Microsoft is the world’s most profitable software company, and if your business is like any of the millions of businesses that rely on Microsoft’s servers, you know they are both useful and secure. Occasionally, however, Microsoft will retire older software titles as they need constant care and support. On July 9, 2019, Microsoft will officially retire their SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 operating systems. If your organization still uses this software there is no time like the present to get you systems updated, as losing support will be a major problem.

What is SQL Server?
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS). SQL server is used to securely manage the storage and retrieval of, and access to, large amounts of data. Often line of business apps like your CRM system, inventory management, and other business applications use these databases to store their information.

That’s the exception here. Since the only reason you would need a database is if you had, or will potentially have, a lot of data, the only reason you would need a RDBMS is to manage the data within. In order to quickly retrieve the queried information, you need a management system that integrates with the applications you are using.

Essentially SQL Server is Microsoft’s Database Management Software, and with Microsoft software on the majority of enterprise servers in the world, plenty of people utilize Microsoft database products. If your business has been using one of the SQL Server 2008 versions, your time is running out to upgrade your SQL Server before you are put into a real bind.

SQL Server 2008/SQL Server 2008 R2 End of Life
As we come up on July 9, the 2008 versions of SQL Server will be losing their support. After previously stopping mainstream support in July of 2014, Microsoft has decided to pull the plug on SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 five years (to the day) later. Organizations that don’t upgrade away from SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 could be looking at immediate security problems and potential data loss. These factors could completely decimate your reputation, which could cause your entire business to collapse.

Your Options
For the business that is on the clock, they’ll need to consider moving quickly to upgrade their database management system. 415 IT can provide you with solutions that could completely change the way you look at your business. Today’s RDBMS is light years past 2008s in terms of integrations and intelligence. Any RDBMS can be locally hosted, but we can also implement a cloud-hosted database, that can be used to make your business even faster.

No matter what option you choose, you have to have your SQL Server migrated by July 8, 2019 to ensure that you have the security and data protection you need to keep your business’ most powerful asset safe. Call 415 IT today at (415) 295-4898 and see how we can help your business get all the technology it needs to succeed.