While both surprising and disappointing, a new set of photos has been posted online showing really outdated Philippine’s MRT-3 or Metro Railway Train computer systems.
On the photos include a decaying and damp facility that houses both the signalling and interface systems of the railway. Both systems are vital in managing the train schedules and keeping the train and its passengers safe.
What’s more shocking is that the signalling system’s mainframe computer, although new, is still running on a Motorolla 68000 processor which was introduced back in 1979. Meanwhile, the computer system interface is powered by an old 2004 Intel Pentium D processor, dated Windows XP OS version, and 256MB RAM.
Just my personal view, there might be reasons why the previous contractor, the Sumitomo, did not upgrade the mainframe system. It’s either the data that pass through the system do not require large processing power. But for MRTC to not keep the place and interface computer upgraded is really disappointing for the commuters.
Photos source: Facebook
This is a good thing actually. It means the people who made the computer system really knows how to make systems that last long.
If it does it’s work properly. There’s no need to upgrade as it would just be a waste of money that can be used on other things.
How can this be a good thing ? It clearly states that budget for this kind of projects has been long gone to the pockets of our politicians involved behind this scam. Running with this kind of old age system could lead to endangering the lives of commuters. It is inaccurate, obsolete and inefficient. How can you compare the technology that France has from the Philippines, we are 50 yrs behind them.
The budget being gone to the politicians is not the good thing here. Clearly you missed my point by a mile.
The efficiency of the system creators (which was also taken care of by Japan) is the good thing I’m talking about. It means the system has been made so efficiently that upgrading is not needed for a long time since it’s already accurate as is.
As the comment above. Dont fix what aint broke. It might introduce new bugs and increase cost unnecessarily.
There has been a reported airport in France that still uses Windows 3.1, an OS released in 1992. Win XP is released in 2001.
Following your logic we are 9 years ADVANCED compared to France!
The author of Game of Thrones/ASOIAF still uses DOS to type his novels. Are you saying he needs to upgrade and that we are 35 years ADVANCED compared to this best-selling author?
I don`t disagree with you, but the fact that our train system failed several times with this kind of prehistoric computers and it has jeopardized the lives of the commuters. Furthermore, it really needs to be upgraded for safety purposes.
I beg to disagree when you said that we are 9 years ADVANCED compared to France! How could that happen? Knowing that the first French satellite was launched on 1965. Philippines that time was still increasing industrialization and creation of solid infrastructure nationwide, How can we be advanced? How can a third world country be more advanced that the first world country.
In addition to, Don’t fix what ain’t broke.
Old code has the tendency to be more robust, stable, and efficient than new code.
You do not want to f*ck up something that is working, and is tried and tested.
Upgrading a system is not always an option. There might be higher-level priorities that needs to be addressed. It might not as well be economical for them to rewrite the legacy system from scratch.
As the saying goes,
The quote applies well to software development.
It is not about re-writing the system, It is about upgrading the system for better performance. Just like your computer, if you are running a 64 bit windows, application below 64 like 32 bit would not run in your computer since there is a compatibility issues. The fact that these trains are made from other countries like Japan which was built from an advance system and programs. So, upgrading the system is a must! Upgrading includes innovation and safety ! sort of ! 🙂
Upgrading the system does not always mean that overall performance will be better. The hardware is better but that does not mean that the software is utilizing the hardware to its full potential.
So, if we want to upgrade the hardware, we must make sure that the software is capable of using the additional resources. Otherwise, the hardware investment will be useless.
In other words, if you upgrade the hardware, upgrade the software as well.
yes, system upgrade includes all hardware and software components.
There are many differences between 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows.
What I meant was, 64-bit versions of Windows can run 32-bit software, but 32-bit versions of Windows can’t run 64-bit software.
The advantages of upgrading the system results to, computer acts faster to what are the users doing, Upgrading software might fix the current bugs and stop the computer from experiencing faults, crashing. Improved security. Upgrading software can add additional security for your computer. The only disadvantage I know is that you might have to pay for the updates and upgrades.
This is about mission critical application deployment! Why upgrade when the current one is already perfectly functioning for the job it is given?
As said earlier, upgrading a system does not always equate to a better functioning system. The reason why many companies have legacy software is that it just works!
Let’s say that the system was upgraded – both hardware and software. But then the question would lie in the software, would you rewrite your software to be compatible with the operating system and hardware? How about the bugs?
It is not always an option to upgrade. The probability of bugs appearing in a new system is high. This is because the new system is not robust. It has not been tried and tested through time.
Legacy code exists for a reason. It has been tried and tested. A stable code base is better than an edgy new version.
To end this, I would like to quote @allenalesna:disqus.
I hope they have spare hardware proven to work… because if the mainframe breaks, they will either have to shoulder a huge bill to find such old hardware, or the service is going to go down for quite some time.
It is true that it may not be economical, but the risk of running the operation like that is very high.
Hardware like the one being used in MRT 3 or at least the same specs is pretty common for now.
IT POV – as long as na kaya ng hardware ung application running jan walang issue dun. di lahat ng bagay sa IT world need e upgrade kaagad.
Most people who doesn’t work in technology cannot fathom how technology itself works. While technology has advanced by miles and miles, especially at the consumer level, at the industry level, this is not necessarily so. Well after all, there’s only so much operation that consumers need, and these are mostly non complex computations. Banks, power plants, manufacturing plants and the like run their system with legacy hardware and software. This is not because they don’t want to spend or they’re scrimping. Migration to new technology, especially at enterprise level entails not just installing the HW/SW. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration. Safety is the biggest part of it, another is efficiency, security, and robustness. People in the tech world knows that a new system does not address the multitude of scenarios that may be encountered in various operations. This is especially so when the software that operates these machines is an older one, then installed on a new operating system. It only take one single bug to cripple an operation. By such, it can be more detrimental and costly to plunge into new technology. Sure they will upgrade to W7 or W10 at some point, by that time those OS’ will be legacy as well. But tried and tested already to robust levels. With regards to the MRT, I don’t see the problem as an IT issue, it’s a mechanical issue.
Yes, every technology must be upgrade, because virus is also upgraded. If your computer are not upgraded it will be a risk of a new virus that written out. But the big problem here is the budget of every department. Buying new devices are not a big deal, it was just in every corner, you don’t even take it from another country, there’s a lot of computer stores like in Gilmore a home of computers store.. So where’s the budget?, who’s the one in charge of this matter?