EOL vs EOSL vs End of Sale — what each milestone actually means
Vendors retire hardware in stages, and the acronyms overlap enough that even experienced teams mix them up. Here is the lifecycle in order, what each date changes for you, and a map of every major vendor's terminology — the same normalization EOSL.ai applies to every tracked part number.
The lifecycle, in order
Product ships and is fully supported. Nothing to plan yet.
The vendor announces retirement and publishes the bulletin with every date below. This is "EOL" in the broad sense — support has NOT ended.
Last day to buy it from the vendor. Support continues — typically about 5 more years (median 60 months across this database).
Last Date of Support. Security fixes, TAC and hardware replacement stop. The date that matters for risk.
The same milestones, in each vendor's words
As used in the vendor bulletins this database links to. EOSL.ai normalizes the left pair to End of Sale and the right pair to End of Service Life (EOSL).
| Vendor | "You can no longer buy it" | "We no longer support it" |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco | End-of-Sale Date | Last Date of Support (LDoS) |
| HPE | End of Sale | End of Support Life (EOSL) |
| Dell EMC | End of Sale | End of Standard Support |
| IBM | Withdrawal from Marketing | End of Support |
| Juniper | End of Sale (EOS) | End of Support (EOS) |
| Fortinet | End of Order (EOO) | End of Support (EOS) |
| Palo Alto Networks | End-of-Sale | End-of-Life (EOL) |
Why the confusion causes real mistakes
Often wrong — an EOL announcement can precede the last support date by 5+ years. Budget urgency should key off the EOSL date, not the announcement.
Also wrong in reverse — end of sale means the support countdown is already running. The refresh window is the gap between the two dates.
Some vendors use EOS for End of Sale, others for End of Support — opposite ends of the timeline. Always expand the acronym against the bulletin.
Within one product, different SKUs can have different EOSL dates (the Catalyst 3850's copper models ended Oct 2025; its fiber models run to Apr 2027). Product-level answers can be wrong for your exact box.
Milestone questions
Is EOL the same as EOSL?
No. End of Life (EOL) is the umbrella announcement that a product is being retired; End of Service Life (EOSL, also called Last Date of Support) is the specific final date the vendor supports it. A product can be "EOL" for years while still fully supported — the EOSL date is the one that ends security fixes, TAC support and hardware replacement.
Can hardware still be used after its EOSL date?
Yes — the hardware keeps working. What ends is vendor support: no more firmware or security patches, no vendor TAC, no RMA replacement. Many organizations keep post-EOSL gear in production under third-party maintenance while planning replacement.
How long is there between end of sale and end of support?
Across 2,775 vendor-published date pairs in the EOSL.ai database, the median is 60 months — enterprise vendors converge on roughly 5 years of support after a product leaves the price list. Cisco publishes this as policy; others follow the same pattern in practice.
What does LDoS mean?
Last Date of Support — Cisco's name for the final day it supports a product. It is the same milestone this site calls End of Service Life (EOSL). After LDoS a device receives no software fixes, no security patches and no TAC support.
Why do vendors use different terms for the same milestones?
There is no industry standard. Cisco says "Last Date of Support", HPE says "End of Support Life", Dell says "End of Standard Support", Fortinet says "End of Support". EOSL.ai normalizes them all to End of Sale and End of Service Life (EOSL) for comparison, and links every date to the vendor bulletin using the vendor's own words.