SharePoint 2010 Mainstream Support Ending

SharePoint 2010 Maintstream support ends on 10/13/2015.

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Here’s what you will lose:

• Hotfixes that are not specific to security issues
• No Charge / Complimentarty Incident Support
• Requests for product features
• Warranty Claims

Meaning

Microsoft is ending its tier one support for this platform as it moves closer to launching SharePoint 2016 and continued efforts within Office 365 and SharePoint Online.  This date represents your first major warning flag to start planning your technology refresh.  

If SharePoint is a first class service offering in your organization, you should start considering your strategy for next steps on the platform.

Options

You can do nothing and continue to use SharePoint 2010 with the limitations above until there is no more support at all in 2020.  I would evaluate the limitations of extended support to ensure that will work for your organization before choosing this option.  It’s always better to have a plan and think ahead instead of being forced to react if a bug or incident occurs that will not supported and fixed.  

SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 is mature at this point and has SP1 in production.  There is solid experience and knowledge with this platform in the marketplace to reduce risk in a migration or upgrade. 

SharePoint 2106

You can hold off upgrading to SharePoint 2013 and go right to SharePoint 2016 via a migration.  If you start the planning now you will be ready when 2016 rolls off the assembly line.  See our blog post on what’s new in SharePoint 2016 for more details.

SharePoint Online / Office 365

You could migrate away from on-premises installations altogether via a cloud migration or hybrid cloud scenario.  This requires a discussion about configuration, authentication, security / compliance, and need/desire for cloud.  There a benefits and costs to cloud or hybrid cloud scenarios that must be understood before moving forward.

Conclusion

The main concept is that you have options.  The product is not withering away, in fact the investment in both on-premise and cloud versions continues to increase.  If you need some help determining a strategy and roadmap for your upgrade please reach out to us with any questions or to set up a meeting.

-Ryan

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