Industrial and medical devices struggle to upgrade to Windows 11

While enterprises continue to respond to the end of life of Windows 10 and the wide scale adoption of Windows 11, there are signs that some sectors are finding the transformation difficult.

A report in Digital Health News revealed that while a UK health authority has managed to upgrade most of its machines to the newer operating system, it is unable to complete the process, as a certain number of devices do not support Windows 11.  According to the report, Rotherham Health Trust was faced with a hefty bill to render equipment usable, with one supplier quoting £25,000 (about $32,900) to upgrade a three-year-old device.

The Rotherham incident is not an isolated one, according to a post on independent community website Windows Forum, which noted, “a handful of clinical suppliers refused or failed to certify their software for Windows current OS.”

These medical systems operate in environments which make their upgrades more difficult, said Timon Watson, director analyst with Gartner. “These devices will operate on isolated networks with no access to the outside world and [are] managed with dedicated tools and processes. Any changes to these environments require extensive testing and validation, which may involve external parties and take months to complete.”

He added that the healthcare industry has specific requirements that influence any change. “Computers connected to machinery or medical devices are often purchased with and are considered as part of that equipment by the vendor,” he said. “The vendor will retain responsibility for maintaining the computer, meaning any software changes or OS updates may require professional services, which can cost thousands of dollars.”

Vendors in other industrial sectors have also discovered compatibility issues. Rockwell, for example, put a note on its website saying that its ASEM 6300P and 6300B industrial computers are generally not compatible with Windows 11 due to their older processors. There are sure to be other industrial vendors who will have the same issues.

There are other signs that in the wider world, organizations are not upgrading their systems with any great haste. The maritime sector is one that is resisting the change; according to research from Marlink, nearly half of all vessels are yet to adopt the new operating system, putting shipping fleets in danger of cyber attacks in the future.

However, according to Chris Silva, a workplace security specialist with Gartner, it could be some time before there is any impact. “While end of life of an operating system can have implications for the security posture of the OS itself, that impact is not immediate.”

In the meantime, he said, there are plenty of third party vendors who will offer support to secure older and discontinued operating systems that continue to be essential to organizations.

Microsoft has also considered the needs of those companies that have found it difficult to adopt Windows 11 in every aspect of their infrastructure. It has introduced Windows 10 IoT edition, offering support up until 2032, which will meet the needs of many industrial customers.

For those companies that have not gone down this route, there will be decisions to be made. Health authorities faced with the lack of support for Windows 11 on their current equipment may decide that these devices may have outlived their usefulness.

“Organizations in the future may not upgrade their existing equipment at all,” said Watson. “This means new equipment would need to be purchased, which, using an MRI scanner or X-ray equipment as an example, could cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.”Industrial and medical devices struggle to upgrade to Windows 11 – ComputerworldRead More