What is the end-of-support date for PI programs that do not rely on an AVEVA Flex subscription? At what point will an AVEVA Flex subscription be required to stay up to date for most PI programs?

I would like to get any information about your question Kenneth Barber​.

Since AVEVA changed PI Server 2023 licesing model, forcing all customer to move to AVEVA Flex Subscription, however I'm not seeing customers discussing about it since it has a huge impact to keep the system up to date.

LuisAquino​ I was not given any specific dates. Our Account Manager stated that PI Server 2018 will continue to receive patches for a while, but that will stop at some point. All of the interesting developments will happen to PI Server 2023 and its successors, and those successors include more than just later versions of PI Server. Our Account Manager confirmed that AVEVA is focusing more on its cloud offerings and will not fix the year 2038 problem for the PI Data Archive. Even if you upgrade to PI Server 2023, you should be prepared to migrate away from the PI Data Archive at some point well before the beginning of the year 2038. You can talk to your Account Manager if you want more details.

For readers unaware of Year 2038 Problem, I offer this wikipedia link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

Are you saying they're just going to let Data Archive die?

This post includes misinformation about PI System and PI Server. AVEVA plans on addressing the 2038 problem for PI System customers, and plans on doing it on both branches of PI Server. We are researching this problem and will broadly communicate our plans in a timely manner

The statement on the support approach to the core branch of PI Server (currently 2018 SP3) is also not accurate. Please refer to this article to stay up to date on our approach to supporting the two branches of PI Server: https://pisquare.osisoft.com/s/article/000044064

P.S. You can find the latest updates to the PI System presented at AVEVA World San Francisco in April 2025: https://www.aveva.com/en/perspectives/presentations/2025/aveva--pi-system--and-aveva--pi-data-infrastructure-roadmap/

-Mana Afshari, Head of PI System product management

Mana Afshari​ I'm glad to hear that AVEVA will address the year 2038 problem. However, I don't believe that I've shared misinformation. At least, it wasn't misinformation at the time. Perhaps AVEVA's strategy with these products just shifted, or perhaps the strategy was poorly communicated at the time.

The presentations that I saw at the time did not mention anything about the core branch being suitable for cases that are not very tolerant of software changes. It was presented as more like "you'll need a Flex subscription if you want the latest features, but if you don't switch to the Flex subscription, then AVEVA will still have you covered with security updates", which really made it look like the core branch was to support customers in their transition to getting the Flex subscription and being on the hybrid branch.

As for the year 2038 problem, I had a feedback item about using 64-bit Unix time or ticks as potential solutions to this problem, and the item had quite a few votes and comments expressing concern about this problem, but then this feedback item was silently deleted (not by me) at some point, and this was after the migration to Aha!, so it's not like this was lost in migration. To me, this shows that AVEVA was either planning on letting the PI Data Archive die in favour of the cloud-based services or something else or that AVEVA was at least not ready yet to commit to fixing the year 2038 problem in the PI Data Archive and so did not want to say anything yet but also did not want a post like mine to scare away potential customers who would see that the PI Data Archive is doomed to fail in 14 years (at the time, before the post was deleted) unless that problem is solved and with no update from AVEVA.

I'm just glad that the year 2038 problem is finally being addressed and that AVEVA is no longer publicly hiding from the issue. Even though this is definitely cutting it close, there should still be enough time for AVEVA to research, implement, and release the fix, and to have customers upgrade their PI Systems over the course of a few years, and to have this all be done before it starts to affect future data for most customers.

Hi Kenneth Barber​ While you are certainly free to your own feelings and opinions, my own opinion is that AVEVA was ALWAYS going to address the Year 2038 Problem - a problem that is still 13 years away. When I was an OSIsoft employee in 2018, everyone there knew is was an issue that will need to be addressed in the future. Never - and I mean NEVER - was there ever a discussion about "maybe we should just do nothing and let it die."

And the 2038 problem is not unique to PI. It affects many operating systems and applications alike.

I would expect to hear AVEVA reveal a solution sometime around 2032, giving you a 5+ year heads-up. Stayed tuned for more ... in 7 years.