Glossary Term

EOSL (End of Service Life)

The point at which a vendor stops releasing updates, patches, or security fixes for a hardware or software product, after which continued use carries growing risk.

Definition

EOSL marks the date a vendor stops supporting a product with patches, updates, or fixes, including security fixes. For IBM i shops running older Power hardware or unsupported software versions, EOSL is a planning deadline, not just a warranty detail, because unpatched vulnerabilities and unsupported configurations accumulate risk the longer a system runs past that date.

EOSL planning is a separate question from whether an application needs to be rewritten. A shop can address EOSL on the hardware or OS layer, through options like PowerVS or a platform refresh, while leaving RPG, COBOL, and other application logic exactly as it is.

Example

A company running a Power server past its EOSL date is exposed to unpatched vulnerabilities even though the RPG applications on it still run correctly, which is why EOSL is tracked separately from application health.