What’s new? Updates related to the server end of sale and support

[#1]

Updated on June 15, 2021 to reflect the latest updates from the Atlassian team.

Since announcing the server end of sale and support in October 2020, we’ve been hard at work listening to your feedback, finding opportunities to better support you, and making improvements to our cloud and Data Center offerings.

We’ve put together a quick recap of answers to the most asked questions, updates, and resources.

To stay updated on the latest news, follow this article by clicking “Watch” down below.

Pricing and packaging

Will you offer Data Center Community subscriptions?

We’ve heard feedback from many of you who work for charitable non-profit organizations that you require community discounts for our Data Center products. Based on this feedback, we’ve introduced Data Center Community subscriptions beginning February 2, 2021. Learn more

Will you offer Data Center subscriptions for smaller user tiers for Data Center?

No, we do not offer subscriptions for smaller user tiers for the majority of our Data Center products (under 500 for Jira Software, Confluence, and Crowd, under 25 users for Bitbucket, and 50 agents for Jira Service Management). Data Center will be primarily focused on larger customers or customers with strict requirements not currently met in cloud (e.g. those on air-gapped networks). We’ve been heavily investing and shifting our cloud roadmap to ensure that customers below these user tiers will be able to move to the cloud within the next three years. If you have specific concerns that you do not see on the roadmap, please join one of the feedback groups mentioned in this post to provide our product management teams with this feedback.

Can I get credit for my unused server maintenance?

No, however, we’re offering server and Data Center customers the opportunity to explore and evaluate cloud at their own pace for up to 12 months with our free cloud migration trials, which lasts for the duration of your server or Data Center maintenance. Most customers use the trials to:

• Tour: Use your free migration trial to explore cloud, test differences in functionality, and try out new cloud features.

• Proof of concept: Cloud migration trials can also be used as a proof of concept for migration, used to set up initial projects, or build your business case with internal stakeholders. 

• Test: Finally, you can use this trial to run multiple test migrations in a full production environment, without any limitations. This is highly recommended. 

Our goal is to make sure your cloud migration goes as smoothly as possible, without worrying about double-paying for licenses or rushing through testing.

For larger customers, we also offer a cloud loyalty discount or dual licensing, which allows you to run your self-managed and cloud products in parallel during your phased move to cloud.

Security and data management

What are you doing to address our concerns regarding data residency?

Data residency allows you to choose the region where certain types of data at rest are stored. This feature is currently offered with our cloud Enterprise plan, and new Standard and Premium cloud subscriptions. Existing Standard and Premium cloud subscriptions will have data residency enabled in October 2021. You can learn more and sign up for updates here.

Our cloud roadmap also has more information on improvements to our data residency program, including support for additional hosting regions, data residency for apps, and data residency in our Standard and Premium plans. 

When will support for ______ compliance or security standard be available? I can’t move to cloud until it is available.

This is a top priority for you, so it’s a top priority for us. Since the announcement, we’ve accelerated our timelines for HIPAA (Q1-Q2 2022) and FedRAMP tailored (Q3-Q4 2021) and we’ve added selective edge BYOK encryption for Jira (2022). Visit our cloud roadmap to see the latest updates.

Join our security and compliance feedback group to share additional feedback and work directly with our Security and Compliance team.

Scale, reliability, and performance

When will you support increased scale in cloud?

Over the last two years, we’ve increased the per-instance user limit in cloud by five times — from 2,000 users in 2018 to 10,000 users in 2020. Now, we’re running an early access program (EAP) for the next milestone in scalability, 20,000 users per instance, and plan to make this generally available by June 2021. If you’re looking to move 10-20,000 users to cloud before then, see if you’re a good fit for the EAP. Get in touch to learn more.

Join our reliability and performance feedback group to share additional feedback and work directly with our Product Management teams focused on the scalability, reliability, and performance of our cloud platform.

Extensibility

Is ____ app available in cloud?

We've made it simple to assess which apps are available in cloud through our cloud migration assistants. 

In addition to simplifying that process, in 2020, we worked hard to expand our cloud APIs. We added over 450 new cloud apps to the Atlassian Marketplace. It’s also important to recognize that the cloud and server versions of Atlassian products are different. Since cloud editions and Data Center offer different functionality, the capabilities you’ve relied on may now be native in the cloud or Data Center version of the product, in which case an app would no longer be needed. 

If that’s not the case for you, know that we’re working hard to bring more server apps to cloud. As of today, 68 of the 100 most popular server apps are available on cloud, and 9 have their functionality included in cloud editions of their associated base products. This remains a top focus area for Atlassian and we’ll continue working with app developers to unlock more apps for cloud in the future. Learn more.

Join our extensibility ecosystem feedback group to share additional feedback and work directly with our Ecosystem Product Management team.

How do I migrate my apps to cloud?

Many Marketplace partners already offer manual migration paths between their server or Data Center apps and cloud, but we're working to make this even more seamless. 

Automated app migrations using the Jira and Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant are currently in early access programs and will be available widely by the end of 2021. When automated app migration functionality becomes generally available, you'll be able to automatically migrate apps and app data using the Cloud Migration Assistants at the same time that projects, spaces, and users are migrated to cloud.

Admin controls

Will you offer support for custom domains in cloud?

Based on your feedback, we’ve actually added this to our roadmap and it is planned for 2022. We will share more details as they become available. Until then, watch our cloud roadmap for updates.

Will you offer more control over upgrades or other change management features?

You’ve told us you need more control to preview, test, and prepare end users; so we’ll continue to invest in capabilities to meet these needs. Sandboxes are a direct replacement for developer license keys in server and Data Center, which allows you to test any changes or new feature rollouts before they get to production, so you can ensure everything works the way it should. We also have release tracks, which allow you to opt in to updates from Atlassian in a fixed two-week window for additional predictability into which changes are coming to your instance and when. We'll continue to iterate on these to provide you with the control you need to be comfortable administering your cloud environment.

Join our change management feedback group to share additional feedback and work directly with our Product Management team.

The future of Data Center

How long will Data Center continue to be offered?

We will continue to offer Atlassian Data Center, our self-managed enterprise edition that allows you to maintain control over your environment and meet your unique security, compliance, and scale demands. You can run Data Center on your own hardware or host behind your own firewall in public cloud providers such as AWS or Azure.

We also recognize there are some groups of customers for whom moving to cloud is unlikely in the next few years, or even the foreseeable future (e.g. those on air-gapped networks, customers with 35,000+ users, or customers in China), which means Atlassian Data Center is and will continue to remain, a critical offering for many customers with strict business requirements or regulations not addressed in our cloud offerings.

What’s on the Data Center roadmap?

We have a number of exciting updates in key areas, such as performance and scale improvements, user management, analytics, and infrastructure support coming soon. To learn more about what we’ve shipped this last year in Data Center and what exciting new things we have planned on our roadmap, watch on-demand, view the webinar recap, or visit our public roadmap.

Need more help navigating the server end of sale and support?

Do you have questions about the effective dates of the timeline, what type of support server will continue to offer each year, and want more details on our cloud roadmap? We’ve put together several resources to help you prepare strategically, technically, and financially.

Watch our webinar on-demand, view the webinar recap, or use our server end of sale and support checklist.

Stay tuned

We want to make sure you’re kept in the loop as we continue to address the key themes emerging from your feedback. Follow this article by clicking “Watch” under this post, and use the resources below as north stars to help you prepare for the changes:

• Visit our website to learn all about the changes and plan your next steps.

• Check out our cloud and Data Center roadmaps to see what’s new, and what’s coming.

[Weam]

Is there a future plan to end the Data Center, and when to expect that?

[Soumyadeep Mandal]

Hi @Maren ,

These are some good pieces of information!

Thanks for sharing!

[Alex Janes]

@Weam per the data center webinar, they intend to continue to support data center for the "foreseeable future"

However, I would love for someone at Atlassian to just come out and say, directly, that Data Center has no EoL plans, and that they intend to continue to support and develop it past the end of Server EoL.

[Maren]

Hi @Weam,

We’ve seen this question a lot since announcing the server end of support, and know we might have caused some confusion. In short, we have no plans to discontinue Data Center.

We understand that some of our customers have requirements that prevent them from ever operating in cloud, and Data Center will remain a reliable, long-term enterprise option for those who want to remain self-managed.

We'll continue working to increase your confidence and visibility into the future of Data Center through our Data Center roadmap, and for a deep dive into our vision for Data Center (and a full answer to your question), I recommend our webinar on the future of Data Center.

[Alex Janes]

@Maren Thank you for this more, direct answer. Alot of the responses we have received on this question have been wishy washy at best.

The other reason people are hesitant to believe the Atlassian Team all surrounds your earnings call. One of your co-CEOs, Scott, stated the following quote...

But we expect that all our customers will migrate to cloud over the medium term.

Source: Atlassian Corporation Plc (TEAM) Q1 2021 Earnings Call Transcript (fool.com)

This is a direct contradiction to 'no plans to discontinue Data Center.'

Can you please clarify this contradiction?

[Stephen Gentle]

Are there going to be Data Center tiers of all the products for 25 and 50 users, at similar prices to what the existing Server products are, or are you still planning on screwing your small and medium sized customers who are absolutely unable to use cloud products (due to government regulations, defense security requirements, etc.)?

It’s unfortunate to see that so far you still seem to be ignoring the concerns of this whole segment...

[Scion]

Still no update on how you plan to manage customers such as us who would gladly move to the cloud if your draconian Acceptable Use Policy would let us. I saw that you recently updated your AUP to classify the following as 'Wrongful activities':

Using the Services for the purpose of providing alerts on disaster scenarios or any other situations directly related to health or safety, including but not limited to acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or emergency response

Strange that you want companies to trust (Cybersecurity principles emphasize that you should have zero-trust, as you well know) you that your Cloud is secure and stable, yet aren't willing to accept these types of risk.

I'll say it again, what is your plan for small to medium-sized businesses who cannot afford Data Center but still need their data to be protected from the prying eyes of Atlassian itself because Atlassian wants to play the role of a puritan arbiter?

[Vicky Blease]

Hi. Can you please confirm if you will remain at minimum 500 user licenses for data center? This is not a viable option for us unless a 25/50 user tier is made available?

[Vicky Blease]

p.s. I thank you for the data center community licenses. Although it's not something I use, I know there will be many organisations out there breathing a sigh of relief. That's some much needed good news.

[Jose Yoshimura]

good work!

[Alison Huselid]

@Alex Janes  We understand your feedback and why that statement, when paired with our server announcement, caused confusion.

When we made this announcement, we knew it would result in more customers choosing cloud. But we also knew it would result in more customers choosing Data Center. If you choose to move to (or stay on) Data Center, you’re making a safe choice, one that many of our largest customers have made over the last few years.

From Scott’s full comments, he’s made it clear that we’ll continue to offer and invest in both cloud and Data Center:

Just a reminder for some of those who haven't read all the announcements, we end-of-life our server product, but our data center product continues to be something Atlassian builds upon and supports and continues to invest in.

Now that said, I have talked to a whole number of CIOs over the last three months from everything from regulated industries, banks, European customers. And every single one of those CIOs have a plan to move to our cloud. They are -- and whether they're in a regulated industry or a European customer, and it's just a matter of when. And so, our Data Center product is going to be critical in making sure those customers are supported over the time frame for migration. But we expect that all our customers will migrate to cloud over the medium term.

To add more clarity to the key points:

1. We do expect cloud will be the best option for most customers in the medium term, especially when looking at all of the investment we’re making there coupled with the broad industry trends towards cloud. Looking at the full comment, you can see Scott’s comment was in reference to the conversations he’s having with global CIOs. Across geographies and industries, leaders are pursuing an increasingly SaaS-first strategy as they look to realize more value from their technology portfolios.

2. Medium-term doesn’t cover a specific timeframe. We acknowledge this announcement is a starting point for many of you. As an example, we know our customers with 25,000+ users, even those with a strong desire to move to our cloud products, are likely to have multi-year journeys and we’re prepared to support them through that.

3. We also recognize there are some groups of customers for whom moving to cloud is unlikely in the next few years, or even the foreseeable future (e.g. those on air gapped networks, customers with 35,000+ users, or customers in China). Later in that same earnings call, you’ll see that our CFO, James Beer, emphasized this point and reiterated that Data Center is a key part of our long-term strategy:

Data Center is very much still a deployment option that we continue to invest in for the future.

I hope this helps clarify and instills confidence in your future with Atlassian. We will continue to listen to your feedback, and are focused on ensuring we support you with long-term, reliable options.

[Alex Janes]

@Alison Huselid Thank you for clarifying. This helps to reassure me that Data Center is sticking around.

[Maren]

Hi @Vicky Blease and @Stephen Gentle ,

Regarding your request for lower Data Center tiers, we’ve heard your feedback. At this time the entry point for Data Center is the 500 user license and we have no plans to add lower tiers. However, we’re continuing to capture input from our customers and partners in this area to make sure we have offerings that meet your needs. To ease the transition to Data Center, we also offer existing server customers multi-year discounts on your subscription. If we do have any further news, we'll update this article with more information. 

I’d also recommend the upcoming webinar on navigating the server end of sale and support, where we’ll cover the latest updates on this, as well as closely related topics like data residency, GDPR, and our compliance roadmap.

[Gerald Hochegger]

There's another segment you completely ignore - educational sector.

We've (since 10 years) a confluence unlimited academic server license (for our staff and students).

We pay about 10k per year for confluence and about 35k for all our Atlassian products (and plugins) - this is our absolute maximum - we can't pay more.

So let's evaluate the options the great Atlassian Team offers: (I've not the time to read all the convoluted pricing changes in detail - that's my understanding so far)

Data Center unlimited (2021)
Something between 253k/2 and 370k/2 minus some funny loyalty discount (decreasing 40% 30% 15% in first three years) - will be somewhere between 100k and 150k per year (from 10k per year now) - a really great option !

(lowering the user tier to about 20000 would help a bit - but still far, far away from the 10k we are paying now)

Cloud 10000 premium
we absolutely do not want to move to the cloud - but let's look at the cost only

10000 users cloud premium 556750 / 2 = 278k per year - sure there will be a super, duper customer benefit program for the first years to save some money - but that's all ridiculous.

The cloud premium still does not include data residency and I do not want to know the price for 20000, 30000 ... cloud users, when this option is available.

Summary

If you really think we are going to pay this amount of money to Atlassian every year for nearly the same features we have now - you are living on the moon.

Additionally we've some lower tier (50/100) Confluence, Jira Servers - we would be bitten by the minimum 500 user data center requirement also.

So for us this means - end of the road - there is no other option than to switch to other products.

We will extend our server maintenance till 2022-12-31 (that's the longest possible period without a maintenance price increase) and hope products like Jetbrains Space will be ready in the mean time, so we can dump the whole Atlassian suite by the end of 2022.

Well done Atlassian !

[Alex Janes]

Atlassian, by making this announcement, you have left a large portion of your market share free to be scooped up by competitors. Jetbrains has a good history of fitting the needs of smaller developers, and their products are getting more mature every day. From what I have seen out of them, they will have an extremely competitive and mature product line compared to yours in just a few years.

You will be leaving money on the table, and leaving them room to make products that can overtake your enterprise offerings.

Be very careful...

[Tom Shaffer]

@Alex Janes Alex - I really appreciate you still trying with this. You do what you need to do but honestly this really feels like a lost cause. 

Every single time one of these "update" threads gets opened by Atlassian, it becomes forgotten quickly and sits as an empty pit of crucial questions needing to be answered in order to know if making the decision to stay with Atlassian is the right one. And time, and time, and yet another time again, Atlassian has proven that they don't care about customers like us at all. I wouldn't doubt if they were told to give up on anyone who doesn't have a certain # of licenses attached to their account since they aren't worth the time - my own speculation, of course, but it makes sense seeing how so many questions have been ignored.

When renewing my on-prem server license, I discovered yet again there's a disconnect between what the Atlassian Team has been telling us and what the customer service team knows. The details aren't important, but just goes to show that this whole ordeal has been one of the most botched major changes to a company's policies/services that I've ever been involved with and at this point, I wiped all mention of Atlassian from anything attached to my own name to save my own reputation.

So while I'd be ecstatic if you were able to accomplish anything positive out of this (including a lower-tier for DC), the name Atlassian has been tainted to the point of no return for me where all trust has been lost. Looking at the drop off in postings from all of the various "update" threads, I don't think I'm alone.

[Alex Janes]

@Tom Shaffer Doing my best. But not holding my breath.

Atlassian Team, I can assure you that this silence is NOT your users just accepting the change now. Your customers just see no good faith effort from Atlassian to make steps towards fixing this. They have told you what needs to change to fix this, lower tiers of data center. But Atlassian just doesn't seem interested in doing that.

The silence is your customers giving up and looking at other options now.

I implore you to reconsider your options and create a lower data center tier.

[David Willson]

++

[Alexis Robert]

Thanks for sharing !

[Marcel Ringler]

Since you are changing the thread again and again, I need to repeat myself.

We need a data center option for 1-50 users at a competitive price. Data center must be compatible with at least one linux version, e.g. ubuntu 20.

[Ben Henderson]

Just adding in my own note here from a tiny startup stuck in the CUI/ITAR security space... We just hired employee #11 and server was the best option we had. Can't use the cloud because security measures aren't in place yet, and Data Center is laughably expensive for our needs. So I'm stuck with nowhere to go but to competitors...

[Jeff Feyne]

I think the core values have fallen by the wayside.  It seems there is more interest in profits than in customers since Atlassian is so ready to toss small customers aside.  It seems this is another company that has not studied history.