CenturyLink Hybrid Cloud and IT Solutions
Services and Component Lifecycle Policy

Updated: April 23, 2020

To provide our Hybrid Cloud and IT Solutions Services, CenturyLink relies on a variety of third-party software, hardware and networking components (hereinafter “Components”) provided by CenturyLink vetted vendors, including Microsoft, RedHat, VMware, Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto, Cisco, Juniper and many more. This Lifecycle Policy is designed to assist our Customers in understanding the lifecycle phases of any Components used with our Services, as established by the applicable vendors, and how that impacts CenturyLink Services. The Component Lifecycle Matrix below provides a single point of reference for the lifecycle phases of all Components listed.

CenturyLink’s ability to provide and support our Services is reliant on these Components and therefore the lifecycle phase of the Component directly impacts the CenturyLink Services provided to Customers. Please refer to the Definitions below to understand how different lifecycle phases impact CenturyLink Services.



Definitions

  1. Beta: Some CenturyLink Services may be introduced to a controlled audience prior to General Availability through a Beta or Limited Beta program. Beta programs are offered under unique terms and limitations that vary, are generally free of charge, restricted to a specific time frame, are not recommended for production workloads, and are provided “as is” with no Service Level Agreements (SLAs). All Beta usage is automatically terminated upon announcement of General Availability (GA).
  2. General Availability (GA): GA for any Service or Component begins at launch/Go-To-Market (GTM) date and continues until End of Sale (EOS).
  3. End of Sale (EOS): CenturyLink will not provision or sell new instances of a Service or Component after this date. This applies to both a) CenturyLink Services, and (b) Components used in conjunction with CenturyLink Services. After EOS, CenturyLink will continue to support existing deployments of an impacted service under the original SLA until the earlier of End of Vendor Support, End of Support or End of Life date.
  4. End of Support: CenturyLink defines End of Support differently, depending on whether it applies to a CenturyLink Service or a Component. See End of Vendor Support (EVS) and End of CenturyLink Service Support (ECSS).
  5. End of Vendor Support (EVS): End of Vendor Support (EVS) occurs when a third-party vendor indicates that it will no longer support a Component that is used in a CenturyLink Service. CenturyLink may, at its sole discretion and upon notice to affected Customers , continue to provide Services based on Components designated EVS, subject to the following limitations:
    1. Since the vendor is no longer supporting the Component, CenturyLink may accordingly be unable to provide support personnel with training and experience in the technology;
    2. CenturyLink’s SLAs shall not apply to the Service relying on this Component, or any other aspects of a Customer’s Services that are adversely affected by the EVS Component;
    3. Any support is provided on a “commercially reasonable best-effort” basis. CenturyLink makes no representation or warranty whatsoever regarding the Component. CenturyLink shall not be liable to the Customer for any loss or damage arising from or related to the EVS Component;
    4. Customer acknowledges that the third-party vendor will no longer release security patches and updates for the EVS Component, which may increase the risk of cyber-attacks, unauthorized access, and limit functionality and continued use of the EVS Component is at the Customer’s sole risk;
    5. CenturyLink will cease development of internal support and systems for EVS Components to better align with the applicable vendor’s lifecycle designation;
    6. For Managed Hosting, if a Customer chooses to continue using an unsupported version of a Component, such as an EVS Operating System or Software Component, CenturyLink will continue to provide operational support, but can only apply patches and fixes that are available from the vendor. This applies to both regular operational break/fix patches and ongoing security patches. CenturyLink will use reasonable efforts to explore and apply any known fixes or workarounds generally available. If a satisfactory fix is not available, CenturyLink will not be responsible for any related issues and any SLAs will no longer apply and a Customer’s continued use of the affected Component is at Customer’s sole risk;
    7. For hardware, CenturyLink may not have replacement parts after the EVS date and may not be able to repair or replace a failed service element. Customer agrees that CenturyLink shall have no liability for downtime or loss of data resulting from Customer’s continued use of the EVS device after the EVS date; and
    8. Component-level hardware upgrades for the service may be provided until the EVS date, subject to inventory and availability. Any Component-level hardware support is provided on an “AS-IS” basis, and CenturyLink’s service level agreements shall not apply. CenturyLink makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee whatsoever regarding Component-level hardware upgrades; and
    9. Should Customer elect to continue using an EVS Component after the EVS date:
      • CenturyLink in its reasonable discretion may elect to charge the Customer for any support or additional tasks/work incurred by CenturyLink resulting from Customer’s continued use of the unsupported configuration.
      • Customer’s continued use of the unsupported configuration may require issuance of a supplemental Statement of Work (SOW) or a Change Order to the original Service Order at additional charges.
      • All Services would be provided “as-is” with no SLA of any kind and CenturyLink shall have no liability whatsoever arising from or related to a Customer’s continued use of a Component after the EVS date.
  6. End of CenturyLink Service Support (ECSS): Support will no longer be provided for a CenturyLink Service after the ECSS date, but existing instances may continue to be operational until ECSL. CenturyLink’s SLAs shall no longer apply to the Service.
  7. End of Life: End of Life has different implications, and different designations, depending on whether it applies to a CenturyLink Service or a Component. See End of Component Life (ECL) and End of CenturyLink Service Life (ECSL).
  8. End of Component Life (ECL): Component is considered no longer viable, as determined by the vendor. CenturyLink has no obligation to continue to make a Service available after the End of Component Life date. After this date, CenturyLink may terminate the affected Service(s) as to Customer’s use of the ECL Component and remove the associated Service elements from Customer’s Configuration. If the Customer wishes to continue using Component software after the ECL date, they must re-license the software directly from the original vendor. If CenturyLink elects to make a Service available after the ECL date, the Service is provided subject to the terms for EVS, as stated above.
  9. End of CenturyLink Service Life (ECSL): CenturyLink will terminate all instances of a Service on the ECSL date.


Component Lifecycle Matrix

Software Components

Component

End of Sale

End of Vendor
Support

End of Life

CentOS 6 11/30/2017 11/30/2020 11/30/2021
CentOS 7 6/30/2022 6/30/2024 6/30/2024
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 6/1/2011 7/14/2015 7/14/2019
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 7/12/2016 1/14/2020 7/11/2022
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 7/11/2017 1/14/2020 7/11/2022
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 10/9/2018 1/10/2023 1/14/2025
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 10/9/2018 7/10/2023 7/14/2025
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 1/11/2022 1/11/2027 1/11/2029
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 8/19/2009 10/31/2009 10/31/2013
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 4/12/2013 4/12/2016 4/12/2020
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 7/12/2016 7/9/2019 7/11/2021
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 7/12/2016 7/9/2019 7/11/2021
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 7/11/2017 7/12/2022 7/14/2024
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 7/9/2019 7/9/2024 7/11/2026
Microsoft SQL Server 2019*   1/7/25 1/8/30
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5   3/31/2017  
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 11/30/2017 11/30/2020 11/30/2021
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 6/30/2022 6/30/2024 6/30/2024
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8   5/8/2024 5/8/2029**
Solaris/SunOS 10   1/31/2018  
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3/5/2018 4/1/2019 4/1/2019
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4/1/2020 4/1/2021 4/1/2021
VMWare ESXi Server 5.0   8/24/2018  
VMWare ESXi Server 5.1   8/24/2018  
VMWare ESXi Server 5.5   9/19/2020  
VMWare ESXi Server 6.0   3/12/2022  

* Operating systems are supported by Managed Services Anywhere. Refer to product documentation for support policy on specific platforms.
** End of Life date is based on Red Hat standard lifecycle of 5 years full support and 5 years maintenance following release date.

Networking Components

Component

End of Sale

End of Vendor
Support

End of Life

Cisco ASA 5510/5520/5540/5550 10/1/2017 9/1/2019 9/1/2019
Cisco ASA 5585-X 5/1/2018 5/1/2023 5/1/2023
Cisco ASA 5505 7/1/2018 9/1/2019 9/1/2019
F5 Networks BIG-IP
1600 & 3600
3/1/2017 10/1/2018 10/1/2018
Juniper Networks SRX 100/240/1400 11/1/2015 11/1/2019 11/1/2019