<< Factory floor software is in "layers", and the layers may originate from different companies and be patched together by customized code. TPRO has a search engine (think of an internet search engine) that sifts through the layers and finds the mission critical Y2K problems in the client's software.>>
I'm another ex-lurker, long TPRO. By trade I am a Software Engineer, actually a 'Firmware' Engineer. The difference being that the software I write ends up in an EPROM(Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory) Chip in a printed circuit board(PCB) providing the instructions to a CPU(microprocessor) also embedded on that PCB. These PCBs are then encased in a box and connected via wires to valves they make open and close, and temperature sensors they read, etc. I would think there are many of these present on factory floors, and many different manufacturers represented on the same factory floor. This Firmware that ends up on the factory floor is by no means in any readable, comprehensible form. It is all just 1's and 0's that ONLY the CPU can understand. To correct a Y2K problem at any factory I believe TPRO will have to go to the manufacturer of that equipment (if they still exist), and hope that they have the 'Source' code, at the same revision level, as is present in the factory's box. Mind you, it may have been years since this 'box' had been installed.
My opinion: I believe that many of TPRO's clients will NOT be able to have their 'code' modified to work when year Jan. 1, 2000 hits. Even if the Source still exists somewhere, the compiler(a program to transform the Source into the CPU-readable 1's and 0's) used to make the original revision has probably been bumped up a few revisions as well. And if the Y2K change causes the need for more RAM on the PCB, then a new PCB needs to be made, etc.
IMHO, I could see many clients having to opt for new TPRO equipment. That's good, it fixes the client's problem and it generates $$ for TPRO. |
