Oracle 12.1 Moves to Sustaining Support

Oracle users of Database version 12.1 will move from Extended Support to Sustaining Support at the end of July 2022, ending access to new security patches and bug fixes, which would inevitably leave the database less secure, and potentially at risk of tax, legal and regulatory non-compliance.

Oracle’s Lifetime Support Policy consists of 3 service levels: Premier Support, Extended Support & Sustaining Support. Premier Support is available for five years from the date a release of the Oracle Program becomes generally available. Extended Support may be made available for certain Oracle Program releases after Premier Support expires, after which the program would move to Sustaining Support.

Oracle offered Extended Support for Enterprise Edition 12.1 & Standard Edition 2 (SE2) 12.1 from August 2021 to July 2022, and announced that after this period of Extended Support, it would move to Sustaining Support. Program Releases under Sustaining Support are no longer fully supported and therefore information and skills relating to those releases may be limited.

Sustaining Support does not include:

• New Program Updates, fixes, security alerts & critical patch updates
• New tax, legal and regulatory updates
• New Upgrade Scripts
• Certification with new third party products/versions
• 24-hour commitment and response guidelines for Severity 1 Service Requests
• Previously release fixes or updates which Oracle no longer supports

Without access to the above, organisations are creating vulnerabilities within their infrastructure as new exploits and attacks are a constant, ever-growing threat. Business agility & scalability may also be impacted, as developing custom integration options for implementing new solutions can be restrictive. Many organisations with legacy product versions ultimately need to rely on third party services to fill the “skill gap” between vendor support to in-house resource.

For organisations who use 12.1 there are several options available, and this is where Logicalis can help.  We are here to understand your database and enterprise application strategies, offer our guidance and expertise to present options available, and support the transition to resolution, whether that be upgrading to a more secure version of the Database on-premises, or migrating these workloads to the cloud.

Logicalis are a Globally Present, Award Winning Oracle Partner offering Design, Implementation & Management of Oracle Technology Solutions. Get in touch with us today to speak with our experts who can advise on the best course of action for your organisation. Email info.uki@logicalis.com today to learn more.