versiondog and AutoSave End of Life: Phases, Risks and Your Options

versiondog and AutoSave end of life is the deadline that plants running either tool have been working toward since 2023. versiondog, from AUVESY in Landau, Germany, and MDT AutoSave, from MDT Software in Alpharetta, Georgia, were two of the established multi-vendor tools for backing up and versioning PLC, robot, HMI and drive programs. When the two companies merged as AUVESY-MDT in January 2022, both products were put on a path to retirement in favour of one successor, octoplant. As of October 2026, both are in the final, consulting-only phase, according to AMDT’s partners.

This page explains how the two products became one, what each phase of the retirement means for a plant still running them, and the three realistic options. It is part of our independent overview of AMDT.

A note on sources. We did not find the retirement schedule on AMDT’s public sites as of October 2026. The phases below come from two AMDT partners, becolve and Novotek. They agree in substance and we report them as they published them. Your own maintenance contract may carry different dates. Confirm them with AMDT or your reseller before you plan around this page.

Two predecessors, one successor

MDT Software was founded in 1987 and built AutoSave into a disaster recovery and change management tool used across North American manufacturing. When Hg invested in August 2021, MDT reported more than 400 customers and over a million devices in 44 countries (Hg).

AUVESY was founded in 2007 and built versiondog, a version control and change management tool with its strongest footprint in European plants. Brockhaus Private Equity bought it in 2017 (POELLATH), and Hg agreed a majority stake in April 2021, when AUVESY had about 90 staff and more than 700 customers in 45 countries (Latham & Watkins).

With both under one owner, the companies merged on 11 January 2022 as AUVESY-MDT, claiming more than 2,500 manufacturers in over 50 countries (press release). octoplant followed on 19 April 2022 (Novotek). The company rebranded as AMDT around October 2024.

The position on the old products changed over time. At launch, Novotek reported that existing versiondog customers would keep their licences “with software updates as before,” while new customers would get octoplant. Novotek’s later Swiss notice explains why that did not last: the company was maintaining three version control products for the same job, and it chose to put its effort into octoplant, which, in its words, “already offers all versiondog functions” (our translation).

	versiondog	MDT AutoSave	octoplant
Maker	AUVESY, Landau, Germany	MDT Software, Alpharetta, Georgia	AMDT (AUVESY-MDT)
Origin	AUVESY founded 2007	MDT founded 1987	Launched April 2022
Scale at Hg’s 2021 investment	700+ customers, 45 countries	400+ customers, 44 countries	AMDT states 3,200+ customers (amdt.com)
Status, October 2026	Final phase: consulting only	Final phase: consulting only	Current product; release 107 in April 2026
Our page	versiondog	MDT AutoSave	octoplant

The versiondog and AutoSave end-of-life phases

The partners describe four phases. becolve writes about AutoSave and Novotek about versiondog, and the schedules line up.

Phase	Period	What is offered	Source
Limited availability	2023–2024	Renewals of existing contracts only. No new licences	becolve
Full support	To the end of 2024	Full maintenance and support for existing functions	becolve, Novotek
Limited support	2025	Critical security fixes and level 1–2 support only. No new device or editor support	becolve, Novotek
Consulting only	2026	The lifecycle ends and support can no longer be renewed. Consulting services remain available; no fixes or updates	becolve

One variant has its own end of life. AutoSave for System Platform, which managed AVEVA System Platform configurations, ran on a separate schedule. A post in the AVEVA Community reports that it completed AUVESY-MDT’s end-of-life process on 31 December 2025, with support ending from 1 January 2026 and the 2023 release as the last supported version. That is a community post, not an AMDT notice, so confirm it against your contract. The MDT AutoSave page covers it.

What versiondog and AutoSave end of life means for a plant

The phases read like contract language. Each one has a practical consequence.

Renewals only (2023–2024). A plant could keep what it had but could not add licences. Any expansion, a new line or a newly acquired site, had to go onto octoplant. Many plants therefore already run a mixed estate: legacy archives in one tool, newer equipment in another, and two places to look on the day something fails.

Limited support (2025). This is the phase that changes daily operations, because new device and editor support stopped. Illustrative scenario: a plant upgrades its engineering software for a new line, or a robot arrives on newer firmware. The legacy tool was never taught to read that format. The backup job may still run and report success on the old equipment while the new equipment is simply not covered. Nothing alarms. The gap shows on the day somebody needs a copy that does not exist.

Consulting only (2026). No fixes. If an operating system update, a database change or a certificate breaks the server, there is no patch coming. Paid consulting can help, but it is not the same as a vendor obligation to fix a defect in the product you depend on for recovery.

After 2026. The partner sources do not say what follows the consulting phase. Whether licences keep activating, and whether any help remains available, is a question for AMDT.

The consequence for audits. A pharma site validated on a legacy tool, or a utility using it as evidence for configuration baselines, now carries an unsupported system inside its compliance story. See 21 CFR Part 11 for what that means in a validated plant.

Your options

There are three, and the right one depends on device coverage, how much your version history is worth, and your validation burden.

Option	What it involves	Main risk	Fits when
Migrate to octoplant	Move archives and jobs to the vendor’s successor, usually with AMDT or a partner	Losing history or job logic in the move; licence model changes	Your device mix is broad, your history matters and you want continuity of vendor and workflow
Move to another tool	Rebuild backup and versioning on FactoryTalk AssetCentre, Copia Automation, Software Defined Automation (SDA) or OEM-native Git	Old history may not come across at all; more retraining	One vendor dominates the site, or you want a different model such as Git or the cloud
Stay unsupported	Keep running the legacy tool as is	No new device coverage, no fixes, no support during a failed restore	Short term only, with a dated exit plan

Migrating to octoplant is the path of least change for most plants: the same vendor, a familiar check-out and check-in model, and AMDT’s Migration & Expansion services. The mechanics, risks and a checklist are on Migration to octoplant.

Moving to another tool is a legitimate choice, and the end of a contract is the natural moment to make it. A Rockwell-heavy plant may already own FactoryTalk AssetCentre. Copia and SDA offer Git-based and browser-based models. Our octoplant alternatives page compares them fairly.

Staying unsupported is a decision, not a default. If you take it, take it knowingly:

• Freeze the device and editor versions the tool can still read, and record them
• Keep a second, manual copy of every program the tool cannot back up
• Test a restore from the legacy archive every quarter
• Put an exit date on the capital plan, and keep it

A recovery tool that cannot read your newest equipment is a recovery plan with holes in it. Our warehouse controls recovery case study shows what partial backups cost when a site actually needs them.

Limits and open questions

• The schedule is partner-published. We found no current end-of-life page on amdt.com or octoplant.com. Contracts signed or renewed at different times may carry different dates
• What happens after 2026 is not stated. Licence activation and residual support are questions to put to AMDT in writing
• The GxP edition. versiondog had a GxP edition for validated plants. A named octoplant equivalent is not confirmed in public sources; AMDT now sells IQ/OQ services
• Migration mechanics are not documented publicly. What moves cleanly from each legacy tool, and what has to be rebuilt, is something to confirm on a pilot
• No prices are published for octoplant, so the cost of migrating is only known by quote

How to evaluate it

Questions we would put to AMDT or a partner before deciding:

• What end-of-support and end-of-licence dates apply to our contract, in writing?
• Which of our devices and editor versions is the legacy tool already unable to back up?
• How much of our version history must survive, for audits or for troubleshooting?
• Will the full archive, including history, move to octoplant, and how is that verified?
• What will octoplant cost under per-device, per-campus licensing, compared with our current spend?
• For validated systems, what IQ/OQ scope does the change require, and who signs it?
• If we move to another tool, how do we keep read access to the legacy archive?
• Who owns the decision and the date: engineering, IT, OT security or quality?

A legacy tool’s end of life is one input to a wider plan. A modernization roadmap puts it next to the controllers, software versions and servers that are ageing at the same time.

Deeper

• versiondog: AUVESY’s product, its history from Landau, the GxP edition, and what carried into octoplant
• MDT AutoSave: MDT Software’s product, its North American base, and AutoSave for System Platform
• Migration to octoplant: what to confirm moves, the Project Integrator Tool, licensing and a migration checklist

Back to the AMDT hub, or across to octoplant and octoplant alternatives.