Uptime Article
Sept 2014 – End of XP

The End of XP

Today’s world is a dangerous place for XP users. With no future security patches, XP vulnerability holes will no longer be closed.

“Continuing to rely on an XP system is like driving on worn out tires,” says Rick Dolezal, ABB’s VP of lifecycle services. “I am not a doom and gloom person, but the fact is that if you are running XP, you are on borrowed time.”

Microsoft has ended all support for XP, including all software upgrades and security updates. Most people assume this creates only a software problem, but it’s also a hardware problem.

“It’s a hardware risk because component manufacturers no longer write driver software that is backward compatible with XP,” explains Bob Wells, the ABB ServiceGrid (sm) product manager in North America. “If a workstation component fails, it is likely beyond repair. You simply won’t be able to find hardware components that will work with XP.”

On the software side, beyond the risk of system failure, people need to consider the tremendous security threat XP currently presents.

“Today’s world is a dangerous place for XP users. With no future security patches, XP vulnerability holes will no longer be closed. Virus writers know there are many ripe, easily-breached, XP-based targets and they are going to have a field day attacking them.”

The best solution, according to Dolezal, is to bite the bullet and upgrade to the current operating system and hardware. If that’s not possible or practical, then maintenance managers need to have a plan in place to recover from a total system failure, hardware and software.

Wells says additional network security appliances can help mitigate vulnerabilities, but it’s still possible for “bad stuff to happen.” The best precaution, he advises, is having system backups of application and configuration data as well as bare-metal restore images to protect/preserve your intellectual property. However, having the hardware to restore the system on is another risk to be mitigated.

“Some people discount the risk of relying on XP because they think this is like the Y2K threat,” Dolezal says. “This is entirely different. The Y2K threat turned out to be exaggerated, but the danger of continuing to run XP systems is very real and will only get worse.”

ABB Inc.

Anne Roberts-Kraska

3700 W Sam Houston Pkwy South

Houston, TX 77042

Phone: 713-587-8035

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