Hardware with no end-of-life announced — and how much warning each vendor gives
Every end-of-life database answers a backward question: when did this die? The one that costs money is forward — if I buy this now, how much notice will I get? EOSL.ai tracks 404 products across 13 manufacturers with no end-of-sale or end-of-service-life announced, each re-verified weekly against the manufacturer's own product page. Set beside 2,775 of those manufacturers' published end-of-sale → end-of-service-life pairs, that gives the only honest answer available: not a predicted date, but what each vendor has actually done.
By vendor
| Vendor | No EOL announced | Median support tail | Middle half | On the 60-mo convention | Pairs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zyxel | 84 | 24 mo (2.0 yr) | 18–24 mo | 0% | 195 |
| Fortinet | 82 | 60 mo (5.0 yr) | 60–60 mo | 98% | 831 |
| Cambium Networks | 56 | 49 mo (4.1 yr) | 48–60 mo | 47% | 161 |
| Dell | 50 | 60 mo (5.0 yr) | 60–60 mo | 70% | 432 |
| HPE | 39 | — | — | — | — |
| Cisco | 20 | 60 mo (5.0 yr) | 60–60 mo | 95% | 150 |
| Juniper | 20 | 60 mo (5.0 yr) | 60–71 mo | 62% | 208 |
| Cisco Meraki | 16 | 60 mo (5.0 yr) | 54–84 mo | 45% | 121 |
| Brocade | 10 | 62 mo (5.2 yr) | 62–62 mo | 93% | 15 |
| IBM | 9 | 68 mo (5.7 yr) | 57–94 mo | 15% | 478 |
| Palo Alto Networks | 7 | 60 mo (5.0 yr) | 60–60 mo | 86% | 29 |
| Netgate | 6 | 26 mo (2.2 yr) | 12–33 mo | 0% | 32 |
| Calix | 5 | 63 mo (5.3 yr) | 40–65 mo | 44% | 18 |
"Support tail" is the months between a vendor-published end-of-sale date and that product's vendor-published last date of support. The full per-vendor breakdown, including how each vendor misses the convention →
Zyxel · 84 with no end-of-life announced
When Zyxel does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 24 months (2.0 years) afterwards, measured over 195 published pairs.
Fortinet · 82 with no end-of-life announced
When Fortinet does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 60 months (5.0 years) afterwards, measured over 831 published pairs.
Cambium Networks · 56 with no end-of-life announced
When Cambium Networks does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 49 months (4.1 years) afterwards, measured over 161 published pairs.
Dell · 50 with no end-of-life announced
When Dell does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 60 months (5.0 years) afterwards, measured over 432 published pairs.
HPE · 39 with no end-of-life announced
HPE has too few published date pairs in this database to state a median — the figure is withheld rather than caveated.
Cisco · 20 with no end-of-life announced
When Cisco does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 60 months (5.0 years) afterwards, measured over 150 published pairs.
Juniper · 20 with no end-of-life announced
When Juniper does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 60 months (5.0 years) afterwards, measured over 208 published pairs.
Cisco Meraki · 16 with no end-of-life announced
When Cisco Meraki does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 60 months (5.0 years) afterwards, measured over 121 published pairs.
Brocade · 10 with no end-of-life announced
When Brocade does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 62 months (5.2 years) afterwards, measured over 15 published pairs.
IBM · 9 with no end-of-life announced
When IBM does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 68 months (5.7 years) afterwards, measured over 478 published pairs.
Palo Alto Networks · 7 with no end-of-life announced
When Palo Alto Networks does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 60 months (5.0 years) afterwards, measured over 29 published pairs.
Netgate · 6 with no end-of-life announced
When Netgate does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 26 months (2.2 years) afterwards, measured over 32 published pairs.
Calix · 5 with no end-of-life announced
When Calix does announce end-of-sale, support has historically continued a median of 63 months (5.3 years) afterwards, measured over 18 published pairs.
Support outlook — questions
Does EOSL.ai predict when a product will go end-of-life?
No, and it never will. EOSL.ai publishes a lifecycle date only when the manufacturer publishes one, with a link to the bulletin it came from. This page measures what each vendor has already done on products it HAS retired — history, with the sample size attached — so you can weigh it yourself. A projected date dressed up as a fact is exactly what makes lifecycle data untrustworthy.
How is the support tail measured?
It is the number of months between a product's vendor-published end-of-sale date and its vendor-published end-of-service-life date. Dates computed from a vendor's support-life policy are excluded, because they all equal the policy length and would manufacture a false consensus. Pairs of zero or negative length, or longer than 240 months, are treated as data errors and dropped. Across the whole database that leaves 2,775 pairs with a median of 60 months.
What does "no end-of-life announced" mean here?
It means the manufacturer still presents the product as current on its own site, and EOSL.ai re-checks that claim every week: the source page must still resolve, still name the model, carry no end-of-life language, and not be contradicted by the vendor's own EOL feed. A product missing from an EOL list is never treated as evidence that it is current — that would be an inference, not a citation.
Which vendors give the least warning?
On the products measured here, Zyxel and Cambium Networks and Netgate have median support tail shorter than the 60-month convention most of the industry follows. That is a statement about the products already retired, not about anything currently sold — but it is the kind of thing worth knowing before standardising on a vendor.
Can I reproduce these numbers?
Yes. Every pair behind them is in the open dataset under CC BY 4.0, and every date carries the vendor bulletin URL it was read from. Nothing on this page is hand-entered; it recomputes on every database refresh.
Cite this page: “EOSL.ai Hardware Support Outlook, Aug 2026” — https://eosl.ai/support-outlook/. Figures recompute on every database refresh; the underlying records are downloadable under CC BY 4.0 from the open dataset.