The US Department of Homeland Security issued a cybersecurity alert this month for Microsoft’s Windows Server 2003, support for which is ending this July 2015. With over 12 million physical servers still running this 11-year-old operating system, organizations will face significant cybersecurity concerns if they continue to run this server OS after July 14, 2015. The impact to both public and private companies running Windows Server 2003 after Microsoft ends support on this product could potentially be astronomical. Are you ready to make the transition? Read on to find out how your business may be affected – and what you can do to prepare.
What end of support means is that Microsoft will no longer be providing security patches, technical support, or any software and content updates to Windows Server 2003. Without this support, servers running this OS will be at a much greater risk for cyber-attacks. Companies must make a decision here over the next 6 months on how they will migrate off of this Server OS to avoid any potentially grave security threats. These threats could mean significant negative consequences, including loss of data, confidentiality, and business assets – all of which could take months, if not years, to recover from.
Fortunately, you have options for upgrading and securing your servers. First, you could simply upgrade your existing software and hardware if current servers do not meet the minimum requirements for the newest version of Windows Server. You could also move to a more hybrid model and begin to move some workloads to the cloud, which we’re finding many companies are beginning to do at this time.
Microsoft is ending support on a very popular server operating system that has served its country and many companies for 10+ years. To aid you in the transition to a new OS, Connection has created a server migration assessment that will help guide you through a series of questions regarding the different types of servers you may have running this expiring operating system. Once you have completed the assessment, we will suggest a number of different upgrade paths you might consider to pursue during this process. Don’t be caught off guard come July 2015. Get your plan in place now to ensure you’re not running Windows Server 2003 after July 14, 2015.
With the end-of-support date for Windows Server 2003 fast approaching, there’s never been a better time-or an easier time-to plan your data center transformation. Our experts have designed this helpful tool to get you started on the right upgrade path for your unique environment, applications, and workloads.
