Extended support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 will end on April 12, with security updates no longer available for businesses still running outdated IT infrastructure.
But with 24 hours to go until support ends, IDC estimates that approximately 800,000 servers globally are still running SQL Server 2005, as Redmond refocuses its investment on more recent product iterations.
“It is important that you know what end of support means for your business,” said T.K. Rengarajan, Corporate Vice President of Data Platform, Microsoft, in April 2015.
“While SQL Server 2005 instances will continue to run, after the end of support date Microsoft will no longer provide hotfixes or security updates.
“Additionally, the benefits of upgrading to a modern data platform far outweigh the costs of maintaining security, support and compliance for an unsupported database.”
According to Rengarajan, upgrading is “not just a maintenance task”, but an opportunity to provide new value to business, citing a move to SQL Server 2014 or Azure SQL Database.
As businesses seek assistance upgrading to SQL Server 2012, 2014 or 2016, IDC sees “modest opportunities” for short term market growth related to the upcoming Microsoft SQL Server 2005 end of support, with the server market growth to be driven by software-defined, disaggregated systems and network edge-deployed Internet of Things (IoT) compute.
