"Cisco is adopting this approach in response to extensive feedback from customers, who seek further predictability for support planning and deployment cycles," the note said.
The company said that despite the schedule, it still plans to issue security advisories at any time documenting major vulnerabilities or exploits.
Last year, Cisco released at least seven security advisories addressing IOS flaws.
Like Cisco, Oracle and Microsoft both have shifted to formalized release dates in an attempt to assuage IT management concerns. Oracle releases quarterly updates, while Microsoft pushes out patches on the second Tuesday of each month.
See original article on scmagazineus.com