That Old Server is Dying ! 

Time for Server Migration

Why do IT organizations keep old servers running in their data center long-past the end-of-life date on both the physical server and the operating system running on it. 88% of IT organizations are running server operating systems that have already hit their EOL date or are approaching it (ie Windows Server 2003). 50% of businesses have Windows Servers that have high CPU utilization. 50% of businesses have Windows Servers that the physical hardware has been retired or EOL. Even more interesting, our data suggest that 94% of businesses have physical servers that would be ideal candidates for virtualization. Isn’t it time to conduct a server migration?

“It cost money to replace those servers”! Yes it does, but why not assess your environment a few times a year and implement an ongoing replacement strategy, that is why you hired your solution provider, they can help you with that issue. “It takes time to manage and migrate all of those servers”! You are right again, which is why you should be considering virtualization and/or cloud IaaS (hybrid, private or public) for some of your workloads.

Moving to the cloud is not as scary or complicated as it sounds. IBM and Cisco Systems were rated #1 and #2 Preferred Provider of IaaS Cloud by Enterprises in a survey conducted by IDC Survey in their latest research. These two companies have decades of experience in enterprise infrastructure and technology, which is why they came out on top above companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

In John Chambers opening keynote at Cisco Live 2014 on Monday, he presented that Cisco UCS is growing at 39%, while other blade server providers are growing at single digit rates. This opens up the discussion of whether you move that old server to something like a Cisco UCS or Dell Blade Server or do you consider moving into Cloud IaaS. No matter if you want to move that old rusty server onto a Cisco UCS running VMware or to a Cloud IaaS provider, the function of moving that physical workload into a virtual environment or cloud environment can be done with little effort.

The numbers speak for themselves above, you more than likely have old physical servers running Windows 2007 or even Windows 2003, on hardware that will eventually die, so why not conduct an analysis of your data center today to determine what your environment looks like and put in a proper migration plan.