“We’re goin’ dewn Kep-Tin!”

Scotty was in a sheer state of alarm and panic when he shouted these words to Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.  It was time for Captain Kirk to prove once again why he was the most famous of space rebels.  His defiance of the traditional methods of keeping space safe from enemies made him admired and hated. So, it was no surprise when at the last minute the instructions that he shouted at the crew were the words that would save them from imminent death.

With the death of Windows Server 2003 support, are you going to be shouting orders to keep the ship from imploding at the last minute?  Windows Server 2003 support is ending in July of 2015.  This is less than twelve months away, and if you don’t have a plan then you may be commanding a ship that is  getting ready to face a near death experience.

In an article entitled, “Windows Server 2003 End of Support Looms”, Thor Olavsrud quotes David Mayer, practice director, Microsoft Solutions, at IT firm  Insight Enterprises as saying:

“….an estimated 39 percent of all installed Microsoft Server operating systems are the 2003 edition.  That’s about 24 million servers, of which about 9.4 million are in the U.S..  Many instances are running an older version of SQL Server or other database applications (Microsoft’s highly popular SQL  Server 2005 is itself heading toward end of support in 2016)…..”

So what does this mean for your company?  It means that you are vulnerable.  The end of Windows Server 2003 support means that companies will be susceptible to viruses, malware, and security holes that could allow hackers to take control of your server or, worse yet, your network.  As if these things weren’t bad enough, if something goes wrong with your Windows Server 2003, and you are unable to get support for it, then every application running
on that server is going to be down too.

So what do you do to avoid the crisis?  Begin doing research now on what is available.  If you are currently using a Microsoft server, then, more than likely you will migrate to a newer Microsoft server.  The other question that many businesses are going to have to finally answer is whether or not they are going choose a physical server or if is the right time to move to the cloud.

With proper planning and research, this doesn’t have to be a time to panic, but an occasion to update and upgrade some systems to put your business on the path of operating leaner all while increasing output.