220-1102 Question 51
Single answerProduct life cycleA small accounting firm asks a technician to prepare a rollout plan for 20 desktop PCs that are 7 years old. The systems still power on, but the manufacturer no longer provides firmware updates, replacement parts are difficult to obtain, and the installed operating system will reach end of support in three months. Management wants to reduce business risk and avoid emergency outages during tax season. Which action is the BEST recommendation based on product life cycle considerations?
- A
Keep the current PCs in production until they fail, because they are still operational today
- B
Upgrade the monitor and keyboard only, since peripherals determine whether a computer is end of life
- C
Plan a phased replacement of the PCs before the operating system support ends and before hardware failures become harder to remediate
- D
Wait until after tax season and then disable updates to prevent compatibility issues on the aging systems
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The best answer is to plan a phased replacement before the systems reach a more critical point in the product life cycle. In A+ Core 2, product life cycle concepts include recognizing when hardware and software are approaching end of life (EOL) or end of support (EOS) and making business-oriented recommendations that reduce risk. Real-world IT best practice is to replace or retire systems before support ends, particularly when vendor firmware updates stop, replacement parts become scarce, and the operating system is nearing end of support. This approach helps maintain security, reliability, and predictable operations. Vendor lifecycle and support documentation, such as manufacturer hardware support notices and operating system lifecycle pages, are commonly used to justify refresh planning.
- A. Incorrect.
This is incorrect because product life cycle planning is not based solely on whether a device still turns on. Once systems are near or past end of life, risks increase due to unavailable parts, lack of firmware updates, and approaching operating system end of support. Running equipment until failure is a reactive strategy that increases downtime risk, especially during a critical business period.
- B. Incorrect.
This is incorrect because replacing peripherals does not address the core life cycle issues affecting the desktop itself. The problem is that the computer platform and operating system are nearing or at the end of their supported life cycle. Peripherals such as monitors and keyboards do not determine whether the PC remains secure, supportable, or practical to maintain.
- C. Correct.
This is correct because it aligns with best practices for managing systems approaching end of life and end of support. A phased replacement reduces operational disruption, allows time for procurement and migration, and lowers the risk associated with unsupported operating systems and aging hardware. This recommendation directly addresses both hardware supportability and software support timelines.
- D. Incorrect.
This is incorrect because disabling updates on aging systems increases security and compliance risk rather than reducing it. Waiting until after a critical season may be reasonable in some cases, but in this scenario the operating system will lose support in three months and the hardware is already difficult to maintain. The better approach is proactive replacement planning, not suppressing updates.