Special Focus: Companies saddle up for NT's ride into sunset

The New Technology Server was Microsoft's entrance into enterprise-class software in 1996, but in 12 months Windows NT will leave the ranks of supported software, and network executives must decide now what to do with the platform, users and experts say.

Corporations should have migration plans in place and an understanding of the benefits and risks of staying on NT or moving to something else, experts say. And users should devise a detailed business analysis and cost assessment because the upgrade will involve the operating system, hardware, applications, and network and security software.

The questions are immediate because support for Windows NT 4.0 Standard, Enterprise and Terminal Server editions ends Dec. 31, 2003. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 support ends June 30, 2003.

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The New Technology Server was Microsoft's entrance into enterprise-class software in 1996, but in 12 months Windows NT will leave the ranks of supported software, and network executives must decide now what to do with the platform, users and experts say.

Corporations should have migration plans in place and an understanding of the benefits and risks of staying on NT or moving to something else, experts say. And users should devise a detailed business analysis and cost assessment because the upgrade will involve the operating system, hardware, applications, and network and security software.

The questions are immediate because support for Windows NT 4.0 Standard, Enterprise and Terminal Server editions ends Dec. 31, 2003. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 support ends June 30, 2003.

The questions are made more difficult given stagnant IT budgets and the overlap of existing and forthcoming Microsoft operating systems that replace NT and alternatives such as Linux that are gaining credibility.

Without NT support, users won't find help over the phone, and more importantly, they won't be able to request hot-fixes for problems they might encounter. Microsoft also has yet to announce when it will stop offering security patches, although the company says it will give users 12 months' notice. Online support will conclude at the end of 2004.

Some experts say users can stay on NT for noncritical systems to maximize their investment in the platform, while others disagree.

On the move

"It's decision time," says Chris Burry, technology infrastructure practice director for consulting firm Avanade. "Corporations need to adopt their strategies and give themselves the lead time to make intelligent decisions."

Burry says it boils down to a cost/risk analysis based on the amount of change going on in a company.

"There are two risk decisions. If you have no plans to change your infrastructure, hardware or add new applications maybe you can stay. But if you don't make a change you can introduce risk especially if there is a bug in the software that you can't get fixed."

There are many users who have to go through the mental gymnastics.

The Yankee Group reports that nearly 70% of Microsoft customers still have NT somewhere in their network. And IDC says that one-third of the Microsoft install base are NT server shops, while nearly 20% run NT Workstation on the desktop.

Another telling number is that more than 70% of Exchange customers are on Version 5.5, which most often is run on NT. That translates into nearly 78 million corporate e-mail seats.

"NT is working fine for us, but we have a corporate mandate to get off of unsupported software," says Gary Stoynoff, product consultant for network software for the Wisconsin/Michigan chapter of the American Automobile Association in Dearborn, Mich. "We don't want to get stuck without security patches. Being an insurance company, risk avoidance is something we like to do."

This month, the company will begin migrating 240 NT servers to Windows 2000. Stoynoff says his staff is looking forward to better administrative tools and security with Win 2000.