This came to me anonymously: Another way to look at this is that during hard times NetApp is going to try to force its customers to upgrade to a system they don't need. "He wouldn't confirm a rumour that a new FAS 3160 model would be announced soon to fit between the 3100 entry-level FAS 3140 and high-end FAS 3170. The 3020, a smaller and older array than the 3140, will be end-of-lifed soon though, reducing the number of models in the FAS range by one and, we could read it this way, creating a space in the range for a new mid-range model."

Many times in the past NetApp has superseded Filers with newer models that have lower performance than the older model had. The best example of this was the FAS980, after it was EOL'ed it took NetApp almost two years to market a system that had superior performance and capacity to the FAS980.

End of Life just means they won't be selling any more FAS3020s.

Support will probably continue for another 5 years or so...