Tech conglomerate Cisco often finds itself lost amongst the big brand names of other players in the industry, but it remains a dominant manufacturer of some of the world’s leading data center technology. Emerging as a rare success story out of the dotcom bubble, Cisco was at one point the most valuable tech firm in the world – and it all began with its founders, two Stanford University professors who initiated the connection between unwired computers in the early eighties.

Today, Cisco produces high-quality data center hardware annually and is considered one of the most reliable brands for such products.

What is the “EOSL” point?

Although Cisco isn’t the largest producer of data center products by volume, it does create and upgrade its ranges regularly. This means that upon the introduction of a newer networking technology, an older one is retired, and the OEM’s support is removed. If a business wishes to continue using the products past this point, they will be no longer able to access Cisco support directly from the OEM and instead must purchase a maintenance package from another provider.

Which hardware will see its OEM Cisco support withdrawn in 2022?

Cisco didn’t have all too many items reach their EOSL point in 2020 and 2021 and so unfortunately 2022 will see Cisco OEM support withdrawn on quite a few popular lines.

Both the 2900 series and 3900 series of integrated routers hit their EOSL date at the end of the year alongside the 9500 series supervisor products and the 9506 and 9513 director ranges. The Meraki collection will see support removed for the ANT-11, ANT-13, MR12, and MX60 solution, as well as the entire N9K series range.

The Nexus collection also sees lots of equipment hit its EOSL: the 6000 series switches, the 7000 series network analysis modules (NAM-NX1), the 9300 series 93128TX switch, and the 9500 48-port 1/10GBASE-T. These are all popular items and are frequently used in combinations together, so this EOSL will have a significant impact on many companies.

What can be done if a business is currently utilizing Cisco equipment about to hit its EOSL?

While Cisco does not tend to have an aggressive sales model, they do (as does every data center OEM) initiate these dates with the intention to upgrade their customers to newer equipment. Providing the equipment in place is still functional and performing well, it need not be uninstalled and replaced – instead, Cisco support services can be procured from another source.

Procurri offers independent third-party maintenance Cisco support services across all the hardware listed above and is able to operate it under new support contracts that complement any other OEM agreements. What’s more, the “always-on” service allows businesses all over the world to access support and maintenance, both virtually and in-person, whenever they need it and without delay. Performance standards can remain the same as expected from newer equipment and even the most legacy and/or unusual of hardware can be looked after by the specialized data center team of engineers.