What’s Happened?
In May 2018 VMware announced the end of availability for the Socialcast platform as of May 17th, 2018. Clients with licenses beyond this point have been provided with extended support but only until May 17th, 2019. After this date, users on the cloud will no longer be able to access the system or retrieve data.
Can I gain extended support beyond May 2019?
No, it doesn’t appear so. WMwear have set three core shut off dates. May 17th, 2018 (end of availability), 1st August 2018 (freemium programme shutdown) and May 17th, 2019 (end of life shutdown). The first two deadlines have come and gone with no extensions given so we believe May 17th, 2019 will continue to be a hard deadline where users will no longer have access to the system.
What if I have an on-premise solution?
As the system is hosted in your own environment you can continue using it beyond the 17th May 2019 however, we would not recommend this. VMware have confirmed there will be no support beyond May 2019 including security updates, patches or new features. As such, the longer you continue to use Socialcast past this point, the more your experience is likely to suffer and serious issues such as security breaches will become more common.
What are my options?
Migrating onto a new social collaboration platform will be the answer for most businesses. There are many to chose from however we have found Yammer to provide the best ‘like-for-like’ comparison to Socialcast. This not only makes migration easier and more cost effective, but also delivers great adoption rates from users.
Unfortunately, VMware have stated they cannot provide support for 3rd party migrations however we at WM Reply have produced a tool to support businesses who need to start the migration process.