I think this a sign of things to come, everything these days seems to be operated by computers or connected to the internet as in the recent story of light bulbs. Just imagine what would have happened if there was an urgent need to evacuate the building when it happened.

 

Doors just stop working when one old PC in a storage closet dies

By J.F. Rice July 10, 2014 "Last week, one of those hidden risks that people don't often think about reared its ugly head. My company lost its building access control system to age and neglect. Suddenly, some of the automatic badge readers that unlock doors in our headquarters building stopped working, and people couldn't get past the doors they are used to walking through every day.It all started with a PC that crashed. This very old and perfectly ordinary desktop PC was used by our facilities department to manage all of our building's door locks. It was definitely old school: a gray metal case containing a computer and its power supply, wired up to some peripherals and an old CRT monitor. It sat on the floor of a storage room, accessed only rarely by facilities staffers who had to add new employees' badges to the access control system or change areas of access for existing employees.

Just how old was it? I don't know. Very, very old. And dusty. And, now, dead."

 

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