BITS, a nonprofit consortium of 100 of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has negotiated a deal with Microsoft for support of its members migrating from Windows NT 4.0. The June 2004 announcement spurred rumors that NT 4.0 would receive further extensions to its support life-cycle deadlines. In fact, those deadlines have not changed: Extended support for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation will end on June 30, 2004, and for Windows NT 4.0 Server on Dec. 31, 2004.

The announcement signals new cooperation between Microsoft and BITS, who have agreed on the cost of paid support to address any issues with Windows NT 4.0 until all BITS members have upgraded to supported versions. In addition, BITS has signaled that it supports the new support life-cycle guidelines that Microsoft introduced at TechEd in May 2004.

Microsoft will not disclose the negotiated rate for the paid support, although it is likely high enough to discourage frivolous requests for updates. While the joint press release was made with BITS, the rates for paid support will apply to all customers who are transitioning from NT 4.0 to newer Windows versions. Microsoft also emphasized that some requests for changes would likely be impossible to make on the old code, and that in those cases, Microsoft would help find a workaround to address the issue until migration is complete.

The amended Microsoft and BITS press release is at www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/jun04/06-21MSBITSPR.asp.

The new support plans announced at Tech Ed in May 2004 are described in "Support Life Cycle Extended" on page 38 of the July 2004 Update.

Background on the software life cycle and its impact on customers is contained in "Maintaining Software Through the Life Cycle".

More information on BITS is available at its Web site at www.bitsinfo.org.