way to get it on another one is to go back and reinstall it, but with our technology you can actually migrate the files, the settings and the applications.”
Laplink only discovered that PCmover could be used with Macs — which can run Windows with such programs as Boot Camp and Parallels — through its users.
“When Parallels launched their version and Boot Camp came out we actually had a customer in Toronto who gave it a shot and it worked flawlessly.”
The word spread among Mac and PCmover users and Laplink decided it would also sell PCmover on that basis as well.
The next thing in PCmover, said Aboulhosn, will be the ability to allow individual applications to be moved from one PC to another, something that was always a tough trick before.
“The demand for selectivity just became overwhelming and we couldn’t ignore it anymore.”
The three-person development team at Laplink in Vancouver is now wholly developing a peer-to-peer application that will allow users to share files and work on them together.
“People will have instant work spaces where they can collect all their files in one location and drag and drop folders. It tells you what files have been updated, which are new and what files are temporarily available. It’s a great way to get off e-mail for sharing.”
Aboulhosn said that he’s leading an expansion into Canada with PCmover, which is now available only at Office Depot, but will be sold by Staples, Best Buy and Future Shop by mid-November.
And Aboulhosn adds that PCmover is also now “a huge hit in Japan.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2006