For Autodesk customers, employees and authorized resellers
Date: TBD, May 1, 2008
Product(s): Autodesk® Inferno®, Autodesk® Flame®, Autodesk® Flint®, Autodesk® Smoke®, Autodesk® Backdraft®, Autodesk® Backdraft® Conform software
Title: IBM® IntelliStation® A Pro (Type 6224) workstation, IBM® IntelliStation® A Pro (Type 6217) Single Core workstation and IBM® IntelliStation® A Pro (Type 6217) Dual Core workstation

Changes in Platform Certification and Support Notification
May 2008

Dear Autodesk Customer,

The Autodesk Systems product development roadmap is focused on delivering the most innovative grading, editing and effects solutions available; solutions that push the limits of system throughput, unleash creativity and help drive productivity.  In many cases software that is tuned for new platforms cannot provide an acceptable level of performance on older version platforms, and in other cases older platforms are no longer supported by or available from the platform manufacturers.  As a result, Autodesk must periodically phase out development and product support for older platforms.

This letter serves to inform you of upcoming changes in the platforms Autodesk supports for Systems products, and provides you with alternatives that can allow you to continue to run the most up-to-date software versions.  Affected platforms are discussed below.

Platforms: Certification to End
The 2009 releases announced on April 14, 2008 of Autodesk® Inferno®, Autodesk® Flame®, Autodesk Flint®, Autodesk® Smoke® and Autodesk® Backdraft® Conform software are the last major releases on the following platforms:

Platforms

IBM® 6224

IBM® 6217 Single Core

IBM® 6217 Dual Core

Support
Please note that until the announcement of the next major release you can renew your hardware support contract for the above noted platforms for a period of one year.

Hardware Platforms: Power and Performance
Autodesk is committed to making it as easy as possible to migrate to new, high performance platforms that allow you to maintain your competitive edge in an ever evolving market. To this end, we have a number of time-limited programs to make platform migrations easier.  For more information about these migration programs, and our newest product lineup, please contact your local Autodesk account representative.

Best Regards,

Diana Colella
Director of Product Management
Autodesk, Media & Entertainment

Occasionally, Autodesk makes statements regarding planned or future development efforts for our existing or new products and services. These statements are not intended to be a promise or guarantee of future delivery of products, services, or features but merely reflect our current plans, which may change. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect any change in circumstances, after the statements are made.