The company said it may offer fixes for vulnerabilities that Microsoft leaves unpatched, while also providing patches for non-Microsoft products (such as Java runtime, Adobe Reader etc.), as explained in a blog post.
Gauging risk to reward
Rich Gibbons, head of market development at IT asset management specialist Synyega, noted that third-party support is an established part of the enterprise software market.
“Businesses regularly bring in third parties to help patch and maintain their legacy Oracle, SAP, and IBM estates, and while it’s not as common with Microsoft, it’s still a legitimate option, and one worth assessing,” Gibbons said.