You are here: silicon.com > Hardware > Servers

Servers

Businesses reluctant to ditch ageing legacy systems

A third will use SOA to give them a facelift...

Tags: software ag, legacy systems, legacy

By Andy McCue

Published: 5 January 2007 13:25 GMT

More than two-thirds of UK organisations admit they are running parts of their infrastructure on ageing legacy technology that is more than 10 years old, according to a new survey.

The poll of 150 IT directors found 70 per cent are still using legacy systems put in before 1996 to run parts of their business.

How old is your IT kit?

We're still looking for the IT department with the oldest piece of functioning hardware still going strong.

Can you beat silicon reader Kevin Hill who emailed to boast about a Compaq Contura Aero from 1994 still happily running Windows 3.11 on a 486 processor with 4MB of RAM and a 240MB hard drive?

Post a Reader Comment below telling us about yours - or, even better, take a photo of it and email it to us.

All of those with these old legacy systems said they are looking to modernise their technology infrastructure in 2007 but only 13 per cent will adopt a 'rip and replace' approach. Instead a third (34 per cent) of the IT directors said they are looking at using service-oriented architecture (SOA) and 29 per cent will use legacy modernisation to improve their infrastructure.

Tim Holyoake, senior consultant at Software AG, which carried out the research, said SOA can be used to give legacy systems a facelift without having to undergo a costly "full body transplant".

Almost a third of respondents to a silicon.com reader poll last year also admitted to having kit more than 10 years old, with another third using IT equipment between five and 10 years old.

IT directors said the age of kit is irrelevant if it still does the job effectively while old equipment can be valuable as a test environment.

Paul Broome, IT director at 192.com, said: "Old servers can be great test harnesses for development, beta and staging. Our motto here is 'if it ain't broke fix it until it is'."

  1. Zones
  2. Management
  3. Networks
  4. Software
  5. IT Services
  6. Hardware
  1. Verticals
  2. Public Sector
  3. Financial Services
  4. Retail & Leisure

Bethan Jones Can I use a netbook as my everyday work machine? Part II silicon.com sub editor reveals whether her netbook delivered

Seb Janacek Magic Mouse - Apple's best ever? Minority Report: After years of disappointment, one Mac lover has hope


  • Jobs
Systems Analyst (Legacy Web services)

System Analyst, Swindon, 3 months We are trusted and preferred supplier to this prestigious Retail Banking client. At present we are looking to for a ...

Transition Manager

We are recruiting for an experienced Transition Manager who will be responsible for defining and implementing all aspects of our clients transition ...

Data Architect

The Data Architect will implement the physical data model in Oracle 11G and act in an assurance role to ensure that the logical data model drives the ...

Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.





Quick Sitemap Links: