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Technology Stocks : Year 2000 (Y2K) Embedded Systems & Infrastructure Problem -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (369)	5/11/1998 2:41:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 618

[HARLAN] Good article by Harlan Smith, c.s.y2k poster 's 1998-05-10 -- 4-part Article - "Synergistic Mitigation and Contingency Preparation" [Note on 1998-05-17] The underlying concept of this proposal is to focus mitigation resources on an "Austere Infrastructure" that would be sufficient to minimally support our populations and provide a robust repair base for those elements of our infrastructure that fail as a result of the calendar "rollover" to 2000-01-01. This concept acknowledges the fact that a full remediation effort is perceived to require more expenditure of effort than can reasonably be accomplished in the 593 total working and non-working days, prior to 2000-01-01. .... scotsystems.com

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (369)	5/11/1998 2:57:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 618

[EPRI] Swirbul again on the recent EPRI conference 'It was interesting to see all the comments concerning my report from the Electric Utility Y2K Conference (aka the EPRI Y2K workshop in Dallas Texas), and my opinion that most of the lights will be on when 1/1/2000 arrives. Many were valid. It was not a random sample. And everyone who needed to be there wasn't. The 60 or so US Utilities that were present out of 9000 total appears small. Some were significantly more off the mark. It does not follow that just because it was a small sample that the results must be invalid. Here is why. (before I start, just for you fear mongers, just one question. Do you like apples?) I compared the list of companies represented at the EPRI Y2K conference with the list of all US Civilian Nuclear Reactors (source www.nrc.gov/NRC/NUREGS/SR1350/V9/part12.html). 110 nuclear units total on the NRC list. 86 were represented at the EPRI Y2K conference. That's 78.2% (How 'bout them apples) The 78.2% might be low, since if the NRC listed a company as Virginia Electric & Power Company, and the conference listed the company as Virginia Power, I was conservative and did not include it as represented at the conference. Yes, this comparison only included the nukes. I haven't yet found a list of generation capacity by utility for the non-nukes. But almost every company that operates nuclear plants operates a heck of a lot of non-nuke capacity, also. So I am guessing there is a high level of exposure on the non-nuke side. Yes, this still doesn't address the smaller utilities that just do distribution. That is still an important issue. And yes, nothing I am saying should be construed that everything is all right, and Y2K is not a problem. It should be construed, however, IMO, that there is a good chance that things can turn out with disruptions to the electric grid no worse than we have previously seen in other events. Fred Swirbul Utility Engineer - Not necessarily representing my employeer. __ Subject: Electric Utilities vs Fear Mongers Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 17:55:31 GMT From: Fred Swirbul <fswirbul@ix.netcom.com> Organization: Netcom Newsgroups: comp.software.year-2000

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (369)	5/12/1998 3:49:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 618

[CBS] 'embedded chips....Stay tuned.' ... One area that has escaped the attention of most Year 2000 pundits: embedded chips. "Look at a heart defibrillator," says Whalen. "The manufacturer doesn't single-source the chips inside. Chip A may be Year 2000 compliant. Chip B may not be." Embedded integrated circuits help run everything from ATM cash machines to natural gas pipelines. "The world," says Whalen, "is a fragile place." Stay tuned. cbs.marketwatch.com