Linux is popular in the Controls community, so discussion of a system based around Microsoft Windows XP Embedded is probably unusual. Having to replace an obsolete front-end IO system, Windows XP Embedded was chosen as the platform mainly due to the familiarity of Windows. The author will describe configuring and using Windows XP Embedded based compact PCI systems to deliver an operating system and software platform that is used to communicate between the Controls System and hardware deployed around the accelerator using 'in-house' designed IO cards; including configuring the system to boot over the network, using HTTP and XML to exchange data with the controls system and providing a simple C/C++ API to communicate with the Controls System database.