Goodbye Server 2003, Hello Server 2012!

Windows Server 2003 will officially stop being supported as of July 14 2015.  Unless you are the Federal Government it’s time to say goodbye.  Server 2003 was launched in April 2003, so a 12 year lifespan for a technology product is really saying something.   Want to look into the past and see how new Server 2003 was at the time?  Check out this link – many thanks to the folks at WayBack.

Server 2003 retiring presents you with several opportunities to improve your technology as well as business processes. You should carefully review your options to see what the right mix is for your firm.

Cloud Server
You can change to a cloud virtual server from one of several firms.  We like the Azure offering from Microsoft. This is a good option if you do not want more equipment onsite or have other process specific needs such archiving older applications for compliance reasons or long term data use.  You can increase the horsepower to a Cloud server by buying more RAM, CPU and disk space as needed and then go back down to save costs after the demand is lessened.

Premise Server
You can certainly buy a new server and place it onsite.  This gives you physical control over your data and is probably the best bet for critical line of business applications.   We’ve written another blog on this, check it out here!

Hybrid Server
Some clients combine Cloud and Premise options to fit their exact needs.  For example, we have a client that has critical server’s onsite but they use Microsoft Azure to back up to the Cloud.  If they lose the on premise gear, they can boot the Cloud servers and be back in business pretty quickly.  Hybrid allows you to place critical services at your location with other services in the cloud, for example providing faster data access to remote users.  These remote users can use the Cloud providers Internet access which will almost always be faster than the clients Internet circuit.

Server 2012 is a great operating system and we still laugh a bit internally that with 2015 days away, Microsoft’s latest product is called 2012.  All kidding aside, Server 2012 has greatly enhanced server functionality.   Excellent virtualization, more security, functions, speed and capacity are just a few things from the long list 2012’s options.  We’ve been installing it for a few years and it is an excellent base to support our client’s critical functions.

Have questions?  Agree or disagree?  We want to hear from you! Please reach out to us!