Does 24x7 FortiCare cover hardware and software support?

[VladaFBiH]

We want to extend our support licences for our fortiweb 400d device with a 24x7 FortiCare plus AV, FortiWeb Security Service and IP Reputation support licence.

When we contacted our distributor he told us they could only extend it up to 2026-01-14 which we can see on our asset management site is the hardware lifecycle end of support date. But on the software lifecycle page we can see that the end of support for the software lifecycle is 2027-06-16. 

So our question is when our hardware support ends do we also lose software support since we can only buy a 24x7 FortiCare plus AV, FortiWeb Security Service and IP Reputation support up to the hardware end of support date? Or does the software support continue without paying for it? Or is there a separate license that is just for software support?

[AEK]

As per my knowledge, if you want to renew support for an equipment that is almost EoS, then Fortinet will give you an offer that includes support of your current HW until the HW EoS date + a trade-up offer (HW refresh).

However if I remember well, very few exceptions may be done (I don't know under which conditions), I mean Fortinet can under some conditions continue to support your hardware for few extra months even if it reaches EoS.

[VladaFBiH]

Sure we're more curious what happens with the software support since its EoS date is a year and a half after the HW support date. The offer we got from our distributor was up to the EoS date of the HW and not the SW so while the SW is still not EoS we don't have support for it and can't get support for it?