Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (807)	1/2/1998 10:40:00 AM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

CREDIT CARDS: Print this post out and give to local retail businesses in your area Embedded systems in card swipers can cause major problems ======================================================= MASTERCARD: The Year 2000 Challenge Although New Year's Eve 1999 seems far away, every merchant who accepts cards is facing the year 2000 challenge now. Increasing numbers of consumers already carry cards that expire in the year 2000 and beyond, but a small number of point-of-sale (POS) terminals and cash registers cannot process such cards. If one of these terminals is in your store, it could affect your business. To eliminate this problem, all POS terminals and system pathways must be checked immediately to ensure that they can accept year 2000 credit cards. You need to act now to protect your business. Instructions on how to test contained in link. *Same applies to VISA* mastercard.com NOTE: In October '97 MasterCard & VISA started issuing credit cards with year 2000 expiration dates. American Express has chosen to wait until mid-late 1998. ================================================================ THIS IS WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF CARD SWIPERS ARE NOT Y2K COMPLIANT 1st Y2K Lawsuit. Tired of losing business because its cash regist crash when credit cards list 2000 as an expiration date, Produce Palace an upscale grocery near Detroit, sued Tec-America, the vendor of its computerized point-of-sale and inventory system. The store's computer, installed in 1995, has crashed more than 100 times, rendering 10 cash registers useless during the crashes. The system froze when such cards were processed, and often took several hours to come back up, causing delays and loss of business while transactions were processed by hand. They are losing 30% to 40% of their business as a result. freep.com Aug '97 cwlive.cw.com:8080/home/online9697.nsf/All/970812fruit

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (807)	1/7/1998 11:34:00 AM
From: C.K. Houston	Respond to of 9818

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS: MANUFACTURING & PROCESS CONTROL FAILURES/ PROBLEMS ================================================================ ALCOA, BP, SHELL-EXXON Y2K *Four Alcoa Steel Plants* * 50% of control systems will fail *North Sea Expro (Shell-Exxon JV)* * Platform, Pipeline and Gas Plants * 1200 systems identified, 12% failure rate *BP Refinery, Grangemouth, UK* * 94 systems identified * Couldn't find vendor for 20 * 74 assessed * 3 will fail, 2 will cause shutdown techstocks.com While the company was testing some of the equipment that controls oil valves in its refineries, engineers inadvertently discovered a host of new problems. "Thousands of terminals that control the [dispensation] of oil have old chips with a year 2000 problem. The chips all need replacing, but the new chips won't fit on the old motherboards," Wengenroth notes. "And the new motherboards don't fit the old valves, so all the valves have to be replaced, too." If the company doesn't address all these problems, it soon won't be able to deliver oil to its customers. techweb.com Production Line Stopped. A small manufacturer of industrial liquid solutions found their production line completely stopped on January 1, 1997. It was discovered that their process control systems were not designed to account for a leap year (1996) and subsequently shut down when the changed from 1996 to 1997. Before company personnel could remedy the situation, the liquid solutions that were in the process pipelines hardened and could not be removed. The company was forced to replace the process pipelines at a cost of $1 million. They were unable to manufacture products for several days, thereby, causing late deliveries to customers. In addition to the cost to repair the pipelines, the company believes they lost three new clients because their shipments were delayed....... house.gov House Embedded Systems Hearings Plant would have tripped. US fossil facility was testing a boiler feedwater control loop for date rollover to Year 2000. .... In live situation, the plant would have tripped. techstocks.com

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (807)	1/7/1998 11:34:00 AM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS: MANUFACTURING & PROCESS CONTROL FAILURES/PROBLEMS ================================================================ ALCOA, BP, SHELL-EXXON Y2K *Four Alcoa Steel Plants* * 50% of control systems will fail *North Sea Expro (Shell-Exxon JV)* * Platform, Pipeline and Gas Plants * 1200 systems identified, 12% failure rate *BP Refinery, Grangemouth, UK* * 94 systems identified * Couldn't find vendor for 20 * 74 assessed * 3 will fail, 2 will cause shutdown techstocks.com While the company was testing some of the equipment that controls oil valves in its refineries, engineers inadvertently discovered a host of new problems. "Thousands of terminals that control the [dispensation] of oil have old chips with a year 2000 problem. The chips all need replacing, but the new chips won't fit on the old motherboards," Wengenroth notes. "And the new motherboards don't fit the old valves, so all the valves have to be replaced, too." If the company doesn't address all these problems, it soon won't be able to deliver oil to its customers. techweb.com Production Line Stopped. A small manufacturer of industrial liquid solutions found their production line completely stopped on January 1, 1997. It was discovered that their process control systems were not designed to account for a leap year (1996) and subsequently shut down when the changed from 1996 to 1997. Before company personnel could remedy the situation, the liquid solutions that were in the process pipelines hardened and could not be removed. The company was forced to replace the process pipelines at a cost of $1 million. They were unable to manufacture products for several days, thereby, causing late deliveries to customers. In addition to the cost to repair the pipelines, the company believes they lost three new clients because their shipments were delayed....... house.gov House Embedded Systems Hearings Plant would have tripped. US fossil facility was testing a boiler feedwater control loop for date rollover to Year 2000. .... In live situation, the plant would have tripped. techstocks.com