BEA Systems today announced a new lifecycle support policy for BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1™.  Under the new policy, BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1 will be supported for five years under BEA normal support terms, with two years extended support available under additional terms. This policy provides support for two years longer than that of the nearest leading competitor. The new policy, available immediately, is aimed at providing a predictable product roadmap and support framework for customers building and deploying mission critical applications and service-oriented architectures on the BEA platform. SOAs can enable enterprises closer alignment of IT interactions with business goals to help companies become service-driven enterprises, increasing their efficiency, responsiveness and adaptability.

As enterprises begin developing and building their IT infrastructure based on SOA principles, architects and their teams are turning to BEA for a consistent and standards-based way to develop new applications and services.  To help protect their investment and ensure smooth implementation, BEA’s customers and partners with active Customer Support Service contracts will receive updates, service packs, patches and technical support for the specified period of the contract.  

“BEA has always put the customer first and our new lifecycle support policy is the latest proof point,” said Tom Ashburn, President BEA Services.  “Our new support policy betters that of our leading competitors by two years.  Customers are deploying business critical applications on WebLogic Platform 8.1 and this offer of extra assurance of product support can help provide the predictability they need for long-term planning and investments.”

Additionally, to provide further support for customers migrating and upgrading from older versions of BEA’s products, BEA also announced that it would extend the product lifecycle and support several existing products.  This can help customers keep pace with new innovations; provide support to ensure smooth and rapid deployment; remain competitive and help ease the migration path.

For more information about BEA’s customer support policies: http://support.bea.com/help/BEA_Customer_Support_Services_Policies.pdf