ACE End Of Life?

[Bilal Nawaz]

Hello, I was interested to know if there is a known EoL date and EoS on the ACE, or if this is even correct at all. I spoke directly to my Cisco account manager he mentioned that I should start to think about replacing our ACE estate. And mentioned that Cisco are no longer developing the ACE but only releasing 'bug fixes' in the new versions of code.

I saw these too: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/18/cisco_ace_no_more/

http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2012/9/prweb9915153.htm

http://interact.f5.com/replace_cisco_ace.html

https://devcentral.f5.com/blogs/news/cisco-ace-trade-in-program#.UaMJS9-9Kc0

Should I be thinking about migrating?
Any confirmed dates or expected announcements?
Has anyone come across this yet?

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[InayathUlla Sharieff · Accepted solution]

Hi Bilal,

Cisco believes the data center is undergoing a fundamental

transformation, with virtualization, cloud, and new service delivery models.

Cisco is re-evaluating traditional Load Balancing approaches, including our

own ACE product line, to ensure that customer needs in this transformative

environment will be met. We will continue to support and deliver new

features on our current generation of ACE and GSS products, but we are

re-evaluating our strategic direction and roadmap in this space

Cisco is not exiting the ACE product line and will continue to support

and deliver new features for our existing ACE and GSS customers.  If you

would like a more detailed understanding of our current approach to this

market, please have your Cisco account manager contact the ACE business

directly and we will be happy to provide a more detailed briefing.

1-      About the ACE module, as you know the ACE20 module has issues for

quite a long time because of that famous Memory Parity Error that affects

it, that is why ACE30 came alive to fix that physical issue. But about the

ACE 30 everything is stable, there are no official announcements or Cisco

documentations related to a possible EOL/EOS on this module.

2-      About the ACE 4710 appliance, there are no announcements about this

appliance related to EOL/EOS. Support is expected to remain complete on

hardware and software without any limitations on that. And that link

provided is related to licenses over the ACE, it says that common licenses

will not be provided anymore after that date and the only option will be

Bundle licenses instead of single ones.

t link.

Resolution summary:

The EOL for ACE4710 A3 code is Nov 2016.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/contnetw/ps5719/ps7027/ps8361/eol_c51_591996.html

EOL is for ACE Appliance but not for module.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/contnetw/ps5719/ps7027/ps8361/eol_c51_667998.pdf

EOL/EOS for the Cisco ACE Application Control Engine Software Versions 3.0.0A1(3), 3.0.0.A1(4), 3.0.0A1(5), and Free Promotional Security License:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/modules/ps2706/end_of_life_notice_c51-480367.html

HTH

Regards

Inayath

[Leo Laohoo]

"famous Parity Errors".

ROFL.  You worded this so "majestically".

[Bilal Nawaz]

Thanks for clarifying this Inayath. I upgraded to A5 (2.2) and have an ACE 4710 running A5 (1.2) recently so I'm safe :-P
Luckily we don't have the ACE20's!

Should we be expecting something big coming from Cisco for the ACE in the future then?
Because they've dropped quite a lot in the Gartner quadrant for many years and the likes of F5, Citrix netscaler and riverbed have been highly rated over Cisco as they've fallen behind in the market with significant drops in market share too.

It's good to have clarification of the ACE matter because I really like the ACE appliance, it's stable and solid, just does what you tell it to do. (basic LB)
Anyone know why there's such a big gap between vendors though?

One would assume they've got something hiding up their sleeves.

It's funny how F5 have a dedicated page just about migrating to f5 from Cisco, although I know a few ex colleagues who have taken this offer.

Perhaps Cisco spent time developing the Nexus and other high end products to compete with Juniper and other vendors in the virtualisation field.

Thank you for your inputs so far

Quote Magic Quad report

"Note: On 17 October, Cisco announced a partnership with Citrix that will provide Cisco's next-generation

ADC. Gartner will soon publish an Impact Appraisal — "Cisco's Strategic Shift in the ADC Market Brings New Concerns, New Opportunities for ACE Customers" — covering this announcement."

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