With close to 60% of organizations in Asia Pacific still hanging on to at least one instance of outdated Windows Server 2003, IT leaders are faced with the challenge of managing security and compliance risks or the opportunity to modernize for today’s mobile-first, cloud first needs
Hong Kong, 9 April 2015 – Microsoft is reaching out to its customers in Hong Kong to advise that time is running out for organizations still using Windows Server 2003, with less than 100 days to the end of support deadline on 14 July 2015. This is already an extended date and is based on the product’s standard lifecycle support policies. As part of the normal support lifecycle, Microsoft will also end support for SQL Server 2005 in April 2016. Migrating from Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005 signals the beginning of a new stage for any business. IT leaders need to move quickly to protect the applications and information residing on old servers and to use it as an opportunity to realize the business benefits of moving to modern platforms like Windows Server 2012 as outlined in a recently commissioned report by IDC Asia Pacific1.
According to Spiceworks, a global professional network of more than 5 million IT professionals, 59.8% of organizations who use its tools in Asia Pacific are still running at least one instance of Windows Server 2003 as of March 2015. For companies still using Windows Server 2003 after the end of support deadline, these servers will be particularly vulnerable as no new security patches will be made available. In fact, since January 2014, 47 new vulnerabilities were identified on Windows Server 2003 according to Secunia, a global player in software vulnerability management.
“IT demands have changed dramatically since the launch of Windows Server 2003 more than 11 years ago. IT leaders across all industries are now managing an infrastructure that demands support for cloud, mobility, social and data-intensive applications. In addition, the increasing security and privacy threats are pressuring businesses of all sizes to transform in this new mobile-first, cloud-first world. All of which cannot be met with old technology platforms,” said Horace Chow, general manager of Microsoft Hong Kong.
IDC Asia Pacific white paper shows clear business benefits of modernizing
While the end of support for Windows Server 2003 marks an important, immovable deadline, there are numerous benefits for IT decision makers to completely move any of their operations off the old platform to newer platforms like Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure.
In December 2014, IDC Asia/Pacific undertook a study of 88 organisations in Asia Pacific1 to understand the business benefits gained by businesses which moved to Windows Server 2012. Entitled “Understanding the business value of migrating to Windows Server 2012”, the study was commissioned by Microsoft and Intel, to understand the full benefit from investments in a modern IT infrastructure. The survey found that companies that have made the migration have seen positive outcomes in three key areas:
- Increased virtualization density enables IT to do more with what they have – Microsoft’s virtualization capability is called Hyper-V, which is embedded in Windows Server 2012 and provides more capacity to virtualize environments without being manpower intensive. Large organisations have an average of 121 servers and virtualize about 47.9% while smaller organisations have an average of 20 servers and virtualize about 44.5%. In addition, they were able to increase virtual server densities from between 12.5% for larger organizations, to as much as 16.7% for smaller organizations when moving from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2012.
- Increased levels of automation reduces costs, time and errors – This was driven by the feature, Windows PowerShell which is available in Windows Server 2012. Automation is a critical feature for IT to minimize time and errors associated with repetitive tasks. The study shows that 37.5% of smaller organizations are using PowerShell to automate an average of 10 tasks. Prior to the introduction of PowerShell, 15.6% of these organizations had no automation whatsoever. For large organizations, 33.9% are using PowerShell to automate an average of 19 tasks. Almost all or 94.7% of this group already had some levels of automation, as would be expected in an enterprise environment.
- Reduced man-hours, giving more time back to IT – With increased capability to automate in Windows Server 2012, IT organisations saved man-hours doing repetitive work which allowed their IT staff focus on other things. The study shows that the average number of man hours per month saved was 20 for smaller organizations and 30 for larger organizations.
The study found that these companies also experienced improved levels of security, ability to maintain compliance, manageability and overall performance in their IT infrastructure after the adoption of Windows Server 2012.
Simon Piff, Associate Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure, IDC Asia/Pacific said: “CIOs may have misconceptions that migrations will be too costly an exercise for their organisations. However, delaying migration may incur greater costs in the long run, with downtime associated with security or compliance risks, more resources being used to support outdated servers or creating workaround solutions.”
More cost effective choices available
Customers have more cost effective choices than ever before which include on premise infrastructure, a hybrid approach or to go completely to the cloud, depending on their needs and budget.
More cost effective choices available
Customers have more cost effective choices than ever before which include on premise infrastructure, a hybrid approach or to go completely to the cloud, depending on their needs and budget.
- Windows Server 2012 R2 – For businesses that have dedicated IT staff or trusted technology advisors, Windows Server 2012 R2 is a good choice for upgrade. As the latest on-premises operating systems, Windows Server 2012 offers an easily managed modern infrastructure that helps businesses run more efficiently.
- Microsoft Azure – For businesses that put more focus on the flexibility and scalability of their operations, and lack the IT resources to manage infrastructure, Microsoft Azure is a better choice for upgrade. Azure is Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure service that integrates on-premises and cloud applications, and it is designed to provide the flexibility that lets companies scale their businesses up and down based on the needs, without a large up-front capital cost.
- Hybrid Solution – Additionally, businesses that span both these categories can consider a hybrid solution in which their on-premises cloud is augmented through public cloud offerings. Azure is hybrid ready and supports any operating system, language, tool, and framework— from Windows to Linux, SQL Server to Oracle, C# to Java. This open and flexible framework enables businesses to build great applications that span both on-premises and the cloud.
Migration help and limited-time offer
Microsoft and its partners are committed to help make every migration as smooth and trouble-free as possible. For customers ready to upgrade, they are provided with easy-to-integrate options that allow people to carry out the migration by doing it themselves, using a service, or collaborating with a partner.
Customers can start the migration by themselves once they understand what is running on their current servers, what needs to be migrated, and when and where to migrate. Several vendors offer “Do-It-Yourself” tools to assist customers in their decision-making process as well as the migration itself. Some examples are Dell’s ChangeBASE, Citrix’s AppDNA, and AppZero.
For customers who have complex infrastructures and plan to have large migration scales, they may require additional analysis and assistance. Microsoft Services JumpStart for Windows Server 2003 is one such offering, and several Microsoft partners have migration offerings as well. For planning and immediate support on the upgrade, please call Microsoft service hotline at 2388-9600, or contact [email protected]. To find a partner in your area to assist you, please visit https://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-hk/.
With such easy and seamless migration, customers will surely have some time to enjoy a nice cup of coffee. Microsoft offers a special limited-time offer for all customers who purchase Windows Server Standard or Datacenter version – they will be entitled to a purchase discount, as well as a Nescafe MINI ME coffee machine with 3 boxes of capsules (worth HK$1,212). For more information on the limited-time offer, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/hk/smb/offer/special/#offer2.
Please click here for download this press release.
1 Organizations that participated in this IDC study were from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
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