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Windows XP, the most-popular operating system for ATMs in Central and Eastern Europe since 2006, widened its lead over other ATM operating systems last year, according to Retail Banking Research Ltd., a London-based strategic-marketing firm. The firm says Windows XP's share of the market grew to 85% last year, up 17 percentage points from the previous year "as deployers continued to migrate their terminals from legacy systems such as OS/2 and Windows NT," according to the Retail Banking report "Russia Leapfrogs The West To Become Europe's Largest ATM Market." The installed base in the 15 countries included in the research grew to 152,840 ATMs last year from 56,375 in 2004, the reports says. Trustwave, a data-security company with offices in London and Chicago, says Window XP is growing because it is supported by such major ATM vendors as NCR Corp. and Diebold Inc., both based in the United States, and Wincor Nixdorf AG, based in Germany. Besides being popular with vendors, Windows XP also is popular with thieves who install malware, or malicious software, into Windows XP-operated ATMs. Malware takes over the machine, stealing cardholder information. Windows XP, however, apparently does not enjoy success everywhere, including in Bulgaria, the reports says. Retail Banking did not explain why, and immediate comment from officials at the company was unavailable Thursday.
