End of Support – What that means to your business
Are you still using Windows Server 2003? Now is the time to upgrade.
Windows Server 2003 was released on April 24, 2003 as the follow-up to Windows 2000 Server which incorporated compatibility and other features from Windows XP. On April 14, 2009, Windows XP exited mainstream support and the period of extended support began. For Windows Server 2003, mainstream support ended on July 13, 2010 and extended support will end soon - on July 14, 2015.
It is important to note that old, unsupported operating systems do pose an increased risk for data breach. Customers who continue to run workloads on Windows Server 2003 past July 14, 2015 risk higher expenses and serious compliance issues as well. Updates and patches for Windows Server 2003 will no longer be available. This will leave all critical data and applications at risk. According to Microsoft, the Department of Homeland Security has issued an alert asking all businesses to move off of Windows Server 2003 due to security and compliance risks.
For some companies who accept credit cards, compliance issues could cause them to fail a PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance audit. Likewise for the healthcare industry, an outdated server could cause a company to fail a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance audit. Accounting firms or companies subject to SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) compliance could experience such difficulties as well.
If your company is running older server hardware and operating systems, you may find yourselves wanting to improve capabilities in the following areas:
1. Performance and scalability
2. Cost-effective storage
3. Reliable backup and disaster recovery
4. Simplified IT management
Upgrading now will not only avoid many of the compliance headaches described above but also start you on the path towards improving security and reducing maintenance costs through the use of the latest technology which is fully supported, more powerful, simpler to manage, and incorporates virtualization.
If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about upgrading your company’s servers to Windows Server 2012 R2, please contact info@renovodata.com.
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