Sybase Product Life-Cycle Policies - Data Replication Software & Server

Sybase Product Life-Cycle Policies have been defined to provide customers advance notice of product end-of-life (EOL) information. Based on product categories, different policies have been adopted to address customer support requirement.

Adaptive Server Enterprise, Software Developer Kit, Open Server

Products in this category will meet both of the following product life-cycle guidelines:

1. Total in-market time for a release will be no less than 5 years
2. A minimum of 3 years overlap between a Generally Available (GA) release and the EOL of the previous release, i.e. when Version N of these products is released, Version N-1 is EOL after 3 years.

For instance, the next release of ASE version 12.5 is version 15.0. Since ASE 12.5 was released in July, 2001, under guideline 1 it would be supported for at least 5 years after that date, i.e. until July, 2006. Now, ASE 15.0 was released in September, 2005. Since a minimum of 3 years overlap is guaranteed under guideline 2, the ASE 12.5 EOL date would be September, 2008 or later.

Note that to ensure customers receive the best levels of support Sybase will try to ensure both guidelines are met when deciding on the final EOL date. Hence, in general, it will be the greater of the two dates.

Replication Server

Products in this category will meet both of the following guidelines:

1. Total in-market time for a release will be no less than 3 years
2. A minimum of 18 months overlap between the GA of a new version and the EOL of the release two versions prior, i.e. when Version N of these products is released, Version N-2 is EOL after 18 months.

For instance, the next release of Replication Server version 12.5 and 12.6 is version 15.0, which was released in January 2006. Hence under guideline 2 Replication Server 12.5 will EOL in July 2007,18 months after 15.0’s GA date, or later.

Product Life-Cycle Information

The above policy is a general guideline for product life cycles. For specific end-of-life dates on different products, please refer to the table below. Meanwhile, the guideline is applicable to the listed products only. More products will be added to the list in the near future. Products such as PowerBuilder, PowerDesigner, etc., however, will still follow their existing EOL policy. If you need any further information, please contact your local support office.

* End-of-Life date for Replication Server 12.6 localized Edition is October 2010.

• Update: The End of Life date and End of Sale date for ASE and SDK have just been updated. This new date is applicable to both standard English and localized editions.   Please note that while the End of Life date for ASE and SDK have been updated to December 2009, the End of Life date for Open Server remains unchanged.  It is still September 2008. 
• Note: Please note that the End of Sale and End of Life dates for a certain versions of products will be adjusted based on later version’s release dates. The policy is subject to change at any time. However, you can consider that the dates listed above will not be retracted.
• The following existing 12.5.x platforms will not be available in ASE 15.0: HP-UX PA RISC 32-bit, HP Tru64 UNIX, IBM AIX 32-bit, Linux Itanium 64-bit, Mac OS X 32-bit, SGI IRIX 32-bit, SGI IRIX 64-bit, Solaris x86 32-bit. Please plan accordingly. The following existing Replication Server 12.x platforms will not be available in Replication Server 15.0: HP Tru64 UNIX, Mac OS X 32-bit, SGI IRIX 32-bit. The following existing SDK/Open Server 12.x platforms will not be available in SDK/Open Server 15.0: HP Tru64 UNIX, Linux Itanium 64-bit, Mac OS X 32-bit, SGI IRIX 32-bit, SGI IRIX 64-bit, Solaris x86 32-bit. The following existing OpenSwitch 12.x platform will not be available in OpenSwitch 15.0: HP Tru64 UNIX.
• While ASE 12.5.x will be in market until June, 2008 (its end-of-sale date) and be supported till December, 2009, Sybase will only release bug fixes on the latest version of 12.5.x today. Customers who intend to purchase ASE 12.5.x will obtain the latest version available. Please note that bug fixes will get rolled up to later versions of 12.5.x. Earlier versions of 12.5.x and later versions of 12.5.x are binary swappable. For instance, moving from 12.5.1 to 12.5.2 or 12.5.3, etc.... does not require upgrade. Likewise for 15.x, customers who intend to purchase ASE 15.x will obtain the latest version available. Bug fixes will get rolled up to later versions of 15.x. Earlier versions of 15.x and later versions of 15.x are also binary swappable. For instance, moving from 15.0.1 to 15.0.2 or 15.0.3 or later version of 15.x... does not require upgrade.
• Typically, customers will need to upgrade to the latest rollup and bug patches within a codeline (these being designated by change to the second or third digit of the codeline) within six months of the patch being released to continue to obtain the benefits of such patches and bug fixes. In general, Sybase will not patch proceeding releases six months after the release of a rollup.

End-of-Life Products Client Connection Support Policy

Sybase will address the problems on currently supported ASE and OpenSwitch servers which could cause a crash in the server when it is accessed by any clients, including non-supported ones. Sybase will also fix any issues (either in ASE, OpenSwitch, or client) exposed in EOL'ed versions of clients as long as the issue can be reproduced in supported versions of client. Please note that patches will only be released for supported versions of client, not the non-supported ones. Sybase does not test and certify EOL'ed or non-supported versions of client with ASE.