Issue

• You do not know whether your product is supported or up-to-date
• List of supported and no longer supported ESET products
• ESET End of Life Policy described for business products
  
  

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to lay out ESET’s End of Life (EOL) policies, and product-related support policies, as well as policies we follow for the support of various operating systems.

The document should serve as a source of information for ESET business customers, for whom clear and predictable EOL policies can significantly contribute to effective IT security planning. We believe this document will help organizations keep their security policies up to date, preventing any disruptions to business continuity.

This End of Life document was inspired by industry best practices, as well as accepted standards. The policies are applied to all existing products and product versions, respecting the past commitments made to our customers. We have defined product categories and tailored support policies to each of them; you can also find information on how product versioning works, and explanations of the product lifecycle stages.

We are fully aware that any transition can be painful, especially in a business environment. Therefore, from the moment our new policy comes into full force, we are going to allocate a one-year transition period. During this time, the product versions that will have transitioned from basic/limited support in the current state to EOL as a result of the new policy will still receive module updates (also include virus signatures updates). Basic support in fact only guaranteed virus signature updates. We will make sure to keep sending those and module updates to otherwise EOL-ed product versions for the duration of the transition period. The product versions that would naturally transition into the EOL phase during this period will also enjoy the same benefit.

Versioning Rules

ESET follows industry standards for product version numbering. See the example on how to read the individual numbers found in the product version:

• Major version -> Moving to a higher version typically involves a major product overhaul, change in product architecture or dropped OS support for one of the earlier OS versions.
• Minor version -> Increasing this number means minor bugfixes and minor functionality changes compared to the previous version.
• Build Number/Patch level (Hotfix) -> Automatic fix for critical bugs and vulnerabilities. Nothing changes at all from a functional point of view.

Product Lifecycle

Naturally, each of our products fits into a specific stage of the product lifecycle. For the purpose of defining a complete EOL policy we decided to categorize them into the following groups:

• Products in active development
  These products are in the early or middle stages of the lifecycle and we aim to develop and sell them in the coming years.
• Products in active development 
  regularly undergo the end of version procedure for earlier product versions (every time a new major version is released). There is also a procedure in place to allow for an extended period of limited support for certain product versions – for more details contact your ESET representative.
• Products in maintenance
  These products are in a highly mature state and ESET merely maintains them. There is no development of any new features. Products/services in maintenance are typically in extended limited support.
• Products to be terminated
  These products have not been developed nor improved in any way for a long time, and they no longer make any commercial or strategic sense. These products undergo an internal product termination procedure, which results in the products’ complete End of Life.

Support Policies

Support Levels

These are the general support levels for ESET products and services. For application to individual products and product versions, read the dedicated sections of this document.

• Full Support
  This is understood industry-wide as providing the best effort to serve customers by fixing all bugs and offering full functionality. We also offer wide-ranging assistance to our customers. All future OS releases will be supported unless there is a major external hurdle that cannot be overcome despite reasonable effort.
• Limited Support
  The scope is relatively narrow here so pay attention to the kind of support you are entitled to at this stage for each product category.
• End of Life
  At this stage of the product lifecycle we offer zero support or assistance and basically do not guarantee the product’s functionality at all. The best we can do is guide the customer to the most meaningful migration path so that they upgrade to the latest equivalent product.

For a complete overview of the new End Of Life policy please follow this link: https://support.eset.com/en/kb3592-is-my-eset-product-supported-eset-end-of-life-policy-business-products 

If you have any doubt regarding level of support for product(s) that you are using, please contact ESET technical support.