Kvaser Not For New Design (NFND) & End of Life (EOL) Policies

January 23, 2019 – As a service to users and partners, Kvaser is moving to a Not For New Design (NFND) policy on legacy products.

Summary

Kvaser’s NFND policy is a high-value benefit to our users, providing an option for product support over extremely long project lifespans. When a Kvaser product reaches legacy status, it will be designated “Not For New Design” instead of “End of Life” (EOL) whenever possible.

NFND products are subject to increased price and lead times. Contact Kvaser directly for price and lead time.

When possible, however, we suggest you migrate to newer versions of a Kvaser product line. The most recent generation of Kvaser products benefit from the latest software and firmware updates, fast lead times, and competitive pricing. All NFND and EOL products are updated with suggested migration products on their individual product pages (you can search all products here).

Not For New Design

Kvaser is moving to a “Not For New Design’ policy for legacy products. Kvaser products are designed for a production lifespan of 15-20 years and beyond. Eventually, though, challenges with component sourcing, testing equipment, and overall technology trends will limit the production lifespan of any electronic device.

In the past, when a Kvaser product reached the end of it’s production lifespan, it would be marked “End of Life” (read more on End of Life products below). An “EOL” status meant that the product was no longer available, and customers would be directed to migrate to a newer product. In a small number of instances, this posed problems for users with especially long life-cycle requirements on their CANbus installations.

Under Kvaser’s new “Not For New Design” policy, however, that is no longer the case. Products at the end of their production lifespan will still be made available for purchase as often as possible, but at increased prices and lead times. The increased price and lead times allows for increased component price, special production equipment configuration, etc.

“Not For New Design” is intended as a service to our customers and partners, providing a backstop solution on extremely demanding projects.

We realize that your CANbus installations are expected to function reliably for a long time, even over decades. This means that you may need the exact same Kvaser part number product for that system over a long period of time. Perhaps this is because you’re working with legacy software, or specially certified systems, or licensing issues.

In any of these cases, if you absolutely need an older Kvaser product, please contact us – we want to make your project a success.

End Of Life

Kvaser’s End of Life (EOL) policy covers products that are no longer available at all. Kvaser products are marked as EOL when production is no longer possible, and “in stock” status is expected to become zero.

Kvaser will issue warnings of products scheduled to go EOL 12 months in advance. During this 12 month period, customers are encouraged to stock up for current project requirements, as well as to test out the next generation of Kvaser products for the purposes of migrating to the newer product.

At the end of the 12-month period, the EOL transition is complete, and that product is no longer available for sale.

 

Kvaser EOL and NFND announcement archive: