FortiGate End of Life

FortiGate hardware has a life cycle separate from FortiOS. Regardless of which firmware version you run, the appliance itself reaches end of sale and then end of support.

End of Order is the last day the unit can be purchased; the second date is the last day a support contract can be bought or renewed; End of Support is when firmware updates, FortiGuard signature updates and technical support all stop.

After End of Support, newly discovered vulnerabilities are not fixed. For equipment sitting at the network perimeter, running past end of support means leaving a known route in.

The date that matters most in practice is the last date to purchase support: once it passes you cannot renew, so coverage lapses even though the End of Support date is still ahead. Plan replacements backwards from that date, not from End of Support.