Some of the most common concerns for small to mid-sized businesses operating in the cloud today include IT management, data security, mobile device functionality, compliance, and eDiscovery. Unfortunately, Microsoft Exchange 2003 can no longer address these concerns, and pales in comparison to the updated additional capabilities that Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 can offer. On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will no longer offer support for Exchange 2003. There are, however, vast benefits to migrating to 2013 following the two-step migration process from older products.
Migrating to Exchange 2013
Business owners currently using Exchange 2003 will need to follow a two-step migration process as there is not an available direct migration path for current users. The process is relatively simple, however. For an Exchange Online migration, users may:
- Access their current migration dashboards in the Exchange Admin Center (EAC).
- Migrate mailboxes and all email content from an on-premises message system (like Exchange 2003).
- Migrate mailbox content from an IMAP messaging system.
Users have two options for migrating from Exchange 2003, via Exchange 2010 or by migrating directly to the Office 365 hosted Exchange environment. Regardless of your migration choice, your organization can prepare for a smoother migration by following these steps and preparing the following data:
- Create a proactive analysis of your current on-premises message environment.
- Prepare IT staff with a focused and tailored knowledge transfer.
- Create a report on current on-premise deployment.
- Itemize key planning metrics for accelerated migration and deployment.
- Document a roadmap for the migration itself.
Vorsite can provide a comprehensive assessment of your current on-premise message environment to prepare for the smoothest possible migration. Similar to the Exchange Server 2010 Migrations Readiness Assessment provided by Microsoft, this assessment significantly reduces the risk of costly mistakes while migrating from Exchange 2003 to 2010, or Office 365 depending on your business needs.
Further Information on Exchange 2003 Migration
Performing the migration yourself can be time-consuming and tedious, and a wealth of information is required to make the transition as smoothly as possible. But you can prepare for any such migration with some of the following resources:
Exchange Server Deployment Assistant
Exchange 2003 - Planning Roadmap for Upgrade and Coexistence
Understanding Upgrade to Exchange 2010
Understanding Upgrade from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010
Upgrade from Exchange 2003 Mailbox
How to Uninstall Exchange Server 2003
How to migrate mailbox data by using the Exchange Admin Center in Office 365
You can also Migrate Mailboxes to the Cloud with a Staged Exchange Migration using this guide from Microsoft. This will teach you to migrate a subset of your on-premises mailboxes to the cloud, a process is called a staged Exchange migration.
