Introduction
When Microsoft announced the end of life for Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 and Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) 2010, they pledged to provide mainstream support for both TMG and UAG until April 14, 2015, and extended support until April 14, 2020.
Microsoft mainstream support is complimentary for anyone who has purchased TMG or UAG. Extended support is also available to everyone, but with a few very serious limitations. For instance, extended support is pay-per-incident and includes technical assistance and security updates. However, it does not include non-security updates for TMG and UAG. To continue to receive non-security hotfixes, customers must have (or purchase) a Microsoft Premiere Support contract and an additional Extended Hotfix Support contract for each product.
TMG/UAG Mainstream Support Ends in April 2015
Forefront TMG and UAG still provide essential protection in spite of the fact that they will no longer be developed in the future. Both offer features that organizations of all sizes still rely on today and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As the end of mainstream support is quickly approaching, organizations who continue to use Forefront TMG and UAG in production environments face a scenario in which their production systems will be without vital support. If an issue arises, they will be left to troubleshoot and resolve it on their own, without assistance. This could lead to prolonged service outages or, in the event an issue requires a non-security update, a persistent problem without resolution.
Celestix Mainstream Support
Celestix support has historically been available to customers who purchase one of our hardware appliances and a corresponding support contract. Earlier this month, Celestix announced it would be offering its Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010 and Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) 2010 support services to all non-Celestix customers who are affected by the end of mainstream support for TMG and UAG. This includes customers who have purchased TMG on a competing hardware appliance solution, or those who have deployed it on their own physical server or in a virtual environment. Celestix offers a range of support solutions including email and phone support with varying service levels and contract lengths. Celestix currently has a tiered support organization with multiple internal escalation levels. Celestix also has support escalation paths directly to Microsoft, which ensures access to resources and information that can speed problem resolution significantly. In addition, our supported customers will have access through Celestix to non-security updates provided by Microsoft without having to purchase a costly Premiere Support and Extended Hotfix Support contracts.
For more information about Celestix mainstream support contracts for non-Celestix customers, please drop us a note at info@celstix.com.
