Investing in new equipment is expensive, but is worth the protection it provides against viruses and miscellaneous security threats.  As mentioned in the previous blog post, Windows XP will no longer be supported starting in the Spring of 2014.  This creates a question for many businesses of when and if they should upgrade within the next few months.  According to InfoWorlds WhitePage discussing this topic, there is possible support offered from Microsoft, but it comes at a hefty price.

“CSAs are available from Microsoft under separate contract for Premier Customers at an additional fee. Under the CSA, customers will continue to receive patches for vulnerabilities found in Windows XP. For the enterprise, this presents a very clear situation; either pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a CSA, or have vulnerable systems in place.”

If you are looking to upgrade your systems, contact Marcus Networking at 602.427.5027.

Source: InfoWorld, Lenovo. (August 2013). “Windows XP- A Compliance and Risk Nightmare in April 2014”.