Member Article

Advanced 365 urges businesses to plan ahead of Windows XP end-of-life

Advanced 365 urges businesses to plan ahead of Windows XP end-of-life

Businesses which continue to use XP after support withdrawal will face high costs and data compliance issues

27 August 2013 – Leading IT managed services provider, Advanced 365 (Advanced), has warned businesses still using Windows XP that they need to make plans to migrate to alternative operating systems before XP reaches end-of-life on 8 April 2014.

Businesses which fail to do this will face increased support costs and regulatory compliance issues. Advanced’s warnings follow statistics recently published by NetMarketShare which indicate that despite being more than 11 years old, Windows XP is running on nearly 39% of the world’s computers.*

Advanced experts have highlighted the fact that many organisations within the public and charity sectors have yet to make migration plans, as they are unaware of the full implications of continuing to use XP after Microsoft has withdrawn its support for the operating system.

Neil Cross, Managing Director, Advanced 365 said: “Windows XP has been a popular choice for businesses since it was originally introduced in 2001 and the system is still widely used. Many businesses will be tempted to continue to use the system after 8th April 2014, however, Microsoft will no longer be issuing security patches or updates of any kind. As a result, many businesses which decide to continue using XP may well compromise the security of their own data. This could lead to serious problems in terms of compliance with data management legislation.”

Organisations also need to be mindful of the costs of continuing to support desktop infrastructure that is based on Windows XP. IT industry analysts, IDC, have estimated that the annual costs per PC, per year for Windows XP is £569.63, while a comparable Windows 7 installation costs £110. This is an incremental £458.98 per PC each year for IT and end-user labour costs.**

“This is money that businesses could be investing in modernising their IT assets and ensuring employees are equipped with technologies that optimise and drive their performance,” continues Cross. Although planning migration to alternative systems may well strike many business directors as an onerous task, it is the best opportunity for many to think carefully about updating their systems, streamlining performance and reducing their IT costs.

“We have already helped many businesses plan their migration away from Windows XP and consider the pros and cons of various alternative operating systems. Most are well on their way to moving to new systems, which will improve efficiencies and sharpen their competitive edge,” concludes Cross.

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Note to editors

* NetMarketShare: http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=11&qpcustomb=0 **A full copy of IDC’s white paper ‘Migrating Risk: Why Sticking with Windows XP is a Bad Idea’ is available from Advanced 365’s website: http://www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/collateral/365/register.php?doc=whystickingwithwindowsxpisabadidea-idc-may2012.pdf

About Advanced 365

www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/365

Advanced 365 provides a full outsourcing solution for desktop to data centre service delivery, ITIL based service management, application development, unified communications and cloud enablement. Advanced 365 designs, deploys and operates applications using .NET, Microsoft SQL Server, the Microsoft Office System and Microsoft CRM.

Service delivery can be provided from either Advanced 365’s own data centre facility or one of its managed suites (hosted and managed in shared facilities). Advanced 365 also provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) utilising its own cloud platform. Quality and security is assured through the company’s ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 accreditations.

Core offerings include:

• IT Managed services focusing on the core utility components of clients’ IT operations (including monitoring, backup, email and hosting right up to full IT infrastructure outsourcing).

• Unified Communication solutions that consolidate telephony, presence, mobile and contact centre systems and are designed to bring data, voice and video together. Technologies include Microsoft Lync.

• Line of business applications designed to improve the flow of information around an organisation. Applications include Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Business Intelligence.

• Application development to deliver a fully-supported application managed service for both existing legacy applications and new applications developed by Advanced 365.

Contacts:

Angela Mycock and Nick Hardy, Advanced Computer Software Group pr@advancedcomputersoftware.com +44(0)1625 856513 or 07887 415 232

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Advanced .