An extensive program of Microsoft upgrade work is occurring across the Systems and Personal Computing teams over the next few months.
Systems team activities
MS SQL Server 2008 has run its life and all databases running on this version are being upgraded to a more current version. We have completed the vast majority of this work, ensuring security risks aligned with the legacy platform are mitigated as best they can be.
MS Server 2008 (Windows Server) is reaching end of life at the end of 2019. The Systems team has a rolling schedule of work to upgrade the fleet to the latest operating system available. Potential vulnerability exploits will be mitigated as they arise.
A significant upgrade for MS Exchange 2013 is planned. This will involve migrating all staff and generic mailboxes onto the MS Exchange 2019 platform. This is a foundation upgrade to enable the university to move to Exchange On-Line.
Personal computing team activities
The MS Windows managed operating environment (MOE) for our desktop and laptop fleet is getting a refresh. All laptops and desktops will be moving from the MS Office 2013 productivity suite to the Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus version. This includes the core applications of MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook and MS Access.
The MS Windows 7 operating system is also reaching end of life at the end of December 2019. The remaining devices running MS Windows 7 will be upgraded or updated to MS Windows 10 between now and Christmas. The intent is to phase out Windows 7 by the start of the new year.