In the afterlife of Windows 2003 ...

How Westcoast's Professional Services can Fast Track your customer's Windows 2003 Server Migration

As you all probably know, on the 14th of July Microsoft ended support for its 12-year-old operating system, Windows Server 2003. In our previous blog post, we outlined a whole host of risks associated with staying put (read it again here) so it should come as no surprise to you that migration is no longer an option, but a necessity.

At the beginning of Q1 2015, more than 60% of businesses were still running Windows Server 2003, and with the level of migration not picking up pace this remains a major concern and a major opportunity for IT service providers....

The core message channel partners should be putting to end users is to not leave migrating away from Windows Server 2003 until the last possible moment. The need to modernise is far too great to ignore in light of the huge risks inherent in running legacy infrastructure and unsupported, unsecure, and non-compliant software.

However, whilst there's no avoiding the need for change, with our help you can assure your customers that it doesn't have to be as disruptive as they may think and you can transition them with confidence...

Introducing Westcoast Professional Services (WPS)

WPS helps reduce the complexity, time and risk associated with migrating applications and infrastructure and is your partner in fast tracking your customers' Windows Server 2003/R2Windows migration. As a partner for IT resellers and distributors across the whole of the UK, we work with you every step of the way as a white label service or as a nominated partner when it comes to delivering your IT solutions.

Westcoast's Fast Track Service combines the latest discovery and assessment tools with Microsoft migration expert consultancy to deliver steps 1 -3 within days, not weeks!

The Fast Track Service consists of 3 core components:

Discover

• Software tools are deployed remotely to gather information from the clients existing Windows 2003 Server environment.
• Catalogue all of your clients Windows 2003 based hardware, software, applications and licensing agreements.
• Discover the dependencies on the Windows 2003 infrastructure.
• Define the scope of the migration.
• Capture the performance metrics of the current IT infrastructure.

Target

Determine the most cost efficient and effective migration path and target foreach system. Options considered include:

• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Microsoft Azure
• Cloud OS Network
• Microsoft Office 365

Assess

• Identify the owners and impact of each workload and application.
• Create a migration profile for each workload and application.
• Organise applications and workloads based on type, criticality, complexity and risk.

Why do my Clients need the Fast Track Service?

Internal IT resources are at a premium for most organisations, and heavy workloads mean that teams are hard pressed to deliver all of the company's IT business requirements.

The Fast Track service provides the legwork and reduces the timescales and effort required for your IT client contacts to be able to make informed and intuitive decisions relating to a Windows 2003 migration.

Start driving and accelerate migration sales and ensure your clients are back to a supported Microsoft server environment as quickly as possible with WPS' Fast Track Service!

CONTACT WESTCOAST TODAY TO FIND OUT MORE

Speak with our Hosting Team on 0118 912 6011 or email hosting@westcoast.co.uk