7 systems running on legacy technology in 2024

At But these are all conscious decisions to reuse hardware so it doesn't end up in landfill. Many companies and organizations have no choice because some of their critical systems run on outdated hardware and/or code that should have been decommissioned decades ago. Let's take a look at some of the systems that you might be surprised to find are running on outdated hardware.

7 Trains

It seems that floppy disks are not going to die

When you trust your life to something like a commuter train, you expect the company that runs it to use the latest and greatest technology, with a control room that's all modern and full of flashing lights like in the movies. Well, that may have been around the time the rail system was installed, but these days those control rooms haven't aged so well. Take the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority, whose automatic train control system uses 5 1/4-inch floppy disks to operate (via ArsTechnica). However, only as long as the trains are within the subway sections, as human operators are in charge while the trains are on above-ground tracks.

The agency is in the process of modernizing the system, which will cost a staggering $212 million. If that's the average cost of upgrading complex systems that still run on legacy hardware, it's not hard to understand why companies are slow to make the transition, especially when the legacy systems are still working. The ATCS in San Francisco is still functional, but those floppy disks won't last forever, and the programming skills needed to keep the old code running are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

6 Sales terminals

Many still use low-performance processors to operate

In the US, you're more likely to see tablet-based point-of-sale terminals from Square or another new generation of payment processors lately, but that's not the case everywhere. Point-of-sale terminals can run on very low-end hardware, and until recently most ran on x286 processors. As early as the 2000s, payment terminals used low-power embedded Intel processors, and some of these units are still in use today. The peak performance of these machines was a Pentium with 266 Hz and Windows CE.

The sole reason for purchasing and installing new POS terminals was to shift responsibilities for credit card fraud prevention. Once the domain of card issuers and payment processors, responsibility has recently shifted to individual stores, which is a key reason why more secure cards with embedded chips are now available in the US. This change hasn't completely replaced the old POS terminals, but they are finally on their way out.

5 The German Navy

Many systems still use floppy disks

The German Navy still uses floppy disks as part of the onboard data acquisition systems on some of its warships (via Tom's Hardware). These frigates entered service in the mid-90s, but use 8-inch floppy disks in some key systems. The Navy is in the process of replacing these with another system, but has not yet decided exactly which system will replace the floppy disks while retaining the rest of the operational electronics.

If you're wondering if this is the only world power that still uses floppy disks in its military, it's very unlikely. The US had relied on the same 8-inch floppy disks for the US Strategic Automated Command and Control System until 2019, and it is likely that other military powers with aging arsenals also use similar systems.

4 Governments

Security requirements often result in legacy code being retained

Governments around the world are still using legacy systems and the legacy codebase from which they were built, and that's not going to change any time soon. The sheer scale of the undertaking to modernize one of these sprawling agencies, such as the IRS or the system for conducting background checks in the United States, makes the replacement process complex, especially since the systems must coexist for some time as new data is continually added.

Whether it's legacy programming languages ​​like COBOL or modern systems built on legacy systems – it's hard to see where one ends and the other begins – the challenge of modernization is real. It's not just legacy code either, as outdated hardware also plays a role. It wasn't until mid-2024 that Japan managed to finally ban its government from using floppy disks, as there were numerous old regulations mandating their use.

3 Banking

ATMs and outdated codes abound in the banking sector

The banking sector is old-fashioned in many ways, including heavy reliance on legacy systems. The databases and systems that move huge amounts of money around the world are all outdated, but it's not just the macro image running the code that's old enough to be retired. ATMs are often a target, even the newer ones with NFC readers, because the chips or codes they run are riddled with problems and vulnerabilities that existed at the time the ATM was installed. That could have been a decade or more ago, and the criminals who like to attack ATMs have become increasingly sophisticated in that time. Additionally, the mainframes and other systems that run the banking world were developed long before the mobile age and simply cannot keep up with the increasing burden of everyone with an Internet-connected computer in their pocket.

2 Healthcare

Old databases and hardware are difficult to modernize

Anyone who has dealt with a healthcare system recently knows that it is slow and inefficient. This is clearly due to legacy systems being used for healthcare records, billing and claims processing. The main problem hindering modernization is that most of these systems are critical to health compliance and have not been updated for some time. It's clear that the entire system needs an overhaul, from the decades-old databases that manage patient data to the systems that interface between doctors, nurses and third-party care providers so that the patient's medical history is current and accessible to all .

1 Some Boeing 747 models

Yes, but only when they are on the ground

Before the invention of the USB drive, many computer systems still needed an easy way to be updated on the fly. The simple floppy disk was once again the tool of choice, and as we have already seen, it was used by almost all moving vehicles. And they still do, as some Boeing 747 models use a floppy drive to update the avionics systems that operate the plane in the air. These updates must be performed monthly to provide current information on airports, flight routes, runways, etc., and typically require eight or more disks. If you didn't grow up in the age of the floppy disk, just trust me when I say that there is a long wait while the system copies the data from each disk.

Legacy technology is a real problem for many critical infrastructures and is only getting worse

Whether it's outdated codebases running in functionally dead programming languages ​​or hardware that we're shocked to actually run today, legacy technologies are a real and present threat to the smooth running of the world. Currently, the critical infrastructure that enables the modern world relies on these technologies, and the process of creating replacements is slow. Passenger vehicles on boats, planes, and trains are all updated using floppy disks, old databases store personal information insecurely, and many operating systems that consumers no longer use at home are still active in other devices we use every day. As time goes on, more and more systems become legacies, and we may be heading toward some level of technological collapse as a result.