Today’s business environments are very different to those of 10+ years ago. Groove Server has been a trusted friend for peer-to-peer collaboration over a decade, but there are better ways to deliver against today’s business expectations and technical possibilities. It’s time to upgrade to a modern workpkace, taking advantage of ubiquitous connectivity and access to the cloud for scale, agility and performance. For Groove Server 2010 end of support is October 13th, 2020. Groove is peer-to-peer collaborative software. Groove Server is a Windows-based software package that helps you deploy and administer Microsoft SharePoint Workspace when Groove peer workspaces are being used. Groove Server 2010 provides access to Groove Server Manager and Relay services through a hosted environment at a Microsoft data center.

What End of Support Means?

From October 13th, 2020, Microsoft will no longer offer security updates, support or technical content updates for Groove Server 2010 and related products. The result?  

• Groove 2010 and the workloads and applications running on it will become more expensive to operate
• Security patches and hotfixes will no longer be available, leaving servers and applications vulnerable to security threats and downtime
• Outdated software creates compliance risks

  NOTE Beginning with the release of Microsoft Office 2010, Groove adopts the support lifecycle of the Microsoft Office 2010 suites. Customers must be at the supported service pack level to receive support.

Moving Forward

Migrating from Groove is an ideal opportunity to transform your business and leverage the power, experience, and cloud innovation built into the modern Office 365 platform. SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Teams provide the building blocks for your business to benefit from the power of the cloud on your terms whether deployed independently or in hybrid configuration. By migrating to Office 365 for business mobility, you won’t just avoid the cost and risk of running unsupported server software. You’ll gain access to powerful new capabilities that will help your business be more agile – like enterprise-grade security, file mobility, and access to the cloud.

Determining a migration path

Groove Server provided a broad array of capabilities that drove group-based communication and collaboration through a peer-to-peer model.  While these benefits enabled teams of individuals to connect regardless of network or network conditions, the world of connectivity has fundamentally changed since 2010.  In the age of ubiquitous connectivity that allows cloud services to deliver capability across organizational and network boundaries, solutions such as Microsoft Teams in Office 365 offer better capabilities and access through web and desktop clients as well as mobile apps. For example, if Groove was primarily used for persistent chat and workspace capabilities choose Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams is a complete chat and online meetings solution that allows you host audio, video, and web conferences, and chat with anyone inside or outside your organization.  In addition, Microsoft Teams makes teamwork easy, you can coauthor and share files with popular Office 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint, and Power BI.  With Microsoft Teams you can also integrate apps from Microsoft and third-party partner services to tailor your process, increasing teamwork and productivity. Learn more about Microsoft Teams at https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software. **If Groove was primarily used for working with information offline choose OneDrive for Business and/or the SharePoint app. ** OneDrive connects you to all your files in Office 365, so you can share and work together from anywhere while protecting your work.  With OneDrive you can easily store, access and discover your personal and shared work files in Office 365, including Microsoft Teams, from all your devices. Edits you make offline are automatically uploaded next time you connect.  OneDrive also allows you to work faster and smarter with anyone inside or outside your organization. Securely share files and work together in real-time using Word, Excel and PowerPoint across web, mobile and desktop. Learn more about OneDrive at https://products.office.com/en-us/onedrive-for-business/online-cloud-storage. **If Groove was primarily used for groups and calendaring, choose Office 365 Groups. ** Office 365 Groups is a service that works with the Office 365 tools you use already so you can collaborate with your teammates when writing documents, creating spreadsheets, working on project plans, scheduling meetings, or sending email.  Groups in Office 365 let you choose a set of people that you wish to collaborate with and easily set up a collection of resources for those people to share. Resources such as a shared Outlook inbox, shared calendar or a document library for collaborating on files. Learn more about Office 365 Groups at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/learn-about-office-365-groups-b565caa1-5c40-40ef-9915-60fdb2d97fa2.

Resources

Transition to OneDrive for Business from the Groove-based sync client [https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Transition-from-the-previous-OneDrive-for-Business-Sync-Client-4100df3a-0c96-464f-b0a8-c20de34da6fa]