It’s a scary phrase, but the tech industry calls that final date for “we’re no longer supporting that technology” its “End of Life” date, or EOL.

If your company is using Windows Server 2003, EOL come and gone as of July 14. What does that mean to you?

• No more patches.
• No more security updates (there were 37 of them applied in 2013 alone).
• No safe haven … you’ll be open to security threats.
• Non-compliance: You’ll begin failing standard compliance audits.

So what do you do now? There are two choices – and reader beware, the first one gets a bit geeky:

Option 1: Upgrade your server to Windows 2012 and you’ll see significant advantages. This is where IT geeks get excited.  For example, you’ll have a freedom of interfaces (command line or GUI); the server manager improvements make it easier to handle role and feature management virtually. The new Server Message Block fixes a host of concerns, from virtual machine configuration to SQL system database storage solutions.

Security? It’s baked in, with Dynamic Access Control to help create more centralized security models.

Storage? This complex (and important) topic is hot, whether or not you use the cloud for some storage. But in Server 2012, Storage Spaces lets you use less expensive hard drives to create storage pools, which can include hot standby drives, and use redundancy methods such as mirroring or parity.

VPN Issues? DirectAccess, Microsoft's "VPN replacement," lets you create a secure connection from client to corporate network without the performance drain, and do so more transparently for a better user experience. And now it works with IPv6.

Option 2: Move to the Cloud. If the above still sounds too complex or confusing, you will love the idea of getting it all off of your back and putting your infrastructure in the cloud. That’s what we do here at CloudWyze. Our Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a form of cloud computing that provides virtualized computing resources over the Internet.

We’ve written about the benefits before, but let’s encapsulate just a few here, because IaaS has the potential to have a huge, measurable impact. Why?

• It can take large IT system purchases out of the budget because you don’t have to buy servers. Instead, you lease (at a significantly lower rate) the server capability you need. New storage? Just rent storage space in the cloud. We can go on and on about CapEx versus OpEx!
• IaaS can help realize business goals that have been limited by traditional infrastructure. Real disaster recovery has often been too costly, because it required redundant servers and storage. Put those resources in the cloud and your infrastructure is always available.

We know that the cloud isn’t for everyone, but those who chose to go that way can often save a lot of time, money and aspirin bills.

Either way – if you haven’t migrated away from Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, it’s time. Let us know if we can help.

Shaun Olsen is the CEO and President of CloudWyze. CloudWyze was created to help businesses focus and perform at their optimal level by crafting and executing custom technology plans for businesses of every type and size. To learn more about CloudWyze, visit www.CloudWyze.com. Shaun can be reached at [email protected] or 910-795-1000.