Lifecycle Announcement: End-of-Sale AP Series Indoor Access Points

Products•SG UTM•Sophos Product Lifecycle•Sophos Wireless•XG Firewall

This announcement is to give you notice of the final order (End-of-Sale) date for the indoor AP Series models and the subsequent lifecycle milestones. Our lifecycle plan gives you sufficient time to plan a transition to the APX Series with your customers.

Feb 13 2020 By

*** Note: The End-of-Life date for the AP Series has been extended to December 31, 2023. Read more here ***

Sophos APX Series access points are now supported on every platform: Sophos Central, XG Firewall, and Sophos SG UTM (from v9.7). With our latest generation of access points, you can offer an attractive replacement for every one of our legacy AP Series indoor models. You can learn more about the benefits of the APX Series in this Partner Portal blog post. Please note that all APX Series access points have a five-year warranty.

Last month we sent an email to all partners who have sold any AP Series model to give advance notice of the final order (End-of-Sale) date for the current indoor AP Series models and the subsequent lifecycle milestones.

All platforms allow you to manage all current AP and APX Series in a mixed environment. This means that your customers who have only recently purchased their AP Series access points are under no pressure to upgrade straight away. They can simply add newer APX models as they extend or make changes to their deployment. Our lifecycle plan gives you sufficient time to plan a gradual transition to the APX Series with your customers over a three-year period.

Why are we starting the End-of-Life process for the AP Series?

Wireless technology and standards are constantly evolving. The use of Wi-Fi in most environments has increased considerably over the past five-plus years, predominantly due to the number of mobile and other Wi-Fi connected devices now available. The majority of the current AP Series models have been in the Sophos portfolio since 2015 (the AP 100 since 2014) and these models do not support the most commonly used Wi-Fi standards available today. Newer standards, such as 802.11ac Wave 2 (which is still the most commonly used standard in business environments) include technology innovations to offer better performance, even when a larger number of clients are connected simultaneously. They are also built to handle the applications more commonly used today, such as voice and video, and so provide a better user experience.

Which models are affected?

Model / SKU End-of-Sale End-of -Support End-of-Life APX Alternative
AP 15 March 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 March 31, 2023 APX 120
AP 15C March 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 March 31, 2023 APX 120
AP 55 March 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 March 31, 2023 APX 320*
AP 55C March 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 March 31, 2023 APX 320*
AP 100 March 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 March 31, 2023 APX 530 (or APX 740)
AP 100C March 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 March 31, 2023 APX 530 (or APX 740)

* Under some circumstances, the dual-radio APX 120 may be a viable, lower-cost alternative.

 

What will these dates mean for your customers?

We have made every effort to provide advance notice and therefore make the transition as easy as possible and avoid any disruption for your customers. We will continue to process RMAs for all customers with a valid support contract (e.g. as part of their subscription) until the End-of Life date.

 

The lifecycle milestones are described in detail below.

 

End-of-Sale: March 31, 2020

The AP Series models mentioned below will no longer be sold by Sophos:

  • Indoor only: AP 15, AP 15C, AP 55, AP 55C, AP 100, AP 100C

Software SKUs for the following subscriptions can no longer be ordered:

  • Central Wireless Standard – Entry
  • Central Wireless Standard – Performance (unless for AP 100X)

 

After this date the product:

  • will not receive any new features
  • will receive only critical security patches and bug fixes but only until March 31, 2021
  • Will not be supported by any new hardware models released after this date

Your access point will continue to operate as normal.

 

End-of-Support: March 31, 2021

After this date:

  • Sophos will process RMAs but no longer offer support
  • The affected AP models will no longer receive any software updates or bug fixes of any kind
  • APs will continue to operate on the last supported firmware version

RMAs: Will be processed for any AP Series model with a valid warranty or support license (if the same model is not available, an equivalent model will be supplied as a replacement).

Support: Technical support is no longer provided. Hotline calls will only be accepted for RMA processing.

 

End-of-Life: March 31, 2023

From this date, management support for the above-mentioned AP Series models will no longer be included in new software releases for Sophos Central Wireless, XG Firewall (SFOS), and SG UTM.

Please reach out to your local Sophos sales team before this date to discuss the hardware refresh options for your customers to ensure a smooth transition to newer technology.

 

What about the AP 100X?

Please note that the AP 100X outdoor model is not affected by this announcement and will continue to be sold until an equivalent APX model is available (in early May 2020) and the support dates on all platforms are clear.

 

What about older AP Series access points?

Should any of your customers still be using the much older AP Series access points, such as the AP 5, AP 10, AP 30, and AP 50 with either Sophos UTM or XG Firewall, those models have already been End-of-Life since at least 2018, and therefore management support cannot be guaranteed for those models on any platform. By using End-of-Life hardware, your customers may be risking interruptions in the correct functioning of their Wi-Fi network or their connectivity as a whole. In some scenarios, this could also affect their compliance status. We would request that all partners work with these customers to refresh their access points to models which are still supported.

 

What should I do with End-of-Life hardware?

After the End-of-Life of any hardware device, Sophos suggests that you dispose of the unit responsibly and in accordance with the environmental requirements in your region.

 

Who can I contact to get more help?

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your local Sophos team. They can help you to find the optimal plan for a managed lifecycle for your customers’ hardware.

About the Author

Sophos is a global leader and innovator of advanced security solutions that defeat cyberattacks, including Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and incident response services and a broad portfolio of endpoint, network, email, and cloud security technologies. As one of the largest pure-play cybersecurity providers, Sophos defends more than 600,000 organizations and more than 100 million users worldwide from active adversaries, ransomware, phishing, malware, and more. Sophos’ services and products connect through the Sophos Central management console and are powered by Sophos X-Ops, the company’s cross-domain threat intelligence unit. Sophos X-Ops intelligence optimizes the entire Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem, which includes a centralized data lake that leverages a rich set of open APIs available to customers, partners, developers, and other cybersecurity and information technology vendors. Sophos provides cybersecurity-as-a-service to organizations needing fully managed security solutions. Customers can also manage their cybersecurity directly with Sophos’ security operations platform or use a hybrid approach by supplementing their in-house teams with Sophos’ services, including threat hunting and remediation. Sophos sells through reseller partners and managed service providers (MSPs) worldwide. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com.