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Deep Security release strategy and life cycle policy
Trend Micro provides two types of Deep Security releases:
- Major releases: Released annually, major releases provide new features, bug fixes, and feature enhancements, and include long-term support.
- Feature releases: Released between major releases, feature releases provide early access to new features. (For more information, see Feature releases.) Feature releases include shorter support periods. Feature release functionality is cumulative and is ultimately rolled into the next major release.
You might choose to obtain major releases because they are more compatible with longer adoption cycles, and you value sustainability over early adoption of new features. However, if new features are more critical to your immediate requirements, you can obtain feature releases before the next major release becomes available.
Topics on this page:
Support milestones for major releases
The following table lists the life cycle milestones for major releases and indicates their timing relative to the initial availability of the release.
| Life cycle milestone | Timing (Global) |
| General Availability (GA) | GA (Annually) |
| End of standard support (Only extended support is subsequently available.) | GA + 3 years |
| End of life (End of extended support.) | GA + 4 years |
Trend Micro publishes a list of end-of-life products.
Major release support services
The following table indicates which support items are available during the life cycle of Deep Security major releases.
| Support item | Standard support | Extended support |
| Small enhancements (no change to core functionality) | ✔ | |
| Linux kernel updates | ✔ | On request |
| General bug fixes | ✔ | |
| Critical bug fixes (system crash or hang, or loss of major functionality) | ✔ | ✔ |
| Critical and high vulnerability fixes | ✔ | ✔ |
| Medium and low vulnerability fixes | ✔ | |
| Anti-Malware pattern updates | ✔ | ✔ |
| Intrusion prevention system, integrity monitoring, and log inspection rules updates | ✔ | ✔ |
| Support for Agents and Deep Security Manager on new versions of supported operating systems | ✔ |
For a list of support items that are provided for feature releases, see Feature releases.
Agent platform support policy
Deep Security Agent software is released several times a year as described in the release policy found above.
Agent platforms (operating systems) are supported according to the policy below. We recognize that in some cases you must commit to platforms for many years. This policy is designed to provide predictability when you deploy Deep Security in these environments.
Agent platform support policy:
- The agent is supported on a large range of platforms, as shown in the Agent platform support table.
- The support duration of any individual release of agent software is determined by the Deep Security release life cycle and support policy. For example, you'll receive three years of standard support and four years of extended support for major releases of the agent (10.0, 11.0, and so on). In cases where you plan to use an OS platform for an extended period of time, you must also plan to upgrade the agent software on a regular basis to stay within the support life cycle for any specific Deep Security software release. In cases where an older agent is recommended for a given platform, this agent will be considered a part of the overall solution and takes on the support dates for the release in which it is contained. See the bullet below for details.
- Platforms continue to be supported until at least the OS vendor's end-of-extended-support date. Where interest dictates, Trend Micro extends support significantly beyond this date.
- To ensure that you have the latest performance and security updates from your OS vendor, Trend Micro strongly encourages you to move to the latest version of the OS for which an agent is available.
- We strive to release a new version of the Deep Security Agent for all supported platforms. However, in some cases we recommend the use of a previous release of the agent to provide coverage for older platforms. For example, with Deep Security 11.0, the latest agent for Windows 2000 is Deep Security Agent 9.6. This 9.6 agent becomes part of the overall 11.0 Deep Security solution and takes on the support dates for the release in which it is contained.
- You’ll always receive advance warning if we end support for a platform, and we’ll never shorten the support life cycle of a software release post-General Availability (GA).*
* Once a platform is no longer supported by the OS vendor, there is a risk that a technical issue arises that cannot be fixed without the support of the OS vendor. If this situation occurs, Trend Micro will communicate the limitation to you immediately. Note that this situation may result in loss of functionality. We will do our best to deal with any technical issues if they arise.
