Can anybody please help me on this matter:
I'm finding a discrepancy between Cisco general EoS policy and the 4215 EoS announcement.
As per Cisco general EoS policy:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_end-of-life_policy.html
Software support will be as follows:
• For the first year following the end-of-sale date, we will provide bug fixes, maintenance releases, work arounds, or patches for critical bugs reported via the TAC or Cisco.com Web site.
• After the first year and for Operating System SW -where available- we will provide bug fixes, maintenance releases, workarounds or patches for a period of 4 years for operating system software. Bear in mind that it may be necessary to use software upgrade release to correct a reported problem.
• After the first year and for Application SW -where available - we will provide bug fixes, maintenance releases, workarounds or patches for a period of 2 years for application software. Bear in mind that it may be necessary to use software upgrade release to correct a reported problem.
So as a result, Cisco will provide bug fixes, maintenance releases, workarounds or patches for:
• A total period of 5 years (from EoS announcement) for Operating System SW
• A total period of 3 years (from EoS announcement) for Application SW.
Now, on the other hand, if we look specifically to the 4215 end of life announcement:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps5729/ps5713/ps4077/ps5367/end_of_life_notice_for_cisco_ids_4215_sensor.html
It's clear that:
End of SW Maintenance Releases Date: HW The last date that Cisco Engineering may release any final software maintenance releases or bug fixes. After this date, Cisco Engineering will no longer develop, repair, maintain, or test the product software. July 29, 2009
Which is only one year aver the EoS announcement, and it's said regardless of the support contract.
We can see that there is discrepancy between the general EoS policy and the 4215 EoS announcement.
My questions are:
• is the IPS4215 considered as an “Operating System SW†or “Application SW�
• Can anybody please explain this discrepancy between the general EoS policy and the 4215 EoS announcement? It is not stated at all in the 4215 announcement that Cisco will provide bug fixes, maintenance releases, workarounds or patches for:
- A total period of 5 years (from EoS announcement) for Operating System SW
- A total period of 3 years (from EoS announcement) for Application SW.
Thank you
