A survey conducted by power management company Eaton has revealed that almost a third of IT professionals have yet to begin their migration strategies for the Windows Server 2003 end of life on 14th July 2015. This worrying percentage comes despite the fact that Microsoft announced the plans back in April 2013. In light of its research, Eaton is advising those responsible for this process to not only migrate to a new operating system and update their IT application, but also take advantage of the benefits that modern power management solutions can offer.
Eaton questioned 167 IT professionals across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in March 2015, and the results show that although most IT professionals are already using power management devices, they still do not necessarily consider replacing their existing devices with a more sophisticated power management solution as a part of their Windows Server 2003 migration. Fewer than half those questioned are planning to purchase new power management devices.
The survey also brought to light the fact that many IT professionals are not aware that modern power management systems can play an important role in ensuring business continuity as they are able to trigger disaster recovery policies on power and environmental alerts. Only 60 per cent of IT professionals were aware of this, and more than half didn't know that this technology can initiate the migration of virtual machines to a back-up site.
Taking these findings into account, Eaton is therefore advising IT professionals to think about protecting their investments in software, equipment and time, with virtualisation-ready power management products. Modern power management solutions integrate with virtual machine management systems so that they can be monitored and managed via a single display. Such solutions are also key for implementing business continuity policies on power and environmental events, as they shut down non-critical workloads during power outages to extend runtime for more critical workloads, initiate data replication, move virtual machines to unaffected zones or a back site, gracefully shut down virtual machines, and perform sequential equipment start-ups once power is restored. This advanced functionality combines to protect an IT investment, improve efficiency, ensure business continuity and lower Total Cost of Ownership.
"Power management should be a key consideration during any Windows Server 2003 migration," commented Rory Higgins, product manager at Eaton. "By integrating a power infrastructure with an IT environment you can go beyond a simple migration and put in place the tools to transform your infrastructure. The right power infrastructure will complement and amplify the flexibility brought by virtualisation and ensure a more reliable and robust solution."
Eaton has produced an e-guide, entitled 'Turn Windows Server 2003 end of service into a powerful opportunity', which provides tips, tricks and best practices for IT professionals to use immediately – regardless of where they are in the process – to integrate power management into their migration strategy. To obtain a copy, visit www.eaton.eu/WindowsEOS
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