There’s a steady stream of announcements about software updates and software support changes. It’s easy to overlook the significance of an announcement, especially when the software isn’t a product your team installs and supports directly. That’s the case with Adobe’s announcement that it will end support for Adobe Flash Player on December 31, 2020. This doesn’t just affect video gamers. The end of support for Adobe Flash Player will affect additional applications that rely on Flash to display content, including Veritas eDiscovery Platform.
Adobe Flash Player End of Life Impact
In many cases, when a product reaches its end of life/end of support date, it’s fairly simple to leave it in place and continue using it. There’s no support, but at least there’s no loss of functionality.
With the Adobe Flash end of life, that strategy may not be so straightforward, particularly if the Windows support team doesn’t coordinate with other users. This is because Microsoft will be removing Adobe Flash Player from Windows devices. Some customers may manually remove it in 2020; others will likely download an upcoming optional but recommended update that removes it in early 2021.
Veritas eDiscovery Platform prior to release 9.5 relied on Adobe Flash Player and will lose that capability if Adobe Flash Player is removed, showing a blank box where Flash content would have played. Veritas eDiscovery Platform releases 9.5 and later replaced Adobe Flash Player with HTML5 and will not be impacted by this end of life.
Adapting to Adobe Flash Player End of Life
There are two approaches businesses can take to preserve video player functionality in their eDiscovery Platform deployment if they aren’t already on release 9.5 or higher.
1. Keep Adobe Flash Player installed.
This may require coordination with your Windows support team to ensure it is not removed. If Adobe Flash Player was deleted before you raised your concerns, you may be able to reinstall it; Flash will remain available at Adobe’s website through the end of 2020.
2. Upgrade to a later eDiscovery Platform release.
Upgrade to eDiscovery Platform 9.5 or later before Adobe Flash Player is removed. With this release, the more secure HTML5 standard is used to play media files.
Don’t Lose eDiscovery Capability
Don’t delay taking action to ensure you retain critical eDiscovery Platform functionality. Veritas eDiscovery Platform allows you to more easily respond to regulatory and discovery requests through functionality such as automated data classification and auto-redaction.
VAST IT Services provides complete support for Veritas eDiscovery Platform, including upgrades, migrations to cloud, and ongoing maintenance. Contact us to learn more about using Veritas eDiscovery Platform.
