Impact of upgrading from 10.2.4 -> 11.4.1 on iControl

Hi. I am developing the process to move from 10.2.4 -> 11-. I originally planned to upgrade to 11.2.1, because I was under the impression that the iControl SOAP interface was removed with 11.4. I am prepared to make minor changes to our SOAP iControl automation as part of our upgrade process, but I am not prepared to convert that automation to REST. So I was leaving the upgrade from 11.2.1 -> 11.4 for a future date.

However, I just read Joe's article Introducing a RESTful interface for iControl. That article makes it sound like the REST interface in 11.4 is a beta, for lack of a better term. Does the SOAP interface still exist in 11.4, and if so, will it continue to be available for an appreciable amount of time (i.e. multiple months, or years) after 11.4?