How will I know the life span of my product?
Product lifecycle policy
HMS Industrial Networks (HMS) develops products that are meant to stay on the market for a long time, often more than 10 years. The products are designed to be used in industrial applications, which brings high demands on reliability and availability. Product lifetimes are influenced by many factors such as component availability and technology development. HMS always strives to keep the products up to date and maintain backward compatibility.
To manage the products in a structured way during the lifetime, HMS has established a product lifecycle policy over a series of product lifecycle phases. Within this scope, HMS is committed to notify customers of any change in product lifecycle status well in advance, for customers to be able to plan their operations in an efficient way. The transition between the different phases may need to be done faster in force majeure situations beyond HMS control, including exceptional and extreme situations on the electronic components market.
Overview of the lifecycle management:
NOTE: Software (configuration tool, mobile Apps, safety stacks, etc.) are not always subject to the same phases and lifetime as Hardware products.
Description of HMS product lifecycle phases
1. Ramp-up
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.
2. Active
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 continues to add new product features, proactively maintaining and improving the product with bug fixing and security patches.
3. Limited
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 Extended lead times are normally applied, and active phase price lists are no longer valid, different unit prices may apply.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 scoring1 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.
4. Exit
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 the 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 scoring2 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.
5. Obsolete
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.