The life span of HMS products

The Ramp-up phase begins with the “public release” when a new product is launched on the market. If the optional Ramp-up phase is applied, the phase lasts up to 6 months. During this phase, the lead time maybe longer than standard lead time.

The product is in volume production and is promoted and sold actively according to the price lists for the Active phase. During this phase, HMS add new product features, proactively maintaining and improving the product with bug fixing and security patches.

A limited notification is sent to customers through HMS sales channels before the product is moved into the Limited phase. Extended lead times are normally applied, and active phase price lists are no longer valid, different unit prices may apply.

In the Limited phase, no further product enhancement, documentation, development, or conformance testing is done by HMS. If HMS decides that a bug fix or an update anyway is required to ensure normal operation, an exception will be made to this policy. Limited technical support is offered where response times may be longer. Only high severity security issues with severity higher than 6.9 according to CVSS scoring will be considered.

The Limited phase is optional if a substitute product has been released or there have been no product orders for several years.

Products in the Limited phase are not recommended to be included in new customer projects.

An exit notification is sent to customers through HMS sales channels before the product is moved into the Exit phase. The Exit phase lasts at least 12 months after which the product is made obsolete. Lead times may be long and a “Last time buy” will be scheduled as a one-time delivery. Active phase price lists are no longer valid and different unit prices may apply.

In the Exit phase, no further product enhancement, documentation, development or conformance testing is done by HMS. If HMS decides that an update anyway is required to ensure normal operation, an exception will be made to this policy. Limited technical support is offered where response times may be longer. Only critical severity security issues with severity higher than 8.9 according to CVSS scoring will be considered.

From the “Last time buy”, depending on available stocks, HMS may replace the product with a substitute product in the case of warranty returns (RMA).

Products in the Exit phase are not recommended to be included in new customer projects.

HMS will not accept orders after the product has been made obsolete.

In this phase, no further product enhancement, documentation, development, conformance testing, bugfixes, security patches or product returns (RMA) is done by HMS.

However, in certain cases, HMS is willing to allocate engineering and manufacturing resources to provide a limited amount of re-engineered backward compatible spare parts. Such projects are quoted individually by HMS and funded fully by customers. HMS offers this possibility up to 5 years after the product is obsolete.

No technical support and cloud services availability are guaranteed.