My A+ is also grandfathered but I think it would be better to update it to current rather than stick with the one from 03.
If you re-take, you lose your permanent certification status and you'll have to re-take every two years thereafter. A factor to consider in this is that CompTIA tests are really expensive for professional certification exams. Security+ cost me around $225 and Network+ is the same. There are two sections of A+ and I believe they're priced lower than that, but still something north of $300 to re-certify.
A+ and N+ in particular are seen as entry level credentials. They're occasionally important for people in the early part of their career and at times it's useful to have them to meet some kind of contracting requirement, especially when a shop needs people to fill out body count for specific roles, but the skills demonstrated by those certs are mostly skills we would assume an IT worker would have, almost without regard to their skillset or role.
That said, I've met DBAs and Security Analysts with no fucking clue about hardware or IP networking and I've certainly dealt with managers who think terms like 802.11 and VOIP are alien moon language even as their employees use the terms every day, which is why the certs do still matter.
Nitsirk went through my A+ class several years ago because she suspected that she was being taken for a ride by the guys she contracted her IT work to, which speaks to another aspect of the value of A+.
There are also cases where the A+ and N+ are considered foundational for vendor-specific certification programs. At one time, Compaq and Dell both required them for candidates who wanted their field service tech certs, and my many of steelworkers qualify for a different pay grade if they're certified electricians who have also obtained A+.
Security+ is mandated for anyone who does IT contracting work for the US DoD. That might be its biggest application, but it's still a big, important deal.
I don't pay as much attention to demand for Server+. I haven't ever been asked to teach it, though I am certified.
I've been told that demand for general purpose CompTIA certs is decent and steady compared to Microsoft stuff, mainly because Microsoft killed the credential everyone has heard of (MCSE) for an array of overly specialized options that assume a greater dependency on Microsoft technologies than probably exists in reality. At this point, it's assumed that IT guys can handle basic Active Directory and group policy and deployment stuff and disaster recovery, and probably anything beyond that involves some specialist who has a lot more on his or her resume than just a Microsoft cert for Active Directory architecture or SQL Server administration.
I've heard that virtualization and security things are big tickets for IT right now. Personally, I'm a generalist and I'm comfortable with that. Microsoft-wise, I know Sharepoint Development and Administration is something that's being pushed; in a lot of cases, some business unit or department will roll their own Sharepoint system outside the purview of IT and then they'll have to bring in someone to manage it, and that there's money to be made there.
Storage+ seems like it might touch on a lot of stuff that's important for a generalist to know, like Backup systems, NAS and SAN tech. I have no idea whether there will be a demand for it, but it's close to a lot of common interests among folks here and I can't imagine that being able to claim general familiarity with those things would actually hurt anybody when their resume is being evaluated.
