Contributed By: Cliff Hobbs [MVP ConfigMgr/ SMS]
Based on the information shown on this web page the Product Lifecycle shows:

• Mainstream support for SMS 2003 (regardless of Service Pack Level) will cease on the 12th December 2010.
• Extended support for SMS 2003 (regardless of Service Pack Level) will cease on the 13th January 2015.
• Currently for SP3 Microsoft states:

"Support ends 12 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product's support lifecycle, whichever comes first. For more information, please see the service pack policy at http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/#ServicePackSupport"

As there are no plans at the time of writing for SMS 2003 SP4 the safe assumption is the support options for SMS 2003 SP3 will expire at the same time as the main product itself.

Don't forget to look at the SQL version you're using for your SMS Site Database when you're looking at support lifecycles (use the Support Lifecycle Index page to see an alphabetical index of all Microsoft products from which you can see their respective Support Lifecycles).

 

To see other SMS Design related FAQs click here.