The following is written by Marion K. Jenkins, PhD, FHIMSS, founder and CEO of QSE Technologies.
Are you like millions of businesses still using workstations and laptops and servers with Windows XP and Server 2003? Well, you might think seriously about a technology refresh.
Server 2003, which is still in place on millions of servers, is obviously eight years old, as the name implies. It has been replaced by Server 2003R2 (2005), Server 2008 (2008) and Server 2008 R2 (2009).
Windows XP, which is now over 10 years old, had an installed base of over 400 million copies in 2006. It has since been replaced by Vista, which had limited success, and by Windows 7. But there are still millions of copies in use on workstations, laptops and tablet PCs.
Replacing both Server 2003 and Windows XP makes more than just good business sense. It is necessary from a security and reliability standpoint as well. New cyber threats arise every day, and many cyber criminals are relying on the fact that many users are still using these old operating systems. This makes their jobs significantly easier.
There are many other features and benefits of Server 2008R2 and Windows 7. Support for virtualization and private/hybrid cloud technologies, plus improved business continuity/disaster recovery (BCDR) features are just a few of them.
Microsoft stopped providing many critical support features for Server 2003 and Windows XP some time ago. Server 2003 moved from "mainstream support" to "extended (limited) support" in July 2010. No design changes or upgrades are being offered. Windows XP was moved from mainstream support to extended support in April 2009.
Microsoft will no longer support Server 2003 after July 2015, and Windows XP after April 2014.
Marion K. Jenkins, PhD, FHIMSS, is founder and CEO of QSE Technologies, which provides IT consulting and implementation services for ASCs and other medical facilities nationwide. Learn more about QSE Technologies at www.qsetech.com or contact Marion at marion.jenkins@qsetech.com.
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