The following information is intended to help Parallels Partners to better plan Parallels Automation administration, operation, and maintenance, and to keep all related systems and components up-to-date.

For Parallels Automation products (PA), namely Parallels Operations Automation (POA) and Parallels Business Automation (PBA), Parallels will provide software patches and accept technical support requests for (a) the then-current major PA version and the immediately preceding major PA version or (b) the 12 months following each major PA release – whichever is longer.

The major version is defined by the first and second digits in the version number. For example, PBA 5.4 and PBA 4.4 have different major versions, the same way that POA 5.4 and POA 5.3 have different major versions, whereas POA 5.4.1 and POA 5.4.2 have the same major version (POA 5.4).

Below are definitions of key terms used in the Parallels Automation lifecycle:

This is the period when a new product version may be ordered and fulfilled. During the GA of a new release, some applicable offerings of the previous release will be phased out. During GA, Parallels will provide the following:

• Releases/patches to implement security fixes, critical bug fixes, and updates
• Paid support according to Partner support contracts
• Free self-support services (Knowledge Base articles, Community support)

The EOL is the date when technical support and product downloads are no longer available. Technical support is limited to information contained in the Parallels Knowledge Base and Support Forums. If the issues cannot be corrected through these methods, then an upgrade or migration to the latest version is recommended.

Effective on the EOL date, the following will no longer be available:

• Support of the affected releases by the Parallels Support Team
• Product updates for the affected releases
• Future integrations of the affected releases with any Parallels products

• Each major version will be fully supported for a period of at least 12 months after its release.
• In order to ensure stable operation, it is recommended that you have the latest update/patch installed for your major version, e.g., the latest 5.4.x version in the POA 5.4 series, the latest 5.3.x in the POA 5.3 series, or the latest 5.1.x version in the PBA 5.1 series.
• Support for a particular instance is also dependent on using the currently supported integrated components. This policy is described in the relevant section below.
• Even for unsupported instances, Parallels will continue to accept technical support requests related to upgrading to a supported version or environment.

Parallels Automation Lifecycle

The table below describes when specific versions of Parallels Automation were released and when patches/support will no longer be available. If you are affected by one of the below dates, customers are encouraged to upgrade to a supported Parallels Automation version.

          Indicates the recommended Parallels Automation version

Parallels Automation integrates with several related components – some developed by Parallels and some by third parties. The Knowledge Base article below will help you determine the support status and lifecycle of many related components:

http://kb.parallels.com/en/8769