Windows XP was a mainstay at many financial services firms for nearly a decade. In keeping with the Microsoft Lifecycle Support Policy, support for Windows XP and similar aged software must eventually end. You can learn more about the policy here.
According to Microsoft, extended support for Windows XP is scheduled to end on 04/08/2014. If your office is using Windows XP, you should be working on plans to phase out XP by replacing those systems with new PCs or upgrading the PCs to a more recent workstation operating system in the next six to nine months. There is no good reason to wait until or beyond April 2014 to perform these upgrades.
Why should you care?
Most security standards – for instance, 201 CMR 17.00 – require that you apply security patches on a regular basis. It is the extended support from Microsoft that allows you to do this. After extended support has ended, there is no guarantee that any security patches will be released for these systems. In order to stay compliant with security standards, firms using Windows XP will need to upgrade to other systems.
Hasta la vista, Vista!
Currently, we are recommending that business users implement Windows 7 Professional on workstations. Windows 8 makes sense for home users with touch screens, but we prefer not to implement operating systems before they have become mainstream in the workplace; Windows 8 just isn’t there yet.
Vista extended support is good through 04/11/2017, but Vista has always been a dog, and any business users still using Vista should strongly consider moving to Windows 7 Professional immediately.
Server-based systems affected by the Microsoft Lifecycle Support Policy
Windows 2003 Server extended support is good through 07/14/2015. Nevertheless, Windows Server 2008 R2 will likely be the most widely used network operating system among investment advisors by the end of 2013. Windows Server 2012 was released on 09/04/2012 and hasn’t yet been widely implemented among SMBs we are familiar with.
Exchange Server 2003 extended support also ends on 04/08/2014. The implications of this related to security updates are the same as those detailed above regarding XP. If you know which version of Exchange is in use at your office, you can check Microsoft’s site here to determine when the end of extended support for Exchange will affect your firm.
Like Vista, extended support of Exchange Server 2007 is good through 4/11/2017, so there is no need to upgrade in the near term future. Exchange 2010 adds OWA support for Firefox and Chrome. In addition, Exchange 2010 makes better use of lower-cost disk subsystems, allowing you to get a performance boost over 2007 without spending a premium. Those are nice features, but not nice enough to push an Exchange upgrade before a normal IT lifecycle replacement demands it.
Exchange Server 2003 will be phased out by many advisors this year, and most will move to Exchange Server 2010. Though Exchange Server 2013 was technically released in November 2012, it may be premature for the SMBs that dominate the investment industry to adopt Exchange Server 2013 over Exchange Server 2010. Presently, there is no direct migration path from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2013. A number of small investment advisors will move to hosted Exchange solutions and no longer keep Exchange servers at their offices.
With this many possible changes slated for the next ten months, now is a good time to make sure your firm has addressed the issues or has a plan to upgrade any systems affected.
–
About the Author: Kevin Shea is President of InfoSystems Integrated, Inc. (ISI); ISI provides a wide variety of outsourced IT solutions to investment advisors nationwide.
For details, please visit isitc.com, contact Kevin Shea via phone at 617-720-3400 x202 or e-mail at kshea@isitc.com.