For months now, it seems IT professionals have been barraged with horror stories and scare tactics (from both Partners and Microsoft) about what will happen after Microsoft cuts support for Windows Server 2003 (as of July 14, 2015). If you look at the common talk track of a sales cycle, it is certainly understandable they be skeptical. After all, IT pros are told nearly every day that disaster awaits if they don’t buy this product or that service.
Now it isn’t as if business’ running on Server 2003 will grind to a halt on July 15. Quite the opposite: Employees will be able to access all the files, apps, and network services running on Server 2003. It should be business as usual.
Further, a few bothersome bugs here and there can be patched in-house – or even ignored – for a lot less than a costly migration and server upgrade. Why suffer the headache associated with a complicated server OS migration, especially if it can wait indefinitely? Read more…
It’s Time to Face the Facts
While this sort of reasoning often serves business’ well, in the case of Server 2003, the reality of the danger cannot be ignored.
Let’s start with the end of support. No matter how well your server OS performs after mid-July, sooner or later there will be glitches and bugs that delete files, prevent access, and introduce security vulnerabilities.
Over time these flaws will mount, and although they may start by being seemingly insignificant, eventually you will be hit with one that cannot be fixed. Immediately it should be aware; running Windows Server 2003 past July 14th opens your business to threats greater than those ever posed by running XP.
Being unable to fix server OS security flaws has an often overlooked implication: It will cause your business to fall out of compliance with financial regulations and other certification requirements. This can leave your enterprise open to fines and other penalties. Perhaps leaving you unable to conduct business as usual.
At the end of the day, it is 2015 and may no longer be wise to run your infrastructure on a 12- year old server OS. Stay ahead of the curve and don’t wait for the trouble to catch up. Your business may depend on it.
With the end of support date for Windows Server 2003 fast approaching, there’s never been a better 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.
