Enterprise Domino Estate
Migrated to Secure Cloud Infrastructure
Enabling a £55M corporate divestment programme
500+
Global users transitioned to a secure standalone Domino environment in the cloud
55
Complex, custom, integrated Lotus Notes applications successfully migrated
Zero
Operational incidents during migration, separation and upgrade
Overview
Migr8IT delivered a controlled and secure separation of the client’s Domino and Lotus Notes environment as part of a wider corporate divestment valued at £55M.
The programme involved migrating 55 business-critical applications and more than 500 global users while maintaining business continuity, security compliance, and operational stability throughout the transition.
As part of the transformation, the Domino platform was also upgraded to support the organisation’s new independent cloud-hosted Azure infrastructure.
The Challenge
The client was required to separate from a shared IT estate as part of a wider £55M divestment from its parent organisation, with strict timelines and no tolerance for operational disruption.
Domino and Lotus Notes platforms were deeply embedded across critical business processes, with complex integrations, shared infrastructure, shared data and global user dependencies tied to the parent company’s environment.
Any failure or delay would have introduced significant operational, security, and compliance risk for both businesses, affecting over 2,500 global users.
Lotus Notes was identified as the highest risk area of the divestment due to its age, integration complexity, undocumented applications and reliance on shared global services that could not simply be lifted or replaced without specialist intervention.
The separation required migrating hundreds of Domino applications while maintaining operational continuity and ensuring security, compliance, and infrastructure independence from the parent organisation.
Migr8IT's Solution
Migr8IT delivered a controlled separation of the client’s Domino and Lotus Notes environment, enabling the platform to support more than 500 users independently from the parent organisation.
The programme involved migrating over 55 tightly integrated applications that supported critical business processes, requiring careful planning and specialist execution.
In-place Domino upgrade to cloud infrastructure
A fully independent Domino environment was designed and deployed in Microsoft Azure, replacing shared on-premise infrastructure and establishing a secure, scalable platform under the client’s full control. As part of the programme, the platform was upgraded from Lotus Notes 8.5 to Domino 12.
Given the operational dependency on these applications and the complexity of their integrations, the migration represented one of the highest-risk elements of the divestment programme.
Global users and critical applications were migrated in place from the parent organisation’s infrastructure with no disruption to operations. Business continuity was maintained throughout, enabling the client to operate independently from the day of the divestment.
This programme demonstrated how specialist Domino expertise can reduce risk, protect business operations, and enable complex separation and upgrade initiatives to complete successfully.
Organisation
FTSE 100 Science and Technnology Company
Specialist Technology Company
Location
Global (EMEA, APAC, AMER)
Operational scale
Regulated operating environment
Business-critical applications
Global operations
2,500+ users
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Domino Platform Migration Outcomes for Corporate Divestment
Operational Independence
Delivered a fully independent, upgraded Domino environment under the client’s control, removing dependency on the parent company’s infrastructure and administration.
Uninterupted Business Operations
Critical business processes continued without disruption throughout the divestment, enabling the organisation to operate independently from day one without productivity loss.
Logical Data Separation
Critical business data and user access were safely separated from the parent organisation’s environment, ensuring operational independence and compliance with divestment requirements.
Faster, More Reliable Systems
The new Azure-hosted Domino environment delivered improved performance, reliability, and scalability compared with the legacy on-premises platform.
Vendor Support & Risk Reduction
Upgrading to a fully supported Domino version restored vendor support, security patch coverage, and compatibility with modern platforms, significantly reducing operational and security risk.
Reduced Business Risk
Migrating to Azure introduced modern resilience, backup, and recovery capabilities, reducing the risk of data loss or service interruption.
Lotus Notes migration was identified as the highest-risk element of the divestment programme. Migr8IT delivered it smoothly and on schedule.
Feedback from the Client's Global Head of IT
Domino Migration Frequently Asked Questions
What’s involved in a Lotus Notes and Domino migration or upgrade?
It involves assessing your current Domino estate (servers, clients, applications, data), planning the upgrade path or migration target version, executing server and/or client upgrades, updating applications for compatibility, rism management and ensuring business continuity throughout.
Which versions of Domino and Lotus Notes do you support for upgrade?
We support upgrades from many legacy versions, including older releases, but the specific path depends on your environment (number of servers, version gaps, applications). We’ll scope it by reviewing your current versions, dependencies and any unsupported configurations.
Will my existing Notes applications still work after the upgrade?
In most cases yes, but some components (custom agents, old design elements, unsupported features) may require redesign or remediation. A discovery phase helps identify such issues.
How long will the migration / upgrade take and will users be disrupted?
It varies widely depending on the size of the estate, number of applications, amount of data and integrations. Our process is designed to minimise disruption, often using coexistence periods, pilot users, staged rollout, and validated testing to avoid major downtime.
What are the benefits of upgrading my Lotus Notes/Domino environment?
Upgrading gives you improved performance, better security (including support from vendor), access to new features (web, mobile, cloud integration), easier maintenance, less risk of unsupported components, and helps you align with modern IT standards.
Can you help us migrate from Lotus Notes to another platform altogether?
Yes. While this service focuses on upgrades and migrations within the Domino / Notes ecosystem, we also deliver projects that move Notes applications to other platforms. We’ll assess suitability, business logic, data migration issues and recommend the best path.
What kind of planning and audit do you perform before the upgrade?
We carry out a detailed discovery and inventory of servers / clients / applications / data, compatibility checks, identification of risks (unsupported versions, custom code), and creation of a migration roadmap including timeline, cost estimate, and contingency plan.
What happens to the legacy environment after upgrade from on-premise to cloud?
After upgrade and full validation, the prior environment (old servers, unsupported versions) can be decommissioned. We help plan the cut-over, archiving strategy (if required), user transition, and ensure that legacy data remains accessible if needed.
How do you ensure our data and business logic are preserved during migration or upgrade?
We use validated methodologies that include backup, test migration, integrity checks, business-logic verification, user-acceptance testing and monitoring. We ensure that key workflows, agents, access controls and data remain intact or are correctly migrated/refactored.
What ongoing support do you offer post-upgrade?
We offer post-go-live monitoring, maintenance services, user support, application review and remediation for any issues that surface after upgrade. This helps ensure your environment stays secure, performant and future-proof.
Will we need new Domino or Notes licences as part of the migration or upgrade?
In many cases, yes. Licensing requirements depend on your current entitlement, the target Domino version and number of users. During discovery we review your existing licences, identify gaps, and ensure you’re fully compliant without overspending. We can also advise on optimisation, many organisations are paying for licences they no longer need.