From 14th July 2015 Microsoft will no longer be supporting Windows Server 2003
With the deadline fast approaching, businesses across the UK are preparing for Microsoft support to come to an end, by migrating their applications and workloads currently relying on Windows Server 2003 onto Windows Server 2012
Continuing to run Microsoft Server 2003 after 14th July could potentially expose your business to security and compliance risks
Once Server 2003 goes out of support, Microsoft will no longer offer new security updates, support or technical content updates for Windows Server 2003. This leaves both virtualised and physical instances of Windows vulnerable.
If any vulnerabilities to the Server platform are identified once support comes to an end, Microsoft will not be providing the patches to fix them, and a number of independent software vendors and hardware manufacturers will no longer provide new versions of applications or hardware solutions that are compatible with the Windows Server 2003.
As well as ensuring your business’ IT infrastructure is comprehensively supported, making the move to Microsoft’s Windows Server 2012 can help to increase storage performance, provide more cost effective backup and disaster recovery with their industry leading Hyper-V server virtualisation, improve IT efficiency with PowerShell, allow direct remote access and Dynamic Access Control (DAC) to your corporate applications and data. Upgrading offers organisations a range of product improvements which should encourage most to consider the upgrade now, however it will become a requirement for those still running Windows Server 2003 come the July deadline should they wish to stay protected from software vulnerabilities.
Preparing for migration
Despite the looming deadline, many organisations are still not prepared for the move from Server 2003 to Server 2012 and have not provisioned the resource to administer such a project. The last service pack was issued from Microsoft more than six years ago, mainstream support ended three years ago and the product is now on extended support.
Moving to Windows Server 2012 from any earlier version or other server platform requires careful planning. Organisations are wise to asses and clean up their current environment before the migration. Taking a careful look at your existing infrastructure and considering the organisation’s future needs so you can establish a Windows Server 2012 environment that will enable growth, deliver flexibility and ensure security and compliance.
How Krome can assist
From sites with 10 users to 17,000 users, Krome’s experienced team has helped to plan and execute the upgrade of the last major support issue, moving clients successfully from Windows XP to Windows 7 or Windows 8 at nationwide locations, working at thousands of individual client sites. We now moving forwards with similar Server Upgrades and have successfully completed a number over the past years since the release of Windows 2012.
Krome’s project management team have the capabilities required to administer the entire process; from communicating with end-users, deploying technicians nationwide to upgrade or replace hardware during or outside of working hours as required, and implementing a virtual environment with the latest version of Windows Server platform to effectively secure and manage your new environment.
Krome covers every aspect of planning and implementing the upgrade; providing technical analysis of your existing estate, comprehensive project plans, daily reports and progress updates, combined with management forecasts and timescales for project completion, to ensure the smooth transition across your entire server estate.
Krome can provide the technical resources, tools, and comprehensive assistance that your business needs to make managing the Windows Server 2012 environment, including security and compliance and everyday management products as easy and efficient as possible. For more information about upgrading to the new Server 2012 R2, call or email to speak to a Krome representative about how we can help your business make the move to the latest operating systems supported by Microsoft.
