Product Lifecycle and End of Life Policy¶

Plixer is committed to providing customers with market leading products and solutions. Periodically, as part of the product lifecycle, it becomes necessary to discontinue older products, for technology and/or business reasons.

It is Plixer’s goal to make this product lifecycle process as transparent as possible to our customers and partners, thereby enabling them to plan for upgrades, migrations, and purchases associated with their Plixer environment.

EOL products¶

The Plixer product matrix below shows products have been superceded and are no longer available. Please refer to Plixer’s Product Release Policy document (below) to view more information on milestone definitions and timelines.

Product	Version	End of Sale date	End of Support date	Successor
Scrutinizer MDX product family (MDX-xxx)	All versions	December 31, 2019	March 31, 2023	Migrate to comparable SSRV or SCR product
Plixer Scrutinizer (SSRV and SCR)	Versions earlier than 18.20	August 31, 2020	August 31, 2021	Upgrade to supported release
Plixer Scrutinizer (hardware appliance)	Deployed on Dell PowerEdge system earlier than R740	November 30, 2019	End of current support term, or 5 years from original purchase (whichever occurs earlier)	Upgrade to supported hardware
Plixer Replicator	Version earlier than 18.14	August 31, 2020	August 31, 2021	Upgrade to supported release
Plixer FlowPro (all variants)	Version earlier than 18.12	August 31, 2020	August 31, 2021	Upgrade to supported release
Plixer Beacon (formerly Great Bay Software)	Version 6.2.0_24	Previously announced	November 30, 2021	Upgrade to supported release
Plixer Beacon	Version 6.1 (versions earlier than 6.1 have already reached end of Support previously)	Previously announced	March 18, 2020	Upgrade to supported release
Plixer Beacon	Gen3 appliance	May 31, 2017	May 31, 2022	Upgrade to supported hardware
Plixer Scrutinizer (free edition)	All versions	n/a	December 31, 2021	Paid version of product
Hardware appliances (1.8TB, 3.6TB, and 7.2TB)	All	12/31/2021	End of customer’s current support agreement	Migration to new generation of appliance hardware
Plixer Risk Intelligence Module	All	12/31/2021	End of customer’s current support agreement	Migration to new technology TBA
Plixer Scrutinizer (and corresponding PSI and PNI add-on modules)	Version 19.0	n/a	12/31/2022	Upgrade to supported release
Plixer Scrutinizer (and corresponding PSI and PNI add-on modules)	Version 19.1.x	n/a	09/30/2023	Upgrade to supported release
Plixer Scrutinizer (and corresponding ML Engine modules)	Version 19.2.x	n/a	03/15/2024	Upgrade to supported release

Note

Due to differences in release policies with acquired companies (such as Great Bay Software), the product schedules listed in the table above may deviate from the policy outlined in this document. Where differences occur, the table above takes precedence.

Product Release Policy¶

The following topics outline the intended release and lifecycle support plans for products and versions. The policy is intended to provide information required to plan for product upgrades and migration to replacement technologies.

Note

These topics covers product releases; product licensing - covering usage of the product – is handled under the terms specified in the EULA (End User Licensing Agreement). Product Support is covered under a separate policy.

Software Release Definitions¶

Major (Main) Release: Major releases encompass new products, major architecture changes, major user interface (UI) changes, significant new features or capabilities/functionality additions, new solutions, and substantial innovation. Plixer’s goal is for one Major product release per year.
Minor Release: Minor releases include updates or enhancements/features to existing products, moderate administration or UI changes, and major bug fixes. Plixer’s goal is for one Minor product release per year.
Patch Release: A patch release incorporates bug fixes and security fixes. Patch releases will be incorporated into the next Major or Minor software release (whichever occurs first). Plixer’s goal is to provide patch releases as needed, not to defined release schedule. (Note: earlier terminology may use the term ‘Service Pack’ when referring to a Patch Release.)

Note

Engineering Hotfixes, developed to resolve customer-specific support cases of high severity, are made broadly available to other customers in the next available release (Major, Minor or Patch release).

Content Update Release: Plixer may release updated content – new reports, new or updated algorithms, etc – periodically, outside of a Major or Minor software release. Content Updates do not include new features and may be applied electively at the customer’s discretion to any supported product release. Content updates will be incorporated into the next Major or Minor software release, whichever happens first.
The software product version numbering scheme is defined as follows:

(Major). (Minor). (Patch)

Example: 18.16.02

where Major release is 18, Minor release is 16, Patch release is 2.

The Content Update numbering scheme is defined as follows.

CU.(YYMMDD)

Example: CU.200310

where YYMMDD is the release year, month and day of the content update.

Supported Product Releases and Product Release End of Life Policy¶

Generally speaking, Plixer supports the most current product release and the release prior to that (in other words, we support two product releases).

Plixer will make commercially reasonable efforts to adhere to the following guidelines:

The End of Life Period for a major software release “N” starts when the N+2 major release becomes Generally Available. For example, major product release 18.x begins EOL when major product release 20.x is made available. Customers running major release 18 should upgrade to major release 19 or major release 20.

Note

When major versions are released, only the last minor release on the “N” major release will be supported. In the example above, major release 18.x enters EOL and customers should be up-to-date on the last minor release for major release 18 for software support during the EOL support period.

Likewise, the End of Life Period for a minor software release starts when the N+2 minor release becomes Generally Available. For example, product release 18.15 begins EOL when release 18.17 is made available. Customers running minor release 18.15 should upgrade to release 18.16 or 18.17.
Plixer will support all GA software releases for a minimum of 12 months from their initial release date. The maximum total support life of a software product release is the lesser of three (3) years or the release of the N+2 version, inclusive of the General Availability period and software support period following the End of Life announcement.
For all Cloud Services, only the current product release will be supported.

End of Life Software Support Policy¶

To ensure delivery of innovative and cost-effective products, Plixer may periodically discontinue specific products or versions of products and cloud services. At Plixer’s sole discretion, such products or services may be discontinued regardless of the delivery method, including on-premises software, hardware and cloud services.

This policy applies to all Plixer Software product offerings that enter the End of Life process as of the Effective Date of this EOL Policy. For clarity, this applies to any Software that is included with Plixer Hardware or Appliances.

When commercially reasonable, Plixer will provide three (3) months’ notice of an affected product’s End of Sale (EOS), i.e., the last day the product can be ordered. Once the End of Sale date is reached, the affected product is no longer available for sale.

Plixer will make commercially reasonable efforts to provide Software Support for a maximum of 1 year after the effective End of Sale Date, unless otherwise specified. Plixer will not provide Software Support past the specified EOL date.

The list of EOS/EOL products is maintained on the Plixer website.

End of Life Hardware Support and Software/Hardware Support Bundles Policy¶

This policy applies to the physical components of Plixer’s Hardware, Appliances or Software/Hardware Bundles (collectively referred to as Hardware). It covers EOL for various ‘generations’ of hardware platforms broadly shipped to customers.

Plixer will exercise commercially reasonable efforts to provide 3 months notification prior to the effective End of Sale Date.
Plixer will make commercially reasonable effort to provide Hardware Support for 3 years after the End of Sale Date. Provision of Hardware Support is subject to the terms of the support contract.
Hardware Support contracts cannot extend past the published End of Support Date.

If the latest release of supported software requires a new hardware platform, or the customer’s existing hardware has reached End of Support, the customer may be given an opportunity to purchase a comparable platform. In no case will a hardware product be provided at no cost if newer versions of the software will not run on the older hardware.

Definitions¶

General Availability – Product is generally available for Sale and Support on current Plixer Pricelist.

End of Life (EOL) Period - Refers to the timeframe beginning with the day Plixer announces a product is no longer available for purchase from the current Plixer Pricelist until the last date the product is formally supported by Plixer. If software version only, EOL Period refers to the timeframe beginning with the day Plixer announces a software version will no longer be available until it is no longer supported.

End of Sale Notification– This notification establishes when the discontinued product or software version will no longer be Generally Available. The End of Sale Notification begins the EOL period. This notification may be given by any means including, but not limited to, posting the EOS (End of Sale) notice on the Company’s Website.

End of Sale Date– The date a product is no longer Generally Available for purchase.

End of Life Date – The last day that the product and/or software version is supported per the terms of the standard Software and Hardware Support offerings.

Cloud Services - means services offered on servers that are owned or managed by Plixer and provided to Customer as specified by the relevant Customer agreement. Access to the Cloud Services requires either an active support agreement or an active subscription, as required by the specific offering.

Content Updates – Include enhanced product components, such as new reports and new algorithms.

Software Support - Software Support includes available maintenance and technical support. Security updates and maintenance will continue until the end of the Software Support period.

Hardware Support - Hardware Support includes hardware warranty, new software/firmware versions, escalations, patches and maintenance releases, product updates, content updates, and available maintenance and technical support.

Software - means each Plixer software program that is (a) licensed from Plixer (and acquired during the Term from Plixer or an Authorized Reseller), and identified in the applicable agreement, or (b) embedded in or pre-loaded on Hardware acquired during the Term, but not identified in an agreement (which embedded or pre-loaded software is hereby deemed licensed from Plixer), in each case including Updates and Upgrades that Customer installs during any applicable Support period.

Hardware - means the Plixer or Plixer branded hardware equipment (together with all parts, elements, or accessories, and any combination of them) purchased during the Term from Plixer or an Authorized Reseller and identified in an applicable agreement, excluding any software or other intangible items (whether or not pre-loaded on hardware or subsequently loaded on hardware by Customer, Plixer, or any other person or entity).

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