London airspace closed after computer failure

[darmstadt]

What they use is an out of date IBM mainframe, the S/390 series running a modified version of the OS. I would suspect that it was a software failure as this hardware is 24/7 and has proven pretty reliable. I came across a similar system some years ago at the a.n.other countries air security system which had the same problems as the UK one has, they have modified the OS and software but the modifications can't be implemented in the newer versions of the OS which are required to run on the newer hardware. Actually, they probably could but it takes time and money which they don't have. I was at a.n.other to provide them a system that would run on newer hardware but with the old OS and system changes albeit under emulation. Luckily they got their fingers out and got to work and got it all running on recent kit.






(* I also came across the same problem with AWACS and submarines, NASA also had similar systems, oh, and an unnamed European countries post office apparently)

[scooterscot]

The old hardware despite being reliable also holds some blame. I recall a case of a network card processing raw RADAR data which would be sent to another machine for mapping. It worked fine in the 70's and 80's. However we noticed a failure when RAW data increased because of more aircraft, more to track. The network card bandwidth was exceed so it ignored raw data and tracks were intermittent. Of course we couldn't jus replace it with a modern equivalent because of what it was interfacing into.

Seen a few software failures but often it is the result of the specification changing in the hardware world rather than the software failing.

The long and short of it all is this is what you get when you don't invest. A sheetstorm.