Modernization of legacy automation systems helps eliminate the ever-growing risk of obsolescence. Balancing your system integration needs and budget to accomplish these tasks can prove challenging. As products approach the end of their expected life, the availability of parts and resources can become difficult. That’s why the Rockwell Product Life Cycle page is such a valuable tool for businesses.
Thousands of electronic products under the Allen-Bradley brand have been released over the past century, so it should come as no surprise that some Allen-Bradley discontinued products are still being used today in plants across the country. The Rockwell Automation Product Lifecycle page is designed to help customers quickly and easily look up product information and discover the current status of these products.
This article will look at Rockwell life cycle management and how South Shore Controls can help customers with upgrades and migration planning.
What Do the Rockwell Product Life Cycle Statuses Mean?
When you do a search using the Rockwell Automation Product Lifecycle page, you will see a status as part of the results, telling you what stage of life the product is in. There are four different Rockwell product life cycle statuses:
1. Visit the Rockwell Automation website and click on “Support.”
2. Under Management, select “Product Lifecycle Status.”
3. On the Product Lifecycle Status page, enter the Catalog Number of the product you want to check the status of. For example, if you search for item 1771-OX you will find these results.
4. In the results, you’ll find the life cycle status of this product. As you can see, item 1771-OX was discontinued in 2009.
What Do the Rockwell Product Life Cycle Statuses Mean?
When you do a search using the Rockwell Automation Product Lifecycle page, you will see a status as part of the results, telling you what stage of life the product is in. There are four different Rockwell product life cycle statuses:
- Active. The most current offerings that are fully supported.
- Active Mature. These products are still fully supported, but there are newer products available in that category.
- End of Life. A discontinued date has been announced for these products.
- Discontinued. This product is no longer available to purchase.
When a product is in the End of Life status, you should seriously consider migrating to more current offerings that are fully supported and available. In general, products in this status will be available until their discontinued date, but migration planning should be done before then.
Let South Shore Controls Help Analyze Your Rockwell Automation Product Lifecycle Status
If your Rockwell/Allen-Bradley products are discontinued or at the “end of life” stage, there are options and South Shore Controls can help. As a leading Allen-Bradley systems integrator, we can help you identify the best industrial automation products to upgrade your Allen-Bradley end of life products. We can analyze where you are at in the Rockwell Product Life Cycle and determine if modernization will best meet your needs.
Migration is almost always the best solution when your products are at the end of life or discontinued stage. Because South Shore Controls is a FANUC certified systems integrator, we can help you get the most out of a new system if you want to upgrade. If you need to fix your existing system and want to get more life out of it before you upgrade, our status as a FANUC-authorized integrator means we have the tools to help support your current system.
As a long-time Rockwell Automation systems integrator, South Shore Controls has all the experience necessary to handle your most difficult questions about Allen-Bradley upgrades. Whether you’re looking for logic controllers or managed switches, we have the solutions you need. Request a quote or contact us for more details.
