Data Migration

Every spring, the South Argentinian Swallow.com begins an 11,000-mile journey across the globe, crossing DARPA, phone lines, wireless waves and the seas.

Ok, ok. Data migration involves the transfer of data between computer or storage systems. This molting would occur when a customer buys a brand spanking new computer and has to transfer all of her files from Ye Olde Computer to the new one. Or it happens when Microsoft wants to implement a new version of Word, for both people who still use it. Or perhaps your employer decides to upgrade their servers, perform system maintenance, or move all data to a third party cloud system, right when you have an important deadline to meet.

Not losing data along the way (called "leakage" but not related to Depends) is the big challenge here as each time a set of numbers is copied and pasted, there exists obvious risk that some will be eaten by hawks. Or ghosts in the computer machine. Or whatever.