windows server 2003 end of life migration - fujitsu.com · server 2003 installations are no longer...

Windows Server 2003 end of life migration:The cloud and hybrid IT opportunity

All good things must come to an end and so it is for Microsoft’s much-loved and widely used Windows Server 2003 operating system, which has been a mainstay of the enter-prise IT landscape for over a decade.

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Contents

Introduction 2

Windows Server 2003 end of life and what it means for your organisation 2

Next steps: Migration options 3

A path to the cloud and supporting digital transformation in a hybrid IT world 3

Summary 5

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White paper Windows Server 2003 end of life migration: The cloud and hybrid IT opportunity

Introduction All good things must come to an end and so it is for Microsoft’s much-loved and widely used Windows Server 2003 operating system (OS), which has been a mainstay of the enterprise IT landscape for over a decade.

As of 14 July 2015 Microsoft finally flicks off the support switch for the OS, meaning no more patches or security fixes and no more application or server incident support.

That clearly presents some challenges around security, compliance, cost and management overhead for those organisations still running Windows Server 2003. The clock is ticking but what we will explore in this whitepaper is how this migration can be turned into a catalyst to drive innovation and support modernisation by moving applications and services into the cloud. Migrating, transforming, and digitising some of these workloads to cloud services — such as Fujitsu Private Cloud, Fujitsu S5 Public Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Office 365 or Fujitsu RunMyProcess — can deliver tangible benefits in improved performance, reduced maintenance requirements and increased business agility.

We will also look at why cloud is a vital part of any digital strategy, the benefits it can deliver and why it is key to addressing fundamental changes to the workforce and to traditional business models and ways of working.

This is a chance to not only move forward to a newer version of Windows but to modernise, embrace public and private clouds and build a next-generation enterprise hybrid IT organisation capable of driving innovation, delivering business value and tackling the rapid pace of digitally-driven disruption and change.

Brad Mallard, Chief Technology Officer for Cloud, Fujitsu UK & IrelandMarch 2015

Windows Server 2003 end of life and what it means for your organisationMicrosoft’s Windows Server 2003 has been a faithful enterprise IT workhorse for the 12 years it has been in service since it was launched in April 2003 and it’s no surprise that it’s still deeply embedded into many organisations because of their historical investment in the platform over all those years as well as its stability and broad application support.

That all changes on 14 July 2015 when Microsoft officially retires Windows Server 2003 and ceases support for the OS. Mainstream support actually ended in 2010 and now the extended support phase is soon to reach the same milestone.

Perhaps the biggest implication of this is that Microsoft will no longer issue security updates or fixes for any version of Windows Server 2003. To put that into context some 37 critical updates for the OS were issued in 2013. Unpatched security flaws pose a clear and present danger and increase the risk of falling victim to security breaches and cyber attacks.

“Only a quarter of Windows Server 2003 users already have an upgrade plan in place for remediating the risk of end of life for the

Operating System.”

There will be no incident support for server and application problems and organisations in regulated industries may also find their Windows Server 2003 installations are no longer compliant with data handling regulations.

With the end of life clock ticking this is a huge issue for many organisations. According to Microsoft’s own estimates there are some 23.8 million instances of Windows Server 2003 across 11 million physical servers worldwide, accounting for 39 per cent of the entire Windows install base. How prepared are those organisations? One study found only a quarter of Windows Server 2003 users already have an upgrade plan in place for remediating the risk of end of life for the OS1.

For organisations not prepared for the 14 July there could be significant cost implications. Microsoft will offer custom support — at a cost. According to reports, customers are being quoted $600 per server for support after the end of life date2. That price is for the first 12 months and will double every year. For an organisation running thousands of Windows Server 2003 machines that’s a multi-million dollar support bill.

There are also other challenges for organisations running Windows Server 2003. Enterprise IT is a vastly different world today to the one that Windows Server 2003 was launched into more than a decade ago. It’s now a world of digital initiatives fuelled by mobile, social, cloud and big data. All this has implications for legacy applications, infrastructure and data when it comes to considering migration options.

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1. http://blog.appzero.com/ws2003-market-checkpoint

2. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/16/windows_server_2003_600_dollars


Next steps: Migration optionsEvery organisation is going to have different needs and be in different stages of the product lifecycle when it comes to evaluating Windows Server 2003 end of life options but key to tackling this is understanding the value of the application estate and what each application means for the business.

Is staying on Windows Server 2003 a realistic option? Fujitsu will continue to provide services around legacy and out of date services for customers as it does today but we always recommend that the customer understands the risk and the security threat that brings.

The bottom line is that with the 14 July end of life date for Windows Server 2003 fast approaching there is a limited window to fix and close any security gaps. There are various migration options for organisations to consider including Windows Server 2012 and moving into the cloud whether this be Fujitsu’s Private Hosted or Public Cloud services, Microsoft’s Azure platform or to a software platform such as Office 365.

The practical steps for planning migration typically begin in the form of discovery and analysis with the focus on being able to understand the business value of each application. Planning for migration of services with prioritisation aligned to risk, cost and complexity is clearly of paramount importance.

“The end of life deadline presents a real opportunity to make a leap forward into the digital world. Organisations should assess the value

of their applications and consider cloud and digital services to improve rather than just remediate.”

Typically the applications an organisation will be running on Windows Server 2003 will be a blend of commercial off-the-shelf software, productivity tools and line-of-business applications. Applications rarely used or only used by a few employees could be retired completely, others could be viable for virtualisation or moving to the cloud, while other applications built and deployed before the digital and mobile era may need to be upgraded or replaced. Making the first step into the cloud with these kinds of non-strategic workloads reduces the risk of migration, offloads expensive datacentre computing and also helps simplify the organisation’s core IT.

While it certainly poses many challenges, the end of life deadline also presents a real opportunity to make a leap forward into the digital world. Organisations should assess the value of their applications and consider cloud and digital services to improve rather than just remediate. Beyond efficiency gains and productivity improvements, moving applications and services to the cloud can be a catalyst for change and transformation, empowering employees, enabling agility and driving business innovation.

As industry analyst IDC says: “Think not just about an operating system migration/update but also about the entire software ecosystem that remains on Windows Server 2003 today, and make good decisions that benefit the whole application stack and offer the longest return on investment3.”

A path to the cloud and supporting digital transformation in a hybrid IT worldThere are still some common perceptions, myths and fears about cloud that are barriers to adoption for many organisations. These include security, data sovereignty, regulatory compliance, performance issues such as latency, network capabilities, proximity of data to line-of-business systems, integration and also the commercial factor around depreciation of assets and capitalised infrastructure that might prevent migration. These barriers to adoption can be addressed and mitigated against, to ensure robust security and reduce the cost and risk of migration.

The bigger picture shows the overall trend is for enterprise cloud adoption — across software-as-a-service (SaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) — to continue grow rapidly over the next few years. IDC is forecasting an 11 per cent shift in IT budgets away from traditional in-house delivery towards the cloud as a new delivery model and says more than 65 per cent of enterprise IT organisations will commit to hybrid cloud technologies before 20164.

The increased adoption of cloud alongside traditional IT systems is also driving a new hybrid IT operating model. For each organisation the right blend of services will change over time as business priorities shift, cloud computing matures and new technologies emerge.

The benefits of migrating to the cloud include reduced capital asset exposure, flexibility to scale up or down in line with demand, transparency of cost based on actual usage and greater capability to swiftly deploy new applications and services to tackle the rapid pace of digitally-driven change and disruption. For example, one construction company Fujitsu works with has half of its sites permanent and half temporary. The agility and elasticity benefits of the cloud mean it is able to stand up and deliver services to temporary sites very quickly without the cost and time that would have traditionally taken.

“Cloud as a component of hybrid IT is the key technological enabler in the move away from traditional systems towards becoming a digital

business.”

If there is a need and appetite for the organisation to begin or accelerate the journey to the cloud then what kinds of applications and services should be considered for migrating first?

Lower priority for cloud migration: If an organisation has a legacy server running a supporting business application — maybe a time-sheeting system or a simple database, for example — that is well protected and has multi-layered security outside of Windows Server 2003, then that will be a lower business priority for moving to the cloud (although would likely be an easy target for transition). It is also still relatively early days for large core line-of-business applications but we are beginning to see cloud migration moving beyond the development and test environments to the production environment for these ‘crown jewels’ to be integrated into or run out of the cloud.

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3. IDC: Why you should get current

4. IDC FutureScape cloud predictions 2015


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Higher priority cloud migration: This includes services such as CRM systems or productivity tools such as file services, email services and unified communications that really empower end users. Any non-strategic workloads and applications are prime candidates to start moving to the cloud. If the servers that underpin those are running on Windows Server 2003 or legacy versions then, depending on the risk profile and assessment, we would advise moving those to cloud-based services, whether that’s on a private cloud, public cloud or a combination of both.

Fujitsu’s approach to delivering and managing hybrid IT means organisations are more able to innovate, whilst being less vulnerable to security risks and system performance issues. It is about finding the right balance between fostering innovation and managing associated risk and cost leveraging the right blend of traditional IT complemented with Cloud and Digital services.

“More than 65 per cent of enterprise IT organisations will commit to hybrid cloud technologies before 2016.”

For Windows Server 2003 users, the end of life deadline represents an opportunity for organisations to take a step into the cloud, moving applications and workloads on to Fujitsu cloud services, the Microsoft Azure platform, Office 365 or other partner cloud services where appropriate.

Cloud as a component of hybrid IT is the key technological enabler in the move away from traditional systems towards becoming a digital business. It means a shift in focus from just productivity improvement and cost reduction to empowerment of people, delivering improved value and innovation and creating an IT-enabled business that drives competitive advantage.

The role of cloud in the digital enterprise and the workplace of the future

New ways of working are going to be critical over the next few years and organisations need to have the IT operating model ready to support this rapid pace of change. Cloud will be a key enabler of that digital and mobile transformation.

Underlying demographic trends mean there is a talent squeeze coming. In the UK, for example, there will be 700,000 fewer people of working age between 16 and 49 and if the current rate of over-50s leaving the workforce continues that will leave a huge hole to be filled5.

At the opposite end of the scale a new wave of millennials is entering the workplace with radically different expectations to those of the generations before them. They value work-life flexibility above salary and demand the ‘always-on’ connected and collaborative technology experience they are used to in their personal lives — a quarter of employees globally say they are influenced by the technology provided to them at work and would consider taking a new position if given better technology that helps them be more productive6.

“A quarter of employees would consider taking a new position if given better technology that helps them be more

productive.”

Cloud-enabled mobile working and the flexibility and productivity gains it provides will be vital in addressing both the needs of the new millennials and attracting people currently out of the workplace back into work.

Almost half (46 per cent) of employees globally said technology has increased their productivity and enabled them to communicate faster in the past year. And a recent survey estimates the cost to an organisation of 1,000 employees of time wasted due to the productivity challenges faced by information workers is nearly $16m per year - equivalent to 213 employees7.

Organisations need to move and innovate faster in this digital world as competitors catch up and completely new market entrants challenge traditional business models and ways of working. The speed of change is accelerating and means project timescales have shortened radically from a two-year period to a two or three month period. And that’s got to be underpinned by a fully secure working and development environment.

Digital transformation means having technology driven by principles of agility, flexibility and scalability; having information available across systems; information management systems that allow collaborative working; and digital processes that can be changed at a rapid pace. It is about empowering employees, driving rapid business innovation and engagement with customers, staff, communities and companies.

Traditional IT was about people, process and technology but digital is more of a mindset that is about enabling new business models. The cloud underpins all this as a service model for organisational change.

5. Department for Work and Pensions report: A new vision for older workers

6. 2014 Dell/Intel Global Evolving Workforce Study

7. Bridging the information worker productivity gap


SummaryThere has been much scaremongering in the media about Windows Server 2003 end of life. There are certainly issues and challenges for organisations still running applications and services on Windows Server 2003 but it also represents an opportunity.

As seen by the large number of organisations still running Windows Server 2003, the OS is a critical piece of IT infrastructure that needs to be addressed but there is a huge amount of business value to be realised by using this as a catalyst for change.

The IT landscape is vastly different today compared to when Windows Server 2003 first started to be deployed and there are also many other challenges facing organisations around digital disruption to traditional business models and the workforce.

“There is a huge amount of business value to be realised by using this as a catalyst for change.”

Cloud and mobile are key enablers to building an IT infrastructure that supports rapid digital transformation and organisations can use Windows Server 2003 end of life as an opportunity to assess which applications can be migrated to the cloud.

Not every organisation is ready to make a complete move to the cloud for its most important assets but they should be leveraging cloud where possible and that’s where Fujitsu can help.

This end of support deadline is a chance to begin using hybrid, public or private cloud to support the development of a next-generation hybrid IT organisation capable of meeting the needs of the digital enterprise.


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Why Fujitsu?

Fujitsu provides a market-leading portfolio of cloud and digital services. Our global knowledge and experience help to transform businesses and deliver tangible benefit from both our own and partner cloud services. Fujitsu leverages its deep-rooted global partnership with Microsoft to ensure customers benefit from a hybrid IT service model that adds value, reduces risk and enables increased business and social innovation.

Fujitsu Cloud is a $2.5Bn business globally with over 5,000 clients consuming cloud services from 25 cloud data centers worldwide with our clients deploying solutions that cover both:

■ innovative new solutions for their markets ■ as well as using cloud to modernize their ICT

Analysts describe Fujitsu to have the strongest and broadest cloud portfolio in the industry, therefore being able to help clients with everything from a global network and the necessary security, to a wide choice of options for IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, brought together via cloud integration.

Fujitsu has a long and successful heritage in managing complex IT solutions. Our pragmatic and realistic approach, scale and broad reach across the complete IT mix places us in a strong position. Today those capabilities are underpinned by:

■ Fujitsu cloud leverages heritage we have built up over the last 30 years in technology solutions, systems integration and managed services excellence.

■ Enterprise Managed Services; Strong heritage in public sector and defence means we offer all our clients confidence in our delivery (risk mitigation, compliance and governance) against stringent requirements.

■ True end-2-end capabilities across the full spectrum of Hybrid IT giving customers all the services they need through a simple, single access model.

■ Strong credentials from our public sector and defence customer heritage means we understand the challenges around security and how to manage them.

■ Robust service management that recognises the need to innovate and be agile.

■ Commercial innovation and focus on customer business challenges.

Why Microsoft?

Most businesses live with the reality that they need both on-premises and cloud services. That approach to cloud computing is called hybrid IT and it ensures past IT investments still deliver business value. Microsoft has both real public cloud scale experience and a deep understanding of your legacy infrastructure. At the heart of Microsoft’s Cloud OS vision is:

Microsoft AzureMicrosoft’s open and flexible Azure cloud platform is made up of a growing collection of integrated services — compute, storage, data, networking and apps — that help businesses move faster, do more and save money. It enables organisations to build, deploy and manage applications using any language, tool or framework.

Microsoft Office 365The new Office brings together online versions of Microsoft’s communications and collaboration tools, spanning business intelligence, unified communications, business-grade email, collaboration and social capabilities. Office 365 subscription services enable users to access email, documents, contacts and calendars from virtually anywhere on almost any device.

© Copyright 2015 Fujitsu Services Limited. Fujitsu, the Fujitsu logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in Japan and other countries. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Technical data subject to modification and delivery subject to availability. Any liability that the data and illustrations are complete, actual or correct is excluded. Designations may be trademarks and/or copyrights of the respective manufacturer, the use of which by third parties for their own purposes may infringe the rights of such owner. ID 2410-03/15

For more information on Migration services please contact: Kevin Collins, [email protected], +44 7867 831038For more information on Cloud/Hybrid IT contact: Brad Mallard, [email protected], +44 7867 829996

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