AppZero gets $3M in funding to give old Windows servers a leg up

Apparently, some machines in the business world (more than 10 million servers!) are still running Windows Server 2003, and that’s about to get very inconvenient for them once extended support ends next year.

Fortunately for the enterprise, Boston-area startup AppZero just received a healthy infusion of $3 million to help these gentle folks migrate to clouds or data centers running newer operating systems.

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The investment comes from Progress Software founder Joe Alsop; Nigel Stokes of DataMirror; New Enterprise Associates (NEA) founder Frank A. Bonsal, Jr.; Canadian venture capital firm Covington Capital; unnamed Gold Bench Capital partners, who invested as individuals; and Matt Ocko of Data Collective, a big data-focused venture capital firm.

The startup estimates that more than $9 billion will be spent on modernization and migration of legacy systems over the next two years, creating a perfect opportunity for AppZero to facilitate these moves and make some solid revenue.

AppZero is trying to make it extremely fast and flexible for companies to move their Windows Server applications, allowing them to run natively on any version of any operating system, machine, or cloud.

“AppZero is in a unique position because our technology separates applications from the operating system, moving only the application and its data, while the traditional method of moving virtual machines can’t move (up-level) onto newer operating systems,” said AppZero CEO Greg O’Connor in a statement.

“We’re solving an enormous problem for IT, which is simultaneously serving as a catalyst for businesses ready to move to cloud-based environments.”

The company boasts Pabst Brewing Company as one of its key clients, leading us to applaud the beer company’s efforts to enter the current technological age. Any changes in the beer, however, are unlikely.