End of XP Support to Affect Thousands of Industrial Systems
XP停止支持影響大量工業系統

Support for Windows XP officially ceased on April 8, 2014. In effect, Windows will no longer provide users with security updates or technical support for the 12 year-old operating system.

對Windows XP的支持在2014年4月8日正式停止。事實上，對于這個已有12年歷史的操作系統，Windows將不再為用戶提供安全更新或技術支持。

Windows has stated that “PCs running Windows XP after April 8, 2014, should not be considered to be protected, and it is important that you migrate to a current supported operating system.”

Windows已經指出：“2014年4月8日之后，運行Windows XP的電腦不應該被認為是保護，您遷移到當前支持的操作系統是很重要的。”

Issue will impact industrial automation
問題將影響工業自動化

The discontinued support impacts millions of both personal and professional users worldwide, including the many companies that have implemented Windows XP in industrial automation applications. As the longest-supported Windows operating system, XP is most widely used in industrial automation, which means that potential issues arising from the discontinued support could affect a large number of end users.

對XP系統的支持中斷影響了全球數以百萬計的個人和商業用戶，包括許多在工業自動化應用部署了Windows XP的公司。由于XP是有史以來支持時間最長的Windows操作系統，因此在工業自動化領域應用最廣，這意味著，因為終止支持所產生的潛在問題可能會影響大量的最終用戶。
 
Cybersecurity is the largest concern related to the continued use of Windows XP in industrial automation. Without the ongoing security updates to protect systems from attacks, users will be exposed to new threats that can exploit vulnerabilities of the operating system. Such threats exist to industrial automation equipment operating on Windows XP, perhaps most notably industrial PCs (IPCs) and distributed control systems (DCS).

網絡安全是工業自動化繼續使用Windows XP所涉及到的最大關注點。如果沒有持續的安全更新以保護系統免受攻擊，用戶將面臨操作系統漏洞所造成的新威脅。此類威脅存在于運行Windows XP操作系統的工業自動化設備上，也許最顯著的是工業電腦（工控機）和分布式控制系統（DCS ）。

Industrial automation’s market response
工業自動化的市場反應

Since the original announcement in 2007 that XP support will end in April 2014, many end users have upgraded to more modern operating systems that Microsoft says will continue to be supported. Larger companies—especially those driven by IT departments—were typically more proactive in making advance preparations to upgrade early where necessary. In contrast, smaller companies—those that may be less driven by IT—have delayed upgrades until absolutely necessary, with many yet to convert.

自從2007年最初宣布對XP的支持將于2014年4月結束，許多最終用戶就已經升級到微軟表示將繼續支持的升級版操作系統。規模較大的公司，尤其是那些由IT部門驅動的，會更主動地提前準備，及早進行必要的升級。相比之下，那些IT驅動因素較少的小型公司，一般直到絕對必要才會升級，因此有許多尚未轉換。

Although a large number of end users have migrated in recent years and there is a requirement for many more to follow during the next 12 months, IHS believes that the overall impact on the industrial automation equipment market will be fairly modest. To be sure, a large stock of older equipment with basic flaws in its security architecture remains that could prove problematic. And XP is just one example of an area that will require compensating controls for necessary security requirements in an organization to be met.

然而有大量的最終用戶在近幾年已經升級到新系統，而且在未來一年內會有更多用戶需要跟進，IHS認為，這對工業自動化設備市場的整體影響將是相當溫和的。可以肯定的是，大量安全架構有基本缺陷的老舊設備仍然存有隱患。而在一個組織應滿足補償必要的安全需求的領域而言，XP僅是其中的一個例子罷了。