3 ms·

What kind of hardware was it running on? The article is not very specific about that. (At first I thought that they upgraded IBM mainframe to z14, and that cau

by js8 9y ago

What kind of hardware was it running on? The article is not very specific about that. (At first I thought that they upgraded IBM mainframe to z14, and that caused the crash, but it's not yet 60 years old.)

cptskippy 9y ago
They use very broad terms to imply it was 60 year old hardware that failed but early on in the article state it was an 18 month old piece of hardware in a "system" that dates back to the 60s. If you dig into some of the other links and a GAO report you learn that there's two programs, the IMF and BMF, that are partially written in assembly that dates back to the 60s. They're most likely running some z/Architecture in System 360 virtualization mode.
cmiles74 9y ago
While the code is 60 years old, the hardware is modern. According to this article, the component that failed is about 18 months old. When they talk about the software and hardware "no longer being supported", I think they really mean that the original target platforms are only present in the form of emulated software. IBM still supports execution of System/360 software on the System z. [1] "Overall IRS maintains over 20 million lines of assembly code. These millions of lines of archaic software, and hardware, that is no longer supported become more difficult and costly to maintain each year, and poses significant cybersecurity risks. To IRS’ credit it keeps these old systems running during filing season, but relying on these antiquated systems for our nation’s primary source of revenue is highly risky, meaning that the chance of having a failure during the filing season is continually increasing." - David Powner, director of IT management issues for the Government Accountability Office [0] "[IRS Chief Information Officer Gina Garza] explained the code for the IMF was written in the 1960s, but the hardware it runs on is modern." [0] [0] https://federalnewsradio.com/technology-main/2017/10/a-sense-of-urgency-as-irs-legacy-it-systems-grow-increasingly-older/ https://federalnewsradio.com/technology-main/2017/10/a-sense... [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/50-years-ago-ibm-created-mainframe-that-helped-bring-men-to-the-moon/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/50-ye...

by js8 9y ago

cptskippy 9y ago

They use very broad terms to imply it was 60 year old hardware that failed but early on in the article state it was an 18 month old piece of hardware in a "system" that dates back to the 60s. If you dig into some of the other links and a GAO report you learn that there's two programs, the IMF and BMF, that are partially written in assembly that dates back to the 60s. They're most likely running some z/Architecture in System 360 virtualization mode.

cmiles74 9y ago

While the code is 60 years old, the hardware is modern. According to this article, the component that failed is about 18 months old. When they talk about the software and hardware "no longer being supported", I think they really mean that the original target platforms are only present in the form of emulated software. IBM still supports execution of System/360 software on the System z. [1] "Overall IRS maintains over 20 million lines of assembly code. These millions of lines of archaic software, and hardware, that is no longer supported become more difficult and costly to maintain each year, and poses significant cybersecurity risks. To IRS’ credit it keeps these old systems running during filing season, but relying on these antiquated systems for our nation’s primary source of revenue is highly risky, meaning that the chance of having a failure during the filing season is continually increasing." - David Powner, director of IT management issues for the Government Accountability Office [0] "[IRS Chief Information Officer Gina Garza] explained the code for the IMF was written in the 1960s, but the hardware it runs on is modern." [0] [0] https://federalnewsradio.com/technology-main/2017/10/a-sense-of-urgency-as-irs-legacy-it-systems-grow-increasingly-older/ https://federalnewsradio.com/technology-main/2017/10/a-sense... [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/50-years-ago-ibm-created-mainframe-that-helped-bring-men-to-the-moon/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/50-ye...