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End of Life – Communications

Business Edition 4000 End of Sale Announcement

On the 22nd November 2019, Cisco announced the End-of-Sale of the BE4000 solution.  This includes both the hardware (appliance) and subscriptions (which includes access to the BE4000 management portal).  This means that following a standard 6-month Cisco notice period, customers will no longer be able to purchase the BE4000 solution from 22nd May 2020. There will be no immediate impact to existing BE4000 customers, as the solution will remain active for 3 years until the End of Life on 31st May 2023.

We understand that the withdrawal of any product is disruptive for both partners and customers. Please rest assured that there will be no immediate impact to existing BE4000 customers, as the solution will remain active for 3 years after the last day of sale.

There are two formal announcements with key dates and essential information about the End-of-Sale and End-of-Life milestones that impact the Appliance and the Solution Subscriptions. You should familiarize yourself with these key dates and stages which can be found here.

We recognize at this point that it is important to understand the options available and that Cisco has a commitment to ensure our customers have a continued, viable solution to meet their business needs. To this end, we are highlighting the following options for customers with active subscriptions.

Option One: Release appliance and migrate to Cloud Calling with Cisco Webex Calling.

Option Two: Release appliance for local management of unified communications features.

Option Three: Remain with the existing solution until end of life on 31^st May 2023.

After 22^nd May 2020 Customers can request for their appliance to be released for local management and cancellation of their BE4000 subscription. Cisco will undertake the process to release customer appliances for local management, allowing you to achieve ongoing requirements.

Ongoing entitlement to use calling features is provided through Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express licenses, available through a Flex-3 subscription.

Note: A valid BE4000 subscription and a Smart License registered appliance is required to request an appliance release.

What happens if your Customers do nothing?

If you do nothing, the Solution and Subscription will end of life on the 31^st May 2023. At this point it will not be possible to make changes or alterations through the management portal and it will no longer be possible to release a BE4000 appliance.

Whatever you decide, you have until 31 May 2023 to implement an alternative solution. We strongly recommend that customers and partners discuss the options available at the earliest possible convenience. Additional information for partners, including FAQ’s and a Partner Overview Deck is available on SalesConnect.

End of Sale & End of Life Bulletins

Cisco Business Edition 4000 End of Sale Partner Overview Deck – PPTX (Registered partners only)

Cisco Business Edition 4000 End of Sale Positioning and FAQ’s – PDF (Registered partners only)

Migration & appliance release plan for partners and customers

Requesting a BE4000 device release process.

Step 1: From the 22^nd of May 2020 Partners can request that a BE4000 appliance be released from the BE4000 portal by filling in this web form. All new requests must originate from this form, for anything else relating to a be4000 migration/release or End of Life please contact: be4000-eol@cisco.com

Step 2: The BE4000 team will contact you to confirm the receipt of the request and to arrange a date for release along with any actions to be taken by the partner/customer.

Step 3: The BE4000 team will remotely release the device on the agreed date. Please note the following:

1. The appliance will be released from the BE4000 portal and will not be able to reconnect; the appliance will be locally managed only. If your BE4000 is part of a multi-site deployment with intersite dialling please mention this on the form.
2. The configuration of the appliance will be changed however the call control functionality will not be altered.
3. A new local account will be setup for the partner or customer for SSH/Console access.
4. Confirmation and testing of a successful appliance release will be required to avoid any unexpected issues. We may need to work with a technically proficient contact on site to verify the appliance release.

Step 4: Transferring Licensing – this must only be done after the appliance is released

1. Once the BE4000 appliance has been released from the portal Cisco will inform the partner to open a Cisco support case to request the cancelation of the BE4000 subscription and credit back for the remaining term; this will be applied to the account holder.
2. Customers are responsible for making sure all of their remaining BE4000 phones (on other appliances) are still covered by a subscription. Likewise, all registered phones on the released BE4000 appliance should be licensed through a Flex-3 Commununications Manager Express subscription.
3. Cisco recommends maintaining a SmartNet support contract for the released appliance.

Step 5: The customer instance will be removed from the BE4000 portal at a slightly later date. Partners and customer admins will no longer have access to the appliance from be4000.cisco.com. End users will no longer have access to myphone.cisco.com.