SESSION 2 - Understanding the Problem

The Nature of the problem, Chris Sammut, Divisional Manager Information Technology Division, MITTS

Chris Sammut introduced his presentation by saying that the Y2K problem was analogous to the Titanic (your organisation), Captain (yourself), Iceberg (1st January 2000) - some boarded the lifeboats and some drowned.

He said that the scope of the problem was immense covering application software (PC and server based applications), hardware (PCs, servers, network equipment etc.) and embedded and control systems (controllers, medical equipment etc.). The problem arose because of the two-digit representation of the date coupled with the fact that 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years but the year 2000 is. In addition, the formatting of the date was different in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe; very few systems conformed to the ISO 8601:1988 date display system of yyyy-mm-dd.

He said that, having determined the size of the problem, there were three main solutions - convert all dates to 4-digit year format, employ the windowing technique or replace the equipment. Having implemented these solutions the systems should be checked with a real time clock (RTC) rollover test.

Referring to the embedded and control systems, Mr Sammut said that these were the hardest systems to track down and audit, and that these systems affected almost everybody in their every day working and home life. He gave a whole list of examples - domestic appliances, traffic light control systems, air traffic control, banking and financial systems, hospital equipment, power stations, and telecommunications systems.

So what will happen at the turn of the century? In many cases the Y2K problem will result in inconvenience rather than catastrophe but in a few cases the consequences may be severe or even fatal. Internationally, Year 2000 work on embedded systems lags behind that of business systems that is why Action 2000 in the UK considers tackling embedded systems as a priority.

Mr Sammut ended on a sombre note with a forecast of the impact on society if the problem was not tackled professionally - 50% electricity supply from 1 to 10 January 2000, all forms of transport disrupted for the whole of January, hospitals on emergency service only for four weeks, the stock market and banks closed for the first few days of January, and the postal service in disarray.