Oxford University Press wins prize for oldest HP-UX

A server running happily after 10 years' service with OUP has claimed the prize in HP's hunt to find the UK's oldest, working HP-UX installation

The find is the result of a competition, launched by HP in April, to locate the oldest HP-UX installation in continuous service.

The server belongs to Oxford University Press (OUP), the publishing arm of the elite university, and it's still running happily after more than 10 years of service.

OUP is the largest university book publisher in the world, and the Oxford English Dictionary is its largest project. The publisher has 11TB of data stored on its main systems alone, including 5TB in production. Its old HP-UX systems sit happily in a data center alongside its multicore, hi-tech alternatives.

As recognition of its support for HP-UX, HP has awarded OUP a prize of an entry-class Integrity server, a license for HP-UX 11i v3, installation and a three-year "Support plus 24" care pack from HP. The award was received by technical project manager, Geoff Butler.

OUP's HP-UX installation is used to track the life cycle of its books. The system was based on a package which was developed over a period of three years or so, said Butler. Once the OUP was happy, the system ran, and ran. "It just does a job well," said Butler. "But it is an important job--mission-critical."

The installation fits into a wide range of systems at the publisher, running various applications, including Oracle and SAP, which Butler also works on.