Sims® and Phoenix Migration

Bold Group is ending product support for SIMS and Phoenix on March 31, 2026 at 11:59 EST. Your support contract for SIMS and Phoenix software will be cancelled effective March 31, 2026, and you will not be billed for any charges after this date.

You may continue operating your SIMS and Phoenix software. However, you will no longer have access to product updates, bug fixes, security updates, or technical support. Regular security updates help protect your organization from threats and vulnerabilities, and we recommend moving to one of our Manitou alarm monitoring solutions as soon as possible to stay on a supported platform.

End of support for SIMS and Phoenix means that as of March 31, 2026:

• Bold Group no longer provides technical support, emergency product updates, hotfixes, or security patches for SIMS or Phoenix.
• The current version of SIMS and Phoenix software are their final versions.
• Your organization’s support portal accounts will be deactivated (if SIMS/Phoenix are the only Bold Group products your organization currently uses), and you will no longer be able to log in to Bold Group’s support portal to submit support tickets or view your case history.
• You will not be able to increase your SIMS or Phoenix account capacity.
• Your support contract for SIMS/Phoenix will automatically be canceled, and you will no longer be charged support fees.

Please note that continuing to operate unsupported software after the End of Support date poses significant security risks to you and your organization.

The end of support applies to:

Core Products

• SIMS Workstation Client (SIMS III for Windows, SIMS II for Windows, SIMS DOS, SIMS I)
• SIMS III Receiver/SIMS Receiver
• Phoenix

SIMS Applications/Modules

• SIMS III Formwriter/SIMS II Formwriter
• SIMS III Comserver/SIMS Comserver
• SIMSXfer
• SIMSWeb IV/SIMSWeb III/SIMSWeb
• SIMS Dispatch
• SIMS Pocket App/SIMS iPocket Server
• SIMS PERS
• LiveUpdate 4/LiveUpdate 3
• SIMS III Overwatch

The end of support does not apply to:

• VaporPaper2
• VaporPaper3
• SignalSafe

Bold Group’s mission is to provide leading software solutions to help security organizations streamline and automate their operations and protect lives and property. As a business, we have to find the right balance between offering modern solutions that enable innovation and growth and dedicating our resources to supporting legacy software products that are built on out-of-date architecture and face decreasing customer demand. To support and fulfill our mission, we have made the strategic decision to end support for SIMS and Phoenix.

By ending support for SIMS and Phoenix, we can dedicate the full power of our development and support resources to more innovative products and provide a better overall experience for our customers. As the security industry and technology evolves, we want to prioritize our resources to support products that can keep pace with technology and help our customers continue to lead the way in providing critical life safety services.

We know many of you depend upon these platforms to run your monitoring operations. We recognize this change isn’t easy, and our team will partner with you to build a migration plan and make the transition as easy as possible.

We recommend migrating to one of our Manitou products as soon as possible. Manitou is a modern and flexible, web-based alarm monitoring platform that helps you streamline operations and improve operator efficiency for more efficient monitoring, event processing, and dispatch. Its robust feature set and vast integration capabilities give you more power and control over your operations so you can respond more quickly and more accurately to more events.

Manitou offers real-time alerts, user-friendly dashboards, the ability to gather and analyze data from thousands of security devices, and comprehensive analytics for streamlined alarm management. Its robust feature set includes:

• Precise Action Patterns that optimize operator efficiency and resolve incidents quickly.
• An intuitive Video Control Center that integrates alarm handling and video into one centralized platform.
• Manitou’s API enables vast integration capabilities with leading audio and video hardware, PBX systems, databases and geolocation programs, plus other new technologies.
• Add-on modules including Virtual Operator, Universal Connector, AutoText, BoldNet, and BoldNet Mobile help you improve efficiency, offer new services, and configure your software to meet your needs.

As our flagship alarm monitoring solution, Manitou is backed by robust development and support resources to bring you greater performance and reliability, ensure you get technical support when you need it, and deliver continuous innovation through regular product updates and industry-leading integrations.

Manitou’s comprehensive suite of features, integrations, and add-on modules put more control in your hands, increase situational awareness, and enable you to more quickly and accurately process events. With cloud-based options available, you can also simplify your IT infrastructure while improving your system’s security and redundancy.

Please reach out to Bold Group sales. Your account rep will review and evaluate how you are using your SIMS and Phoenix platforms today, and help you choose a Manitou solution that best supports your current operations and needs.

Yes. You can take advantage of migration incentives by reaching out to your account rep as soon as possible. Please contact Bold Group Sales to learn how you can save on your migration.

Your Bold Group account rep can provide a cost comparison tailored to your organization’s needs. Please contact Bold Group Sales to learn more.

Bold Group will partner with you throughout your migration journey to make the transition as seamless as possible for your organization. We understand that moving to a new alarm monitoring platform is a big project, and Bold Group has a variety of self-serve resources and Professional Services options to help you with your migration and data conversion. Your account rep can discuss these services with you and recommend a migration package that’s best for your needs.

You may continue using your SIMS or Phoenix software after this date; however, using unsupported software puts your organization, systems, and data at risk, and we do not recommend it.

• You will not receive security patches to address vulnerabilities, and these unpatched flaws may be exploited.
• You will not have access to Bold Group’s support team or resources should you experience any technical issue, error, or system outage while using your unsupported SIMS or Phoenix software.
• You will not be able to increase your SIMS or Phoenix account capacity after support ends.

To continue using your unsupported SIMS software after March 31, 2026:

• If your SIMS III system is connected to Bold Group’s SIMS Xfer or SIMS Zip Code servers, you will need to disconnect from those servers to continue using your unsupported SIMS software after March 31, 2026.
• Please follow these instructions for your SIMS Xfer Server and SIMS Zip Code Server. You will encounter errors in your software if you have not completed these steps before the end of support.

To continue using your unsupported Phoenix software after March 31, 2026:

• You will periodically need to update your license. Please read and follow the instructions provided in this article.

This change does not affect your data. You will continue to own your software and your data.

Your account will be switched to monthly billing when your next invoice is scheduled to go out. If you have questions about an invoice or billing, please open a support case through the Bold Group support portal.

Your contract will be renewed automatically for the period remaining until March 31, 2026, and you will be billed on a monthly basis until that date.

Yes. You may continue to request technical support by opening a support case in the support portal. However, development for SIMS and Phoenix has ended, and we are not addressing cases that require a bug fix, unless the case has critical or emergency impact.

We will continue to work any open case that has critical or emergency impact. As mentioned above, development for SIMS and Phoenix has ended. If your open support case is a feature/enhancement request or requires a bug fix for resolution, and does not have critical or emergency impact, then it will be closed.

Yes. We have created dedicated documentation centers for SIMS and Phoenix in the Manitou knowledge base, where you can access how-to guides, reference guides, release notes, and user manuals. Documentation for SIMS and Phoenix is no longer housed in BoldU but will be available to you after the end of support date in the Manitou knowledge base. Please bookmark the SIMS link and the Phoenix link so you can continue to access them in the future.

Yes. We are not ending support for VaporPaper 2, VaporPaper 3, or SignalSafe which are standalone modules that can be used with Manitou or Stages.

On March 31, 2026, we will turn off the server that supports SIMSXfer, and Bold Group will no longer receive backups of your database. You may still use the SIMSXfer program and perform your own backups by following these instructions. If you have a question about SIMSXfer, please open a support case in Bold Group’s support portal.

The app will remain available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store until it is no longer compatible with the Apple or Android OS. When this happens, we will not release any updates to ensure compatibility, and your technicians and customers will no longer be able to use the app.

We first announced that we are ending support for SIMS and Phoenix on March 18, 2025. We shared the announcement by email with the contacts we have on file for current SIMS and Phoenix customers. In addition, we posted notices on the Bold Group website and support portal.

Have questions or concerns that aren’t covered in the FAQs? Want to talk through your options or learn more about how Bold Group can help you move to a supported platform? We’re here to help – learn more or contact us at any time at [email protected].