Interview with Celona CTO Tony Sceales

In this article we speak with application data migration provider - Celona.

Tony Sceales, their CTO, explains the next generation capabilities of the Celona Evolve product and outlines their immediate and future goals.



What is your role within Celona?

I am CTO and Founder of Celona Technologies.

What is your background?

Over 25 years in enterprise ITC, working with major Telcos, Financial Services and software vendors.
Plenty of scar tissue from seeing major programmes put at risk from underestimating the challenges of application data migration.

 When was Celona created?

Celona Technologies emerged in 2004 from a solutions/integration company called SESI that was founded in 1997.  Much of the thinking that went into Celona’s products came from experience gained by SESI.

What data migration product(s) does Celona produce?

Our software product is called Celona Evolve, and we also provide a method called Celona Enable, together targeted exclusively at solving the challenges of application data migration sector.

You state that Celona enable application level data migration initiatives. For the benefit of our members, can you explain what this term means?

Certainly.  We see the data migration products market dividing into three separate layers – and interestingly our customers are also starting to adopt the same thinking.

Layer 1 is storage migration – where data is shifted from one storage device to another with no transformation of structure, content or meaning.  This is well served by the virtualization and disk mirroring vendors and is primarily used for re-platforming and data centre consolidation.

Layer 2 is database replication – focused on copying database tables from one device to another either locally or across a network, sometimes including transformational capabilities.  The database vendors and a number of other players compete for this space.  It is also where the ETL vendors sit, though if you follow Johny Morris’s blog you’ll know what he thinks of them being used in data migration projects.

Layer 3 is application data migration.

To perform in this category, products really must be operating in a manner that presents the migration programme in terms of business objects rather than database rows and columns, include a built-for-purpose migration command and control application, include full workflow for error handling and scheduling, and be model-based rather than scripted.

These characteristics together enable enterprises to migrate business processes rather than mere data.

You also claim that the product is a “next generation” data migration tool, can you explain how Celona differs to other migration products?

All the other vendors I’ve seen in the market have originated their technology and philosophy somewhere else (data warehousing, EAI, EII, ESB) and tried to apply it to data migration.  Whilst this approach might be successful in simple bit-shifting operations seen in layers 1 and 2 above, it simply can’t cope in complex, multi-system migrations common to all enterprise transformation programmes.

Are there any particular type of projects which are particularly suited to the Celona approach?

Any project that needs to consider insulating the transformation of a business process from the movement of underlying data or applications.  We are active in programmes that are both large and modest in scale, in all geographies and vertical markets – but I would say that we would not expect to compete in layers 1 and 2 above.


You appear to be focused on the telecoms sector, is there a particular reason?

Simply that we’re a relatively new vendor, we have good early-stage reference in Telco and the industry has clearly understood the imperative to transform - possibly ahead of other sectors.  But we have as many banks in our sales pipeline as we have telcos.

What do you feel are the biggest challenges facing organisations in need of data migration solutions right now?
Three things:

1) Recognition that data migration requires intimate engagement from the business subject matter experts and stakeholders, and that they need both method and tools which embrace that idea.
2) Discarding the notion that a big-bang delivered by an ETL tool is the only way forward.
3) Understanding that this is a complex and specialist area – generalized IT skills won’t cut it, and the risks of failure are huge – Bloor put this at 84%.


For a number of years there has been little real innovation in the data migration sector but now there are several new entrants, how challenging is it for newcomers to establish a presence in such a competitive market?
Very hard – the majority of migration contracts are let to Systems Integrators (Sis) and if they are of the stripe that drives revenue by having lots of bodies billing on day-rate, they have a vested interest in tools being at a pretty low level.

If the customer only has one migration to do and won’t need another one for a few years then a manually scripted approach, or reusing integration type tools might be appropriate – even though this has been shown to introduce high levels of risk.

But I don’t see many customers like that – most have ongoing transformation programmes that will last years and involve a progressive approach to reducing complexity in their systems and processes.  Migration is a daily event and they recognize the need for reusable assets –  in methods, tools and models – to make these feasible and cost-effective.

So it’s important to spend time with end customers, Sis and other software vendors persuading them that all have a shared benefit from having effective migration technology and methods that make implementation, upgrade, operations mergers and splits a much lower risk, better value activity to engage in.

Can you summarise the main features and benefits of your data migration solution?

At the lowest level we have solved the computing problem of moving data in multiple flows and directions, and connecting to many heterogeneous technologies.

We have also implemented a sophisticated management console over that level which exposes the business objects being moved rather than rows and columns so as to invite business users to take an active part in driving the migration process.

Because our product is highly model-driven it is very fast to adapt to changing plans and respond to discovery of new data sources and semantics.

The same model components are used to manage both migration and simultaneous bi-directional synchronization.

It is a modern application, built using performant, resilient and scalable components and can be deployed in a wide range of environments.

What geographical regions do you serve?

We have global reach through a rapidly growing network of partners who have been through our education and accreditation processes.

What future plans can you share with the data migration community?

Celona is very much open for business and whilst retaining our initial focus on telco, we’ll be progressively moving into adjacent market sectors over the coming months.  We’ll continue to invest in developing and broadening our technology and growing our commercial and delivery capability through our partner network.  It’s an exciting time to be in data migration just as the wider community is starting to recognize its importance and distinct status.

Summing up - what do you feel makes Celona so special?

The right combination of people, product and process addressing a key need at a time when transformation is the word on everyone’s lips.

Where can members go to learn more about Celona?

http://www.celona.com – and we’ll also be seen at a growing number of events as our footprint extends.