-
Product Change Notice Policy
As part of Apacer design procedures, any major change that may impact on form, dimension, quality, function, endurance or reliability must be communicated to customers. Prior to implementing any noticeable changes, the guidelines to issue PCN under certain circumstances with required information are defined as below:
Industrial SSD
1. Product Change Notice must contain below information:
- a. Affected product with Part Number
- b. Change description
- c. Reason for product change
- d. Recommended Replacement/Action
- e. Schedule includes Effective date, Last-Buy-Order date, Last-Buy-Shipment date
2. Because of the nature of the flash industry, flash vendors have no choice to improve process efficiency in order to reach a compromise among cost, performance and reliability. Thus, in case flash chip process changes, Apacer will provide the EOL letter released by the vendor along with the PCN a minimum of two (2) months before the implementation of any affected products changes.
3. Based on certain conditions, in case the controller's firmware changes, Apacer will provide the PCN a minimum of three (3) months before the implementation of any affected products changes.
4. Considering a hardware change may need long-term verification in customer side, in a case where the product's hardware (key component or PCB) changes, Apacer will provide the PCN a minimum of six (6) months before the implementation of any affected products changes.
5. During product design stage, customer may request Apacer to provide engineering sample for early design verification, but Apacer has the right to make any modification without notice to customer if the final product version has any change after mass-production.
6. Subject to specific terms and conditions of sale, Apacer reserves the right to make corrections, modifications, enhancements, improvements and other minor changes to its product and service at any time without notice.
The table below shows the policy in different circumstances:
Timeframe / Circumstance
Month 1
Month 2
Month 3
Month 4
Month 5
Month 6
Flash Changes
←PCN
L.B.O.(1)→ Controller Firmware Changes
←PCN
L.B.O.(1)→ Hardware Changes
(Key component or PCB, excluding flash)
←PCN
L.B.O.(1)→ Engineering Sample Changes
N/A
1. L.B.O. = Last-Buy-Order Date
Industrial DRAM
1. Product Change Notice must contain below information:
- a. Affected product with Part Number
- b. Change description
- c. Reason for product change
- d. Recommended Replacement/Action
- e. Schedule includes Effective date, Last-Buy-Order date, Last-Buy-Shipment date
2. Because of the nature of the DRAM industry, DRAM vendors have no choice to improve process efficiency in order to reach a compromise among cost, performance and reliability. Thus, in a case where the DRAM chip process changes, Apacer will provide the EOL letter released by the vendor along with the PCN a minimum of three (3) months before the implementation of any affected products changes.
3. During the product design stage, a customer may request Apacer to provide an engineering sample for early design verification, but Apacer has the right to make any modification without notice to customer if the final product version has any change after mass-production.
4. Subject to specific terms and conditions of sale, Apacer reserves the right to make corrections, modifications, enhancements, improvements and other minor changes to its product and service at any time without notice.
-
End-of-Life Policy
To continually provide our customers with industry-leading solutions, Apacer retires outdated product versions in order to focus more resources on enhancing current versions that support state-of-the-art technology. Thus, the following guideline applies to all products developed by Apacer:
Industrial SSD
1. End-of-Life (EOL) announcement shall contain the following information:
- Affected product with Part Number
- Reason for End-of Life (EOL)
- Recommended Replacements
- Schedule includeing End-of-Sale date; Last-Buy-Order date; Last-Buy-Shipment date. If there is a shortage of product raw materials and other factors, which cause Apacer to adjust the last purchase date and last shipment date, this situation may not apply.
2. Warranty and RMA terms:
- If the product is redesigned, the sales of key parts are reduced or there is a long-term shortage, Apacer will give a one-year advance notice to suspend production before its final purchase-shipping date, but sometimes a shorter notice may be required to inform customers of any raw material availability issues which could limit product availability.
- Apacer promises that any product that has been discontinued but which is still within the warranty period will be evaluated by Apacer for repair or replacement. If the product is confirmed for replacement, Apacer will replace the original product or products with similar specifications to customers. If the product cannot be repaired or replaced, Apacer will refund the product at the depreciated price.
- In response to the continuous improvement of product quality and performance, Apacer reserves the right to modify the content of the above terms.
The table below shows the policy in terms of EOL:
Timeframe
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Items
6 Months
6 Months
End-of-Life to L.B.S Timeframe
←EOL Notice
LB.O.1→ll
LB.O.2→ll
RMA Service
(spare & replacement)←EOL Notice
E.O.S3→ll
L.B.S.2→ll
Product Warranty
(FAE support)←EOL Notice
E.O.W4→ll
L.B.S.2→ll
1. L.B.O. = Last-Buy-Order Date
2. L.B.S. = Last-Buy-Shipment Date
3. E.O.S. = End-of-Service Date
4. E.O.W. = End-of-Warranty Date
Industrial DRAM
1. End-of-Life announcement shall contain below information:
- Affected Affected product with Part Number
- Reason for EOL
- Recommended Replacement
- Schedule including End-of-Sale date; Last-Buy-Order date; Last-Buy-Shipment date. If there is a shortage of product raw materials and other factors, which cause Apacer to adjust the last purchase date and last shipment date, this situation may not apply.
2. All products maintain their full warranty after EOL. A customer with active business will continue to receive technical support from Apacer in accordance with warranty terms, but not to exceed three (3) years from the product Last-Buy-Shipment date.
3. Under certain conditions, including but not limited to factors such as shortages of raw materials, Apacer reserves the right to modify the content of the above terms.
-
Product Change Notice Policy
-
End-of-Life Policy