Jira Software 7.6 and Jira Service Desk 3.9 are nearing End of Life

Recently Atlassian announced that Jira Software 7.6 version and Jira Service Desk 3.9 version for Data and Server Center will be reaching End of Life. There are designated End of Life versions in place for this. Currently, a large percentage of customers are still running  Jira Software 7.6 version and Jira Service Desk 3.9 versions. Atlassian are advising an upgrade to Enterprise's next supported release for these versions. 

Choose Your Next Enterprise Release

On November 15th, 2019, Enterprise plans to release designated upgraded versions of the current software as Jira Software 7.13 and 8.5 along with Jira Service Desk 3.16 and 4.15. In late September 2019, Enterprise plans to release Jira Software 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5.
Choosing between the two versions of the Jira Software and the Jira Service Desk is ultimately up to you based on your needs. There is currently a community post that documents and outlines the two versions of each software. 

Jira 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5

According to Atlassian, Jira 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5 are the first Enterprise-ready opportunity to adopt Jira 8 and JSD 4 versions. That means platform improvements, performance, features, and capabilities for success at scale. These represent the best versions of the products to date, and much of what was released in the past year was aimed at meeting the needs and feedback of enterprise customers. For customers who plan to upgrade and remain on the same version for more than a year, these versions will enable teams with the fastest, most-fully featured and mobile-ready version of the tools. If customers are able to manage the larger upgrade (and preparing end users for the UI/UX changes included Jira 8), then it is recommended that customers be moved to Jira 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5 as a long-term benefit.

Jira 7.13 and Jira Service Desk 3.16

Atlassian have mentioned that Jira 7.13 and Jira Service Desk 3.16 are the most stable releases for customers who have large teams and more complex instances. The reason being that they won't be required to take on the breaking changes of a platform upgrade (from 7.x.x to 8.x.x), whilst admins moving to 7.13.x may have an easier upgrade process. Depending on the complexity of the instance and if customers own Jira Software Data Center, it may also be possible to upgrade with zero or minimal downtime. For customers whose upgrade strategy is to make smaller but more frequent jumps between stable releases, the best option may be to move to versions Jira 7.13/Jira Service Desk 3.16 now while planning for Jira 8.5/Jira Service Desk 4.5 in the next cycle. The official announcement for the End of Life date for Jira 7.13 and Jira Service Desk 3.16 is November 28, 2020.

Certified from the Start 

Earlier this year, Atlassian announced their goal to strengthen the upcoming Enterprise release offering based on customer feedback. As a result, Atlassian decided that it would release Jira 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5 at the November 15th, 2019 launch rather than designate a bug fix version at a later date.

These were seen as Enterprise releases and an Enterprise-ready and stable option to adopt the platform and performance improvements that came with Jira Software 8.0 and Jira Service Desk 4.0. Therefore, Atlassian are not adding new feature release versions between 8.4 and 4.4. Instead, taking the release cycle in its entirety and focus on the software itself. In the hope that these releases will give customers the testing and hardening certification from the release date. 

Get a High-Level View of the Upcoming Software with Enterprise

Here are all of the resources specific to the Jira 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5 releases. This includes any release notes, Enterprise release changelog, upgrade guides and performance testing. You can read more about it here.

If you want to get familiar with all of the major changes we added in each version of Jira 7.6 and Jira Service Desk 3.9, you can look here for a high-level view of the Jira and Jira Service Upgrade Matrix. If you have any further questions or need help in upgrading or migrating your Jira or Jira Service Desk instance, reach out to GLiNTECH.

Not sure how to proceed? 

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