AudioCodes End-of-Service for SBC and Media Gateway Software Version 7.2

AudioCodes has announced in Product Notice #0528 that version 7.2 for Session Border Controller (SBC) and Media Gateway devices will reach end-of-service (EoS) status on December 31, 2024.

Retirement Chair Lake — Source: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/h%c3%bctte-see-wasser-natur-sommer-1550083/

After this date, no further planned maintenance releases or fixes will be provided for this version. A new 7.6 stream is planned for the 2nd half of 2024.

All software and hardware-based SBC and gateway platforms are affected. Customers are advised to update their SBCs and media gateways to version 7.4.

Conclusion, opinion and summary

For Teams Direct Routing, it is important to keep your Session Border Controller (SBC) and Devices updated. Microsoft has a list of the supported and suggested SBC versions for certified Teams Direct Routing SBCs, such as Audiocodes Mediant Cloud Edition SBC with 7.20A.258 but preferable with 7.40A.500. I think that this list will be updated according to the EoS information from Audiocodes within this year, before 7.20 becomes obsolete.

The Teams Calling backend is a service that keeps changing over time, unlike any old on-premises PBX that stays the same unless an admin changes it on purpose.

Audiocodes SBCs also use a security hardened Linux operating system that varies depending on the SBC firmware. So if you have an Audiocodes SBC with firmware 7.20… on Azure or on an hardware appliance or virtual machine/appliance, you are likely using an outdated Linux operating system. Even if it is still supported by the Audiocodes SBC firmware support and it is a hardened and closed system, I don’t like that the underlying operating system is outdated. What does this mean? Well, if you are using an old version, you probably have to migrate to a new SBC on a supported version stream. This is not a big problem in my experience, I have done this several times, but it has to be well planned and prepared. And you might need a brief maintenance window when you switch off the old SBC and switch on the new one. If you plan it smoothly, users might not even notice the change. However, it ultimately depends on your SBC setup and architecture, because there are different factors based on the SBC deployment (single SBC, multiple SBCs, clustered SBCs, location/type: hardware, software, cloud …). In other words, you might want to start checking and preparing for the EoS to keep running supported systems.