As cloud computing continues to evolve, it’s common for cloud providers to retire or discontinue certain services or products. This can understandably cause concern for businesses and individuals relying on those services. However, there are steps you can take to assess if your cloud service is at risk of being discontinued and prepare accordingly.
How to know if your cloud service is being discontinued
Here are some of the main ways to find out if the cloud service you use is being discontinued:
- Official announcement from the provider – Reputable providers will directly notify customers if a service is being discontinued, usually with ample lead time.
- Notice of deprecation – The provider may announce that certain features are being “deprecated” and will no longer receive updates or support after a certain date.
- No updates or releases – If it’s been a long time since new features or updates have been released for the service, it may indicate it’s being phased out.
- Renewal issues – You may have trouble renewing or extending your contract for the cloud service.
- Press reports – Tech media sites may report on planned discontinuations of cloud services.
- Community chatter – Discussions in forums and social media from other users of the service mentioning it’s being discontinued.
If you notice any of these signs, it’s a good indication that you should start preparing for the eventuality of the service being terminated. Don’t ignore the warnings – hoped that the provider might reverse course. Assume discontinuation is happening and start planning your response.
How much notice is given for cloud discontinuation?
There is no set rule for how much advance notice you’ll get about a cloud service discontinuation. It can vary substantially depending on the provider and circumstances. Some guidelines on typical notice periods:
- 30 days or less – Smaller or specialized services may give only a month’s notice if they are shutting down entirely.
- 90 days – A quarter’s notice is pretty common for larger providers discontinuing a specific service, feature set or API.
- 6-12 months – For major platform shutdowns, a year or more of notice may be provided to give customers time to migrate.
- Multi-year – In some cases, mainly for core services, the provider may commit to a multi-year wind-down period.
Note that these are just general guidelines, not hard and fast rules. The exact discontinuation timeline will depend on the specific situation. Don’t assume you’ll get a lengthy notice period – be prepared to act quickly if needed.
What does a cloud discontinuation process look like?
When a cloud provider decides to retire a service, they will usually follow a phased process to wind it down gradually over a period of time. Here are the typical phases:
- Announcement – Provider notifies users of decision to discontinue the service and timeline for doing so.
- Transition Period – Service remains live and supported for existing customers during this windows to migrate.
- New Sales Stop – Provider halts new sales and sign-ups for the discontinued service.
- Feature Development Stops – No new features, updates or fixes implemented.
- Support Reduced – Support resources shifted away from discontinued service to other priorities.
- Service Retirement – On announced termination date, service is fully shut down.
The length of the transition period will determine how much time you have to migrate. Make sure you know when new sales, updates and support will stop to gauge your timeline.
What happens to your data and workloads?
When a cloud service used to store your data and run your workloads gets discontinued, what happens to all that information and those compute resources? Here are some potential scenarios:
- Migration to Alternate Service – Provider offers tools to migrate data/workloads to another service they offer.
- Export Capabilities – Your data can be exported out of the system prior to retirement.
- Third-Party Migration Tools – Partners may offer tools to help migrate off discontinued service.
- Snapshot Backups – Provider gives you snapshots of data at time of retirement but no export option.
- Permanent Deletion – All customer data and resources associated with retired service are deleted.
Be sure you know what will happen to your data and workloads at discontinuation so you can plan accordingly. Don’t assume your provider will migrate everything for you.
Popular cloud services at risk of discontinuation
Some cloud services are more likely to get the axe than others. Here are some popular cloud offerings from major providers that have a higher risk profile:
| Cloud Service | Provider | Risk Factors |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud Print | Limited usage, strong competition | |
| Amazon Storage Gateway | AWS | Lagging alternative options, low uptake |
| IBM Bluemix | IBM | Rebranded as IBM Cloud, minimal updates |
| Azure Media Services | Microsoft | Major strategy shift, focus on other media offerings |
| Rackspace Cloud Sites | Rackspace | Legacy offering, dominance of WordPress hosting |
This is not an exhaustive list, just some examples. Carefully evaluate any higher-risk services you may be relying on.
Steps to take if your cloud service is discontinued
If you do find out your cloud service is definitely being retired, you’ll need to take action. Here are the key steps to take:
- Evaluate Alternatives – Determine which replacement services will best fit your needs.
- Create a Migration Plan – Outline tasks, roles and timelines to migrate to the new service.
- Migrate Data – Follow data export, backup or migration steps for the discontinued service.
- Shift Compute Workloads – Move application hosting, containers, functions etc. to new provider.
- Redirect Traffic – Cut over end user traffic to new service once migration is complete.
- Cancel Old Service – After successful migration, cancel your old cloud subscription.
Depending on the complexity of your workload, you may want to enlist help from a professional cloud migration firm as well.
Best practices for mitigating cloud service retirement risk
While you can’t completely avoid the possibility of a cloud service retirement, there are some best practices that can mitigate the risk and potential business impact:
- Avoid vendor lock-in – Architect solutions across multiple cloud providers so you have alternatives if one platform is discontinued.
- Use open standards – Minimize dependence on proprietary APIs, technologies and architectures.
- Demand roadmap visibility – Push vendors for longer-term product roadmaps and guidance on strategic initiatives.
- Plan for change – Build in flexibility and capabilities in your architecture to more easily swap out cloud services if needed.
- Explore options early – At the first hint of a retirement, start evaluating potential replacement services immediately.
Staying vigilant, following cloud-agnostic strategies, and keeping migration plans at the ready can help you smoothly transition if that dreaded retirement notice ever comes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How will I know if my cloud provider is going out of business entirely?
For large, well-established cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, the risk of them going out of business completely is very low. However, clear signs would be announcement of bankruptcy, lawsuits, failed buy-outs, or takeovers by another company. For smaller providers, look for missed service level agreements, frequent extended outages, and lack of new feature development.
What if my contract extends beyond the retirement date?
Typically your cloud contract is with the specific service being retired, not the provider as a whole. So even if your contract extends past the retirement date, the provider has the right to discontinue that service on the stated termination date. You need to be prepared to migrate off the service regardless of contract length.
Can I claim damages if my cloud is discontinued without much notice?
Most cloud provider contracts heavily favor the provider and limit their liability. You likely have little legal recourse for compensation. Focus efforts on migration rather than attempting to claim damages. However, if data loss results, that may present grounds to pursue negotiated compensation.
What if I can’t migrate by the retirement deadline?
Ideally, you’ll want to migrate by the official retirement date. But if that won’t be feasible for your situation, contact your cloud provider as early as possible to request an extension. They may provide a grace period if you have an actionable migration plan and firm timeline. Expect this to come with a premium price tag though.
Can my cloud provider reverse their decision to discontinue a service?
It’s rare, but not unheard of, for strong customer feedback and outcry to lead a provider to reverse course on retiring a cloud service. But most of the time, the decision has already been made for strategic reasons and will stick. Don’t bank on a reversal – operate under the assumption discontinuation is definite.
Conclusion
Cloud service retirement presents real business risks you can’t afford to ignore. But by understanding provider processes, creating contingency plans, architecting for flexibility, and following smart mitigation practices, you can greatly reduce potential impact. Stay vigilant with your critical cloud services and ensure you have an actionable response strategy in place before any discontinuation notice arrives.