Windows Server 2003 End of Life Set to Hit Medium-Sized Businesses Hard

Is your business prepared for July 14th? No, we’re not referring to Bastille Day, although, you can’t go wrong with celebrating the French Revolution. Instead, we’re referring to Microsoft’s plans to end support for Windows Server 2003 on this quickly-approaching date. Being unprepared for July 14th will put your company’s data at serious risk.

Hopefully, this end-of-life event isn’t news to your organization. We’ve been sounding the alarm about it ever since we finished sounding the alarm regarding last year’s end-of-life event for Windows XP. Essentially, one of our roles at Computerware is to notify businesses of major software events like this so that your systems aren’t left unsupported and vulnerable. One advantage to having Computerware manage your IT is that you don’t have to worry about when the next major software upgrade is. This lets you focus on more mission-critical tasks.

If you’ve known about this Windows Server 2003 end-of-life event, then you’ve likely upgraded or have plans to. In fact, this is the case with four out of five businesses that are still using Windows Server 2003, according to a recent survey by Avandade. These are much better numbers than what we saw during the few months before Windows XP’s expiration date, which highlights the differences between how businesses and consumers approach technology.

If this is the first you’ve heard about the end of support for Windows Server 2003, then don’t panic. You’ve still got time to upgrade your servers by July 14. However, if you plan on using Windows Server 2003 past the end-of-support date, then you will have legitimate cause for concern. Without Microsoft providing your system with security patches, you will be vulnerable to hackers. These hackers have July 14th circled on their calendar, hoping to catch several negligent enterprises by surprise.

While this end-of-support event for Windows Server 2003 may be a non-issue for large corporations with well-funded IT departments, it certainly presents a challenge for medium-sized companies; categorized as having between 30-to-100 server units. Ian Stephan, HP’s vice president and general manager for servers in EMEA, described this risk to V3.co.uk:

For most small companies, it's a relatively simple transition. They are probably buying one or two servers every three or four years and the next server they buy will have an up-to-date operating system version. The customer that worries me is the one that has 30 or more servers, probably of mixed ages, and they may have heard something about the end of life deadline, but they may not be doing anything about it.

Medium-sized companies, especially ones experiencing growth, will often have their IT departments stretched thin. Additionally, as Stephan pointed out, medium-sized companies may have a fleet of mixed server units running different software, and it’s not like SMBs have enough resources on hand to cycle out old server units on a whim every few years. Instead, SMBs face the challenge of maintaining a variety of different server units, many of which may still be running the soon-to-be-expired Windows Server 2003. In IT scenarios like this, it’s easy to be so busy that needed upgrades are overlooked. Having Computerware monitor and maintain your company’s software is a sure way to prevent getting slammed with an expensive surprise like losing support.

Another point that SMBs need to consider is that upgrading from Windows Server 2003 will be a more involved upgrade than simply installing new software. For servers running this OS, the equipment’s age could be as old as twelve years. Stephan makes this point to V3: "It probably means a box change for a lot of customers, not simply a reinstall, because the hardware is now so old it is no longer sufficient."

For your company, a major hardware overhaul like this would be a major IT project, which is why it’s important to jump on this as soon as you can. Staying ahead of software and hardware upgrades will allow you to budget properly, and it lets you mitigate any downtime that you may be experiencing due to unforeseen issues.

Give Computerware a call at (703) 821-8200 to upgrade your company’s servers with the latest software so that you’re ready for Bastille Day 2015. Otherwise, your data will face the same fate as King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Viva la network security!