The latest release of Office 365 marks the beginning of some changes for products under the Forefront brand. The roadmap for these products is changing to ensure that Microsoft customers continue to receive the best deployment of security and protection solutions for their applications as new versions are developed and released. Customers can read a detailed summary of changes on the Server & Cloud blog at Important Changes to Forefront Product Roadmaps.
Some noteworthy changes to the Forefront Product Roadmaps are as follows:
- Forefront Online Protection for Exchange will be renamed Exchange Online Protection in its next release.
- Any further release of the following Forefront Products will be discontinued, and will no longer be available for purchase after December 1, 2012: Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server (FPE), Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint (FPSP), Forefront Security for Office Communications Server (FSOCS)
It is worth noting that Microsoft will continue providing maintenance and support for these discontinued products for some time. Most Online Service Subscriptions will continue to receive support through 2015, and Perpetual Server Licensees can expect to receive support through 2020.
Amy Doran, Technical Writer, Forefront for Office User Assistance