Oxford Has the Oldest Living HP-UX Box in the United Kingdom

Published: September 20, 2007

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Hewlett-Packard has finished up its search for the oldest living HP-UX system in the United Kingdom, and the winner is--no, not the Queen, but close. Oxford University.

A few months ago, the U.K. subsidiary of HP announced a promotion called "Gold Dust" that sought out the oldest running HP-UX machine in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. HP-UX and the related PA-RISC machines that run this Unix variant, turn 20 this year, and the search for the oldest production box was aimed at highlighting the pervasiveness of HP-UX boxes (which are tucked into corners all around the globe, much as HP 3000 minis still are) and the longevity and reliability of the machinery and its software. HP was undoubtedly hoping to find a machine that was 20 years old, but the HP 9000 E35 machine installed at Oxford University Press has been running continuously only since 1993. The box is used as a DNS server today, and was previously used as part of the OUP's English Language Teaching program, which provides online support services to those who teach English around the globe.

As the winner of the contest, OUP was awarded a new entry Integrity machine, an HP-UX 11i v3 license, and a three-year, 24x7 support contract for the gear. And, of course, given this, OUP is planning to stay with HP-UX as a customer for many of its other workloads, too. "When we do upgrade, it will be to a new HP-UX environment as the best way forward," said Geoff Butler, technical architect at OUP, who was looking to get new gear anyway. But Butler has no plans to unplug that HP 9000 E35 box. "There's life in the old dog yet," said Butler.

Which begs the question: What is the oldest running computer system in the world? There must be some vacuum-tube filled box running an air traffic control system somewhere. More likely in a lot more places than we want to think about when we sit down in Row 27, Seat B.

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