In an effort to align with industry best practices as well as create awareness to encourage our customers to stay current with software releases, today we revised our software supportEnd-of-Life (EOL) policy for embedded OS and application software.  

Each embedded OS software release version will now receive support for three years from the End of Sales or EOS date, and each application software release version will receive support for two years from the EOS date.  

I would like to call out that critical vulnerability support will be available on select products on the final extended maintenance OS release through the hardware's Last Day of Support (LDoS). Since this will varyby product, this information is being documented individually and more details can be foundhere.   

So why is now the right time to make this change?We are living in the digital age where nearly anything and everything is accessible online. Keeping your network software up to date is critical as it virtually touches every aspect of your business. Software releases become available to keep software current over time, and by staying on the latest suggested software release, you are ultimately keeping your business up to date. It can help you limit security exposure, maintain network stability, reduce operational costs, and achieve your business goals.    

When evaluating our software support EOL policy, we realized we needed to make a shift. We recognized that software has a much shorter lifespan than hardware. For Cisco to continually innovate and provide optimal solutions to our customers, it requires that we make a few changes in how we do business.

We are committed to continually optimizing your experience and this change will ensure that we can provide solutions that are reliable and secure with the added benefits of new features and functionality.