Genesys Cloud Edge end of life: moving premises Edges to hybrid and cloud media

Genesys announced in March 2025 that its BYOC Premises Genesys Hardware Solution would reach end of support on 1 December 2026. From that date, Genesys says it will provide only limited support for existing Edge devices, will allow no new deployments, and will not support or replace failing hardware. In July 2026 it announced the end of life: effective 1 June 2027, all existing deployments of the Genesys Hardware Solution become inoperative on the platform. Genesys explains that the distributor's stock of pre-configured Edge devices has run out and that most devices have already passed the end of their hardware warranty.

The models affected are Edge Standard v1, v2 and v3, Edge Micro, and Edge Mini v1 and v2. Genesys's check is simple: in Genesys Cloud, go to Admin, then Telephony, then Edges, and look at the Model field. If it shows Genesys Hardware Solution, you are affected. Remember that Edges you rely on for dialling, recording or survivability count too, and that Genesys separately ended support for Edge Remote Survivability on 30 June 2025.

Genesys recommends moving to one of its fully cloud media telephony options, BYOC Cloud or Genesys Cloud Voice, and says the transition is built into Genesys Cloud through its hybrid media solution. With BYOC Cloud you keep a carrier of your choice and connect its SIP trunks to Genesys Cloud over the internet. With Genesys Cloud Voice, Genesys provides the telephony service and numbers. Either way, the Edge hardware in your building goes, and calls are handled by cloud media services instead.

If you must keep telephony on premises, Genesys points to the BYOC Premises Customer Hardware Solution, in which you build an Edge yourself from the Hewlett Packard Enterprise hardware specified in Genesys's bill of materials, bought from your own vendor, with a monthly usage charge once the Edge is in service. That option suits organisations with a genuine need for local media, such as strict on-site requirements, but it keeps hardware to buy, build, maintain and eventually replace. For most contact centres, the cloud media route is simpler, and it is the route this guide follows.

Hybrid media lets premises Edges and cloud media work together in one Genesys Cloud organisation. Genesys describes the move from premises as a four-phase operation built on two features, Hybrid Media Edge Groups and Site Links: make the organisation hybrid media capable, move your Edges into a new Edge group called the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group, configure Edge interfaces to use Site Interconnects, then enable and configure Site Links. Cloud media instances do the same job as premises Edges, but in the cloud as AWS-powered microservices.

Making an organisation hybrid capable means adding BYOC Cloud or Genesys Cloud Voice from the AppFoundry. Until the later phases are complete, Genesys says the organisation continues to work as a standard BYOC Premises organisation, which is what makes a safe, staged move possible. When the cloud option is added, Genesys creates new objects you will see in the configuration: the Genesys Cloud CDM SIP and CDM WebRTC phone trunks, a single cloud core site called PureCloud Voice – AWS, and a Default PCV Location that is a placeholder and should not be edited or deleted. Organisations created since 11 May 2022 are already hybrid capable.

Most of the work, and most of the risk, is in preparation. Start with an inventory: every Edge and the site it serves, every trunk and the numbers on it, every phone and its type, every integration that sends or receives calls, including Microsoft Teams, and every user who works from home. Genesys notes that AudioCodes phones, Genesys-branded phones and the PureCloud Softphone are not compatible with BYOC Cloud and cannot be used on the cloud side of a hybrid organisation, so plan replacements, usually WebRTC phones in the browser, before you rely on cloud media.

Then settle the decisions that shape the build. Choose the carrier and whether numbers will be ported or moved to new trunks. Choose the media region: with BYOC Cloud trunks, Genesys's Global Media Fabric lets an organisation use any Genesys Cloud media region, including satellite regions such as Africa (Cape Town), so voice can stay close to callers even when the core organisation is hosted elsewhere. Open the firewall ports and address ranges Genesys publishes for cloud media and WebRTC from every site and remote location, and test them. Confirm that you are entitled to add the cloud option in the AppFoundry, and bring Edges up to the current software version first.

Two Genesys cautions matter for larger contact centres. If more than 400 concurrent calls will cut over to cloud media within ten minutes, Genesys advises opening a care case so resources can be scaled in advance, because otherwise calls may drop until autoscaling catches up. And once you start moving Edges, Genesys warns that you must be able to finish the whole operation, because the organisation is temporarily segmented while some Edges are in the hybrid group and others are not.

• Inventory Edges, sites, trunks, numbers, phones, integrations and remote users
• Replace phone types that cannot be used on the cloud side
• Choose the carrier, the numbering approach and the media region
• Open and test firewall rules for cloud media and WebRTC from every location
• Confirm AppFoundry entitlements and update every Edge to the current version
• Plan Microsoft Teams calling, such as Direct Routing or Operator Connect
• Open a Genesys care case for readiness, and to pre-scale for large cut-overs

We run the move in two maintenance windows, each driven by a runbook that gives every step an owner, a time, an expected duration and a test. The first window makes the organisation hybrid and proves that nothing has changed for callers. Add BYOC Cloud or Genesys Cloud Voice from the AppFoundry, wait for activation, and check that Genesys has created the hybrid media group, the CDM trunks and the cloud core site. Then move the premises Edges into the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group.

Genesys's procedure for moving an Edge is to take it out of service, ideally letting calls drain first, select the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group as its Edge group, put it back in service and select its Site Interconnects. Only one premises Edge can be moved at a time, and every Edge in a site should be moved before you start on another site. Do it out of hours. Before the window closes, test live numbers, call flows, queues and agents on the premises carrier, so you know the organisation is hybrid and still working exactly as before.

1. Confirm prerequisites, approvals and the Genesys care case
2. Add BYOC Cloud or Genesys Cloud Voice from the AppFoundry
3. Check the hybrid media group, CDM trunks, cloud core site and placeholder location
4. Take each Edge out of service with call draining, one at a time
5. Assign it to the Genesys Cloud Hybrid Media Group and return it to service
6. Select its Site Interconnects and complete every Edge in the site
7. Test live calling on the premises carrier before closing the window

Between the windows, build and test the cloud side alongside live service. Create a new location for the cloud and a branch site that uses it, set the site's media region, and create the carrier's BYOC Cloud trunk, with TLS for signalling where the carrier supports it. Add the dial plan and outbound routes for emergency, national and international calls, and put a handful of test numbers on the new trunk. Move a few test users' WebRTC phones to the cloud site and prove inbound and outbound calls, caller ID, calls on behalf of a queue, transfers, conferences and calls to and from Microsoft Teams.

The second window is the cut-over. Enable persistent connection in the WebRTC phone settings, so phone connections stay open between calls and calls connect faster, then move every user's WebRTC phone to the cloud site. Move the live numbers to the new trunk, or port them, according to the carrier's process. Test every number against its flows and queues, and test Teams calling in both directions, allowing for routing changes on the Teams side that can take time to take effect. Keep the premises path available until testing is complete, so there is a route back if one is needed.

A written test pack, run first with test numbers and then with live ones, is what turns a cut-over into a non-event. Cover outbound calls and the caller ID they present, calls on behalf of a queue, inbound calls to queues and to users, internal calls, consult and blind transfers to colleagues and to external numbers, conferences, and Teams calls in both directions. Test from the office and from home, on the networks agents really use.

Expect some failures to sit outside Genesys Cloud. In one migration, calls to certain mobile numbers failed during testing. SIP traces from Genesys Cloud showed the cause was in the carrier's routing plan, and the carrier fixed it once it had the traces. Agree in advance how you will capture traces and who at the carrier will receive them, so issues like this are resolved in hours rather than days.

Once every phone and number is on cloud media and hypercare has passed, the premises Edges carry no calls and can be removed from the configuration and retired, along with any premises carrier circuits and session border controllers that only served them. Update your documentation, support runbooks and network rules, and remove firewall exceptions that existed only for the Edges.

For a single-site contact centre with a clear carrier plan, the move itself takes two maintenance windows. The elapsed time is set by everything around it: carrier contracts and trunk provisioning, number porting, firewall changes and approvals, Microsoft Teams changes and your own change board. In the migration in our case study, the engagement ran from November 2025 to a go-live in March 2026. With end of support on 1 December 2026, organisations that have not started should start now.

QVCCS is a Genesys referral partner, not a reseller, with leadership in contact centre technology since 1984, and every delivery team member holds, or is completing, Genesys Cloud certification. We have taken a financial services organisation from premises Edges to hybrid and cloud media, a new carrier and Microsoft Teams Operator Connect in two maintenance windows, live exactly as planned. We write the runbook, design the network and carrier changes, build and test the cloud side, run the windows and support the first days, directly or alongside your systems integrator and carrier.