News

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Reached End of Life and Is No Longer Supported

The Washington Network Educates Customers on What to Do and  the Dangers of Using This Technology

ALEXANDRIA, VA — June 25, 2015 — The Washington Network, Inc., a leading provider of unified communications, announced today that the company has launched an awareness campaign, alerting businesses of the recent announcement by Microsoft. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 has reached the end of its life and is no longer supported by Microsoft after July 14, 2015. This announcement has massive implications on the security of small to mid-sized (SMB) businesses everywhere, due in large to the ubiquitous presence of Windows Servers in nearly every SMB. 

 Microsoft will no longer offer customer support on issues related to Microsoft Windows Server 2003. This encompasses all issues of infrastructure performance, capability and security, which are all of obvious concerns to business owners. This is a reflection of the perpetual evolution of technology and Microsoft has made their intentions clear to the public. This is causing many business owners to step back and address the present-day state of their technology infrastructure and to examine their options.
 
 Business owners tend to avoid making investments in new infrastructure, especially if the underlying technology isn’t broken, yet. The key word to pay attention to here is “yet.” Any company operating with these servers in-house is exposing themselves to an eventual and certain risk of failure. In other words, the server will fail eventually, and until that day, organizations are essentially “riding blindfolded without a seatbelt”. The delays of a malfunctioning server have widespread company impact and will not only negatively affect the performance of staff, but moreover, the integrity of data records and customer privacy is called into question, as well. In recent times, enterprises as large as giants like Target, have been impacted by poor technology infrastructure, leading to millions in damages and costly lawsuits. The Washington Network is aiming to protect its SMB customers from these sorts of complications.
 
 “The greatest risk facing our customers is the unnecessary risk of indecision,” stated Rick Endres, President of The Washington Network. “When these things happen, it’s unfortunate. However, just because an investment is forced by outside circumstances, we firmly recommend that our customers take swift, preventative steps in order to ensure company safety and data security. We believe in proactively alerting our customers about decisions like this, because we do not accept our customers’ businesses being inoperable. The pace of the world continues to increase and we consider it our responsibility to make sure our customers are always prepared for the unforeseen.”  Endres later added, “The other side of this is to prevent company liability in security breach lawsuits. One common place that lawyers look to attack an SMB, especially as it relates to a security breach, is to examine whether or not the infrastructure security was up to date. When security is outdated, this does not bode well for businesses and can only mean very harsh things for the lawsuit. We are glad that our customers act on our recommendations.”