IBM Cloud Pak for Integration is a software integration platform offering solutions to meet any business need.

• ·      Whether accessing and sharing information quickly and simply with API-led integration.
• ·      Or discovering what is happening in your business and responding quickly with Event-led integration.
• ·      Or if you need to securely and reliably access and update systems of record at scale with messaging and connectivity.

Cloud Pak for Integration has you covered as a software integration platform that can meet all of these needs, either individually or in combination.

In addition to meeting any integration needs, Cloud Pak for Integration has a flexible license. You buy a single software entitlement part and can deploy whatever software component you like, in what environment you like, in any supported architectural style.

• ·      Deploy traditional integration software install images in a VM or on baremetal in any supported platform.
• ·      Deploy in any public cloud, or on-premises.
• ·      Deploy manually in containers, using either customer-built containers or IBM supplied containers, in any supported Kubernetes environment

These styles of deployment are referred to as ‘standalone deployments’, where the customer is using the individual product entitlements included in the Cloud Pak for Integration License. The standalone products are available as any in-support version of the products.

In addition to standalone deployments, all the integration capabilities are also available as integration components of the Cloud Pak for Integration platform, for container deployment in Kubernetes (OpenShift or Azure Kubernetes Service currently). These are available as certified containers and are deployed by Kubernetes operators, with further assistance in deploying and updating using the Cloud Pak for Integration Platform UI.

Cloud Pak for Integration when deployed as the Cloud Pak for Integration platform is available as a Long-Term Support Release (called Support Cycle-2) and as Continuous Delivery releases (called mod-releases). The current LTS release is Cloud Pak for Integration 16.1.0, and at the time of writing this blog the current CD release is Cloud Pak for Integration 16.1.1, and 16.1.2 has just been announced.  Typical release schedules in the past have seen new releases of Cloud Pak for Integration every 6-months.

Long Term Support releases include, where available, the most recent Long-Term Support certified container images for each of the integration products.

• ·      The LTS releases are available with support, including new fixes, for 2 years after release (Support Cycle 2)
• ·      After the initial 2-year period, support then transitions to 1 additional year of extended support with new fixes available
• ·      After that 1^st year of extended support, a further 3-years of extended support is available included usage support and existing fixes.
• ·      Not all integration products included in Cloud Pak for Integration have Long-Term Support releases.
• ·      Where a customer is deploying LTS releases of integration components, in a LTS release of Cloud Pak for Integration, they can safely deploy and run those integration components without functional updates for the duration of the deployment, applying only fixes.
• ·      If making use of extended support, it might be necessary to update the version of OpenShift to ensure the OpenShift release is supported. Cloud Pak for Integration releases support multiple OpenShift versions.
• ·      IBM will announce the dates of when a Long-Term Support release will transition to extended support with at least 12-months’ notice to allow customers to plan for when they would potentially look to migration off that release.
• ·      Previous IBM Cloud Pak for Integration Long-Term Support releases have seen a new LTS release become available 6-months prior to the transition of support for the prior release to extended support.  

Continuous Delivery releases include the currently available most-recent continuous delivery versions of the included integration products.

• ·      The CD releases are available with fix support until the next CD release is available, at which point fixes will only be available with the newer CD release.
• ·      Customers can continue to run, and get support on the older CD release, but no additional fixes will be provided and no new releases of OpenShift will be supported.
• ·      When a new Long-Term Support release is available, this also counts as a new CD release, so customers running on the prior CD release will need to move to the newer release for fixes.

In summary here are the choices and guidance for support when deploying integrations as part of Cloud Pak for Integration

• ·      Choose the CP4I SC-2 (Long-Term Support) release to get the assurance of 2 years of support with fixes under standard support, and the option of 1-year of additional extended support with new fixes, and up to 3 further years of extended support with usage support and existing fixes. The integration components are provided at the LTS release of each component when the CP4I release is shipped.
• ·      Choose the CP4I mod-release (CD) to get regular releases of fixes and new function (typically every 6-months). New fixes are only available in the most recent mod-release, so customers are expected to move forward with each new release. The integration components are provided at the most recent CD release of each component when shipped.
• ·      Any integration product included in CP4I can also be downloaded and installed separately on any platform supported by that product. Products can be installed and supported at any in-support release. Each product and release follows the individual support cycle for that product rather than the Cloud Pak for Integration release, as the product is deployed ‘standalone’.

You can read about the IBM software support lifecycle in general here.

And see the past Cloud Pak for Integration support lifecycle for releases here.

To hear more about Cloud Pak for Integration, including the most-recent release, please attend our upcoming webinar on June 5^th 2025. Register here: https://ibm.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1716995&tp_key=9b9096017f