NVIDIA AI Enterprise Lifecycle Policy
Type: Policy Tags: NVIDIA, AI Enterprise, lifecycle, release branches, compatibility, support, EOL Related: NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Software, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Infrastructure-Support-Matrix, NVIDIA-Enterprise-Licensing-Guide, NVIDIA-NIM, NVIDIA-NIM-Operator, NVIDIA-GPU-Operator, NVIDIA-Network-Operator, NVIDIA-DOCA-Platform-Framework, NVIDIA-Run-ai, NVIDIA-Run-ai-Support-and-Lifecycle, NVIDIA-Omniverse, NVIDIA-vGPU, NVIDIA-Data-Center-GPU-Drivers, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Bare-Metal-Deployment, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-VMware-Deployment, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Cloud-Deployment, Red-Hat-AI-Factory-with-NVIDIA, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Security, NVIDIA-AI-Software-for-Regulated-Environments Sources: https://docs.nvidia.com/ai-enterprise/lifecycle/latest/index.html Last Updated: 2026-04-29
Summary
NVIDIA AI Enterprise Lifecycle Policy is the current NVIDIA document for choosing AI Enterprise release branches, checking support timelines, and validating cross-stack compatibility before deployment or upgrade. It covers Feature Branch, Production Branch, Long-Term Support Branch, Infrastructure Branch, end-of-life notices, archived branches, and the interactive lifecycle/compatibility explorer.
Detail
Purpose
AI Enterprise is split across application software and infrastructure software, with different update cadences and support windows. The lifecycle policy is the planning surface for deciding whether a workload should follow latest Feature Branch innovation, Production Branch stability, or Long-Term Support Branch stability for regulated environments.
Current lifecycle context
- The current policy adds NVIDIA AI Enterprise Infrastructure 8.x with the R595 driver branch.
- Infrastructure 6.x is archived after reaching end of support in March 2026.
- The active application release set includes PB 25h2 and LTSB 2, with Omniverse PB 25h2 tracked separately.
- The active infrastructure set includes Infra 8, Infra 7 LTSB, and Infra 4 LTSB.
- The compatibility explorer helps validate driver, GPU Operator, Network Operator, and Run:ai version alignment.
NVIDIA context
Use this page when a question asks which AI Enterprise branch to deploy, whether a branch is current, how to plan upgrades, or how to reason about support/EOL. Use NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise for the product suite and the deployment pages for installation paths.
Connections
- NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise - product suite governed by the lifecycle policy.
- NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Software - software catalog whose application/infrastructure layers are governed by lifecycle branches.
- NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Infrastructure-Support-Matrix - release-specific compatibility matrix for infrastructure software, GPUs, platforms, OS, hypervisors, orchestration, and clouds.
- NVIDIA-Enterprise-Licensing-Guide - entitlement, support, and license duration context that should be checked alongside lifecycle branch policy.
- NVIDIA-NIM - application software whose production and long-term branches matter for enterprise deployment.
- NVIDIA-GPU-Operator, NVIDIA-Network-Operator, and NVIDIA-NIM-Operator - infrastructure and Kubernetes components whose versions must align.
- NVIDIA-DOCA-Platform-Framework - DPU/DPF component in the infrastructure software layer.
- NVIDIA-Run-ai and NVIDIA-Run-ai-Support-and-Lifecycle - self-hosted Run:ai compatibility and product support dates are part of lifecycle planning.
- NVIDIA-Omniverse - Omniverse has AI Enterprise branch coverage but separate documentation.
- NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Bare-Metal-Deployment, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-VMware-Deployment, NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Cloud-Deployment, and Red-Hat-AI-Factory-with-NVIDIA - deployment paths that should be checked against lifecycle compatibility.
- NVIDIA-AI-Enterprise-Security and NVIDIA-AI-Software-for-Regulated-Environments - security and regulated-environment pages depend on branch stability and support windows.
Source Excerpts
- The lifecycle policy says the interactive explorer validates infrastructure stack compatibility before deployment or upgrade.
- The April 2026 update adds Infrastructure 8 and archives Infrastructure 6.