BEND, OR, July 14, 2019 — With just six months until Microsoft officially ends support for its nine-year-old operating system Windows 7, almost one-fifth (18%) of large enterprises still haven’t migrated to Windows 10. That’s according to new research from enterprise content delivery firm, Kollective.

The report, which includes data from over 200 US and UK IT decision makers, shows that while significant progress has been made in the last 6 months, there is still a long way to go. In January 2019, Kollective’s research found that 43% of companies were still running Windows 7, while 17% didn’t even know about the end of support.

Now, with 6 months to go, Kollective has found that 96% of IT departments have started their migration, while 77% have completed the move. However, given it took some firms over three years to complete their migration from Windows XP to Windows 7, this still leaves a lot of companies at risk of missing the final deadline.

Understanding the time and resources required to deploy a new OS to all endpoints, Microsoft has announced a few options for companies still running Windows 7. The first option is an extended support package for Windows 7. This support could come at an
annual cost of up to $500,000 for a company with 10,000+ endpoints. The other promo extends support to top tier enterprise customers who are ready to purchase Windows 10 now, but need more time to deploy.

“Though many businesses are better prepared now than they were for the end of Windows XP, the move to Windows 10 comes with its own set of challenges,” commented Dan Vetras, CEO of Kollective. “The migration itself is only the first step. IT managers moving to Windows 10 now have to prepare their networks for increasingly frequent ‘as a Service’ updates to the OS. They will need to ensure their networks are ready for more testing, more roll outs and more network congestion to keep up to date.”

Kollective’s report argues that, by running a software-defined enterprise content delivery network (SD ECDN) over their existing infrastructure, businesses can dramatically speed up their networks without having to rip out and replace existing hardware. This will not only increase the speed of migration, but will also help businesses prepare for future ‘as a Service’ updates associated with Windows 10.

To find out more, download Kollective’s full ‘6 Months Until the End of Windows 7 Support’ white paper.

Methodology

Research for the death of Windows 7 was conducted by Censuswide, an independent research company hired by Kollective. The research was conducted as a 15-question survey using 272 IT decision makers – 141 based in the US and 131 based in the UK. Data was collected at the end of June 2019 and launched in July 2019.


Über Kollective

As enterprises continue to expand with global locations and remote workforces, it’s never been more critical for a company to be connected and secure. Kollectives cloud-based, smart-peering distribution platform leverages existing network infrastructure to deliver fast, reliable content with less bandwidth. Our platform accelerates content delivery to the edge of the enterprise while minimizing network congestion. From live meetings, global presentations and on-demand video training to major operating system updates and the delivery of security patches, Kollective delivers your content at scale and keeps your network secure without impacting critical business applications.

Media Contacts

Sammy Browning / Jake Rowlands
Wildfire PR
kollective@wildfirepr.com
+44 20 8408 8000