Don’t worry – this article is not about an announcement that COMPRION is deprecating any of its hardware tools. As in the past 20 years, you can rely on us to provide a stable and future-proof product portfolio. In case a product became outdated, there was always a successor product with a smooth migration path.

However, it happens that one or the other company in the industry decides to leave a certain business area, as happened recently in the area of contact-based (SIM) card testing and, largely, in contactless NFC / EMVCo testing. Consequently, the hardware product is no longer sold after a certain date, the support also stops a bit later, and there is no successor product from this company.

You may conclude this does not affect you – at least not in the short term – as the tool still works in your lab. But let’s think this through with a bit more detail:

• As it is hardware, the tool may break sooner or later. But there is nobody left to repair the tool, and you cannot buy a new one. If you start getting a new tool only then, it will mean probably months in which you have no tool at all (vendor screening, RFP & procurement process, product training & integration into own processes). The impact on your business could be significant.
   
• Often a hardware test tool is combined with software-implemented test cases based on standardized test specifications. The standardization process does not stop but continues with new releases of test specifications. Meanwhile, your former supplier has ceased business!? So where to get the updated software?
   
• Sooner or later you may require a new calibration of your hardware – who will do this?
   
• Try to remember if it was necessary to involve the vendor’s technical support to solve a problem. If not – you have been lucky. If yes – who will support you in the future?

Our recommendation: In such a situation, you should not wait until you have reached a dead end and run into problems. Start the process of replacing the deprecated tool as early as possible. We are convinced there are very good reasons why you should consider COMPRION as your new partner for test tools and solutions.

Reach out to us to discuss! Contact Laura Strunz for a detailed discussion about our products and how you can future-proof your specific test use cases: LStrunz(at)comprion.com.