EMEA firms still not ready to let Windows Server 2003 go - report

Region lagging behind US and Asia-Pacific on migration

Enterprises in EMEA are trailing their North American and Asia-Pacific counterparts when it comes to migration from Windows Server 2003, according to new research.

According to Spiceworks, which drew its data from more than six million IT professionals globally, 68 per cent of EMEA firms are still running at least one instance of Windows Server 2003 at the moment, less than seven months before Microsoft ends support for the product.

In the Asia-Pacific region, 65 per cent of companies are running it, but in the US, the figure is just 62 per cent.

The research found that globally, the manufacturing industry is most keen to cling onto Windows Server 2003, with nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of firms in the industry admitting to still operating it.

Seventy-three per cent of government bodies across the world still run Windows Server 2003 on top of 71 per cent of those in the finance, transport and healthcare markets. The retail market has led the migration, the research said, with just 65 per cent of organisations in the sector still clinging on - the lowest figure of all markets asked.

The main reason businesses gave as to why they are sticking with Windows Server 2003 for now was lack of time to migrate, but budget constraints and compatibility with current technology was also a consideration.

Back in the summer, Microsoft's UK partner general manager Clare Barclay said as far as the channel is concerned, the Windows Server 2003 opportunity is bigger for them than the end of support for Windows XP.

"If I were running a partner now, that's one of the focuses I would have," she said at the time. "Most partners make their money out of servers instead of client technology."