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 : TAVA Technologies (TAVA-NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E who wrote (10326)	2/4/1998 10:33:00 AM
From: bob	Respond to of 31646

Thanks, Hunter. usatoday.com

To: E who wrote (10326)	2/4/1998 10:38:00 AM
From: Gerald L. Kerr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 31646

>>one half of the domestic airline fleet is likely to be grounded on the eve of y2k<< The question after that is how soon air travel could return to normal. If the problems are as serious as the reports indicate, it could take months before full service is restored; it might take a couple of years to restore public confidence in the safety of air travel. OTOH, telecommuting and video-conferencing should benefit.... Gerry

To: E who wrote (10326)	2/4/1998 10:56:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 31646

Subject: Re: Sighting - FAA Y2K on CNN.COM Reply-To: kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net (cory hamasaki) > >Say what??? A new generation of computers that can run 30+ year old >machine code from systems whose architectures have been obsolete for >decades? What are they going to do, write an emulator and debug it >before 1999/12/31? > >Or are they going to rewrite hundreds of thousands of lines of assembler >code by then? (Weren't these oldest FAA systems word-mark based instead >of using fixed length words? Weren't they also 6-bit machines?) > >After rereading the article, I have to admit in all fairness to IBM, >they did not say anything about these computers being able to run the >existing or rewritten software in time... is this slick marketing or >what? > >"Yes boss, the new computers are DEFINITELY Y2K compliant, but we don't >have any ATC software that will run on them!" > >Jon Kibler This is my understanding. I have never seen the FAA systems or the source code. The original ATC system was implemented on modified S/360 model 50's. Sometime in the 1980s the software was rehosted on 3083's a single engine, water cooled, S/370. The 3083, any S/370, can run S/360 code with some restrictions. There is some kind of Y2K flaw in the 3083. I've been told that no 308x will IPL after Dec 31, 1999. I haven't confirmed that. IBM is proposing to replace the 3083 with some kind of S/390, possibly a 9121 although a 9672 would be a better investment. This doesn't solve any software flaw in the ATC system. It simply gives the FAA a hardware platform that will IPL and run. If I had more information on the FAA systems, I could provide a better assessment. cory hamasaki