Just under half of UK businesses are on track to migrate from Windows Server 2003, with some even saying that they are not migrating and are not concerned by the risks.
The vast majority (97%) are aware of the risks of remaining on Server 2003, with the majority of businesses (79%) stating that they are taking action to manage the risks.
Despite vast detailing of the risks involved from not migrating, some 18% said that they were ‘OK’ with them and had no plan to mitigate against the risks.
The end of support appears to be having a positive impact on driving people to cloud with 54% of respondents stating that they will move, with 29% choosing to migrate to Microsoft Azure.
Paul Veitch, Avanade UK cloud, said: "Retiring a product is a normal part of any product’s lifecycle, so businesses should consider this an ideal time to revamp their IT strategy and explore the capabilities of the latest solutions."
"Many of the businesses we’re speaking to are seeing their hardware become end of support at the same time and don’t want the additional capex of investing in additional hardware. They’re consolidating their assets to the cloud because it’s a great option for businesses of all sizes, particularly as it’s a scalable, cost-effective and a trusted alternative."
The vast majority of users of the platform have stated that they will stay with a Windows operating system with only 7% opting to move to Linux, Unix (4%) or OSX (1%).
Patrik Bihammar, Hybrid Cloud, Microsoft UK, said: "It is positive to see that UK businesses understand the importance of migrating from Microsoft Windows Server 2003 as it nears end of support and the benefits of moving to modern platforms where they will be able to benefit from new technologies and working techniques."
"It’s also promising that the majority of organisations that are still running Windows Server 2003 have a migration plan in place."
"This is an opportune time for businesses to consider moving to the cloud as part of their migration. Even if organisations aren’t looking to fully move to the cloud, a hybrid cloud platform could be a useful alternative."
"For organisations that don’t have a migration plan in pace, we suggest working with Microsoft and our partners to begin to migrate as soon as possible, as readying a company’s applications and data for the transition can take a substantial amount of planning and time."
These findings come from an Avanade study which asked UK businesses with over a 1,000 employees how prepared they were for the end of support.
