EPC Group Conquers the Unconquerable: SharePoint 2003 to Microsoft 365's SharePoint Online in Record Time

When Others Said "Impossible," EPC Group Migrated 7 Merged Companies Including Ancient SharePoint 2003 Sites Running on 8GB RAM

HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, September 16, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- EPC Group, North America's premier migration specialist and Microsoft Gold Partner, has accomplished what the industry deemed impossible: successfully migrating multiple SharePoint 2003 environments to Microsoft 365, including a Project Server 2002 installation that predated YouTube, Facebook, and the iPhone.

This extraordinary feat, completed for a private equity firm consolidating seven acquired companies across 21 offices and 48,000 users, showcases EPC Group's unparalleled ability to tackle migrations other consultants won't touch.

Discovery of Digital Archaeology

What began as a standard merger and acquisition IT consolidation quickly evolved into digital archaeology when EPC Group's assessment team made startling discoveries three weeks into the project. "Hidden in a forgotten server room was a SharePoint 2003 site still actively used by 200 employees, running on a virtual machine with 8GB of RAM that nobody remembered existed," recalls an EPC Group architect.

"The Post-it note on the server literally said 'DO NOT TURN OFF - NOT SURE WHAT THIS DOES.'"

The archaeological dig revealed three separate SharePoint 2003 installations, a Project Server 2002 that had been "upgraded" from Project Central, and enough custom web parts to fill a computer science museum. Additionally, three of the seven companies operated entirely on Google Workspace with Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Docs.

Leveraging Historical Expertise

Errin O'Connor, EPC Group's founder and Chief AI Architect, brought unique historical perspective to the challenge. As a member of the original Microsoft "Tahoe" team that developed SharePoint 2003, O'Connor maintains a shelf of original SharePoint installation CDs and printed documentation from 2003.

"The younger consultants looked at those CDs like archaeologists examining hieroglyphics," O'Connor noted. "One asked if we needed a special player to read them."

This deep historical knowledge proved invaluable when confronting SharePoint 2003's security model, metadata structures, and custom solutions that bore little resemblance to modern systems. The team discovered CAML queries, custom web parts written in obsolete languages, and security groups nested so deeply they required genealogy charts to understand.

Technical Innovation Through Quadruple-Hop Migration

EPC Group's solution involved unprecedented technical innovation:

- Quadruple-Hop Migration Path: SharePoint 2003 → 2007 → 2013 → 2019 → SharePoint Online
- Custom Translation Layers: Each hop required proprietary code to handle features with no modern equivalents
- Throttled Migration: Working within the 8GB RAM limitation required migration speeds reminiscent of dial-up internet
- Legacy Format Reverse-Engineering: Project Server 2002 files required decoding formats Microsoft no longer documents

"We calculated that at normal migration speeds, we would have crashed that server approximately 1,247 times," joked a team member. "Instead, we migrated at the digital equivalent of a leisurely Sunday stroll."

Multi-Platform Consolidation Excellence

Beyond the SharePoint challenges, EPC Group successfully migrated three complete Google Workspace environments, transferring millions of emails, calendars, and Google Drive files while maintaining complex folder structures and permissions users had built over years.
The entire migration, which industry standards suggested would take 18-24 months if possible at all, was completed in under six months with zero data loss and minimal user disruption.

Setting New Industry Standards

This achievement reinforces EPC Group's position as the go-to firm for "impossible" migrations. Their expertise spans:

- Legacy System Migration: From SharePoint 2003 to modern platforms
- Google Workspace to Microsoft 365: Complete organizational transitions
- SharePoint AI Consulting: Implementing custom AI agents for Microsoft 365
- Complex M&A Consolidations: Unifying disparate systems across merged organizations
- Experts in Grok, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, AI Dev Apps

What This Means for Organizations

For enterprises sitting on legacy systems they've been told can't be migrated, EPC Group's message is clear: no system is too old, too complex, or too forgotten to modernize. "When other consulting firms say something can't be migrated, that's usually when our phone rings," says O'Connor. "Whether it's SharePoint 2003, LiveLink, or systems so old they predate modern computing standards, we find a way."

About EPC Group

EPC Group is North America's oldest Microsoft Gold Partner with 27+ years of experience in enterprise technology consulting. Power BI G2 Winner, Recognized Microsoft Fabric Consulting Specialists, and the Go-To M&A Consulting firm when you need 2 or even 42 companies seamlessly merged from Microsoft 365, G-Suite, Dropbox, On-Premise Systems, Hybrid, Legacy or a combination of them all, without any data lost. Specializing in "impossible" migrations, AI integration, and digital transformation, EPC Group serves Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and enterprises across North America. For more information on migration services and AI consulting | Email EPC Group at contact@epcgroup.net or give us a call at (888) 381-9725.

Michelle Stevens
EPC Group
+1 888-381-9725
contact@epcgroup.net
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