Microsoft Exchange 2007 support ends on April 11th 2017. This means Microsoft will not be issuing security updates, patches or provide any support options.
This article describes the business risk of continuing to use Exchange 2007 in any capacity within your organisation email infrastructure.
Production Exchange 2007 Servers
I would not be surprised to hear about Exchange 2007 being used in production email systems, despite it going end of support. Legacy email servers have a habit of staying in situ for a number of reasons, none of them good reasons. Recently I found an Exchange 2000 server running in a customer environment !
Exchange 2007 Business Risk
If you have Exchange 2007 in use, I would draw up a list of what it is being used for, and the business risk of turning it off. Then a mitigation can be drawn up for each valid requirement. I do not recommend retaining Exchange 2007 in any production context beyond April 11th 2017. There should be no technical reason for this.
If you have Exchange 2007 still then I would ask if you have a technology roadmap, which lists all your core business software applications, their end of support dates, and a structured upgrade path for each.
Exchange 2007 Migration Options
If you are using Exchange 2007 for some minor role within a mixed Exchange Organisation (2007,2010,2013) then it should be possible to follow the standard Microsoft procedures to move its services to at least Exchange 2010/2013. An example of the function of an Exchange 2007 server could be for a legacy fax server integration point.
If you are using only Exchange 2007 for your entire messaging system, then you have a larger task ahead. You have a decision point – migrate from Exchange 2007 to a newer Exchange version on-premise – eg) Exchange 2013. Or migrate from Exchange 2007 to Office 365. Either option could be a major project, especially if you have a large number of mailboxes, and use clustering technology.
Be aware that Exchange 2010 (SP3) mainstream support has also ended, with extended support ending in on 14th January 2020. If you stay with On-Premise Exchange, then Exchange 2013 would be the version to go for. You cannot add an Exchange 2016 server into an Exchange Org which has Exchange 2007 present.
Conclusion
No CIO would want to be running an unsupported version of Microsoft Exchange 2007 in their environment, especially if it performs a business critical function. Start planning to remove Exchange 2007 as soon as possible, and replace it with a supported version.
Contact us if you require an email migration consultant Exchange 2007 migration.
