[CyberTimes]
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[IBM E-business solutions]
November 12, 1997
Real Estate: For Building Operators, a Taste Of The
Year 2000 In '99?
By JOHN HOLUSHA
EW YORK -- Office workers heading back to their
buildings after all the celebrations accompanying
the advent of the year 2000 may be in for a surprise.
They may find that the building's security system does
not recognize their magnetically coded card. They may
also find all the elevators stubbornly insistent on
staying on the ground floor.
Engineers and property managers say building operations
are no less susceptible to what is known as the "year
2000 problem" or the "millennium bug" than their
counterparts in banking, insurance and accounting.
Because computer programmers opted to use only the last
two digits of years in dates to conserve memory in the
1970s and 1980s, many control systems may misinterpret
the 00 that replaces the 99 of 1999.
It is impossible to predict what some systems will do
unless the clock is artificially advanced to see what
goes wrong, which is difficult to do in an operating
building. The security system, designed to restrict
admission on weekends, may shift to a default mode and
keep everybody out. The elevator controller may decide
that no maintenance has been done in 100 years and
lower all the cars to the ground floor as it would in a
fire.
"The real old stuff is not a problem because it is
electromechanical, and in the newer equipment, the
manufacturers have anticipated the 2000 problem," said
Kenneth Silver, an associate principal with Flack &
Kurtz Consulting Engineers. "But a lot was built in the
1970s and 1980s that have chips embedded in their
control units that did not anticipate 2000."
He said most 2000 errors would result in nuisances,
like elevators that have to be operated with an
override key until the fix is made. But in complicated,
multibuilding operations, like a hospital complex or a
college campus operating as a custom network, the
consequences could be severe.
The problem may not wait for the ball to fall in Times
Square on Dec. 31, 1999. Difficulties may start to pop
up on Sept. 9, 1999, because of another programming
trick, Silver said. "The highest number in a
four-number sequence is 9999," he said. "It was often
used as an error code." As a result, systems like fire
alarms could start generating false signals when that
date is reached.
Many property managers say they are surveying their
buildings to see what types and models of equipment
they have. They are then contacting the manufacturers
either to get assurances that the devices are "2000
compliant," or to find out what sorts of repairs or
replacements are needed.
"We started in on Feb. 11 of this year by giving our
on-site property managers a plan to survey the
buildings and identify problems," said Anthony
Lifrieri, managing director of operations for the
Insignia/Edward S. Gordon Co., which manages 50
buildings in the New York metropolitan area.
He said equipment suppliers had been asked to warrant
in writing that their devices will not crash as the 00
replaces the 99. "Some of the letters were a little too
generic, so we are doing a second round asking if the
model we have in our building has a compliant
processor," he said.
Lifrieri said some discreet testing had been done at
some of the buildings that his company manages. "In
some locations, we simulated 2000 and found that things
worked," he said.
Gwen Jolley, vice president for information technology
for Compass Management & Leasing, said much of the
equipment in a typical building, such as heating and
cooling, is on a 24-hour time system, which would not
be affected by a date change. "Our
preventive-maintenance system is date-driven," he said,
"but it is only four years old and is equipped to
handle 2000."
John Santora, a senior managing director of Cushman &
Wakefield, another property manager, said the company
has set a date of June 1998 for manufacturers to say
whether their equipment is 2000 compliant. After that,
he said, economics will take control.
"We are going to have to decide, if a system is not in
compliance, whether to try to repair or replace it,"
Santora said.
In most cases, he said, it would be too difficult to
repair equipment that has older chips with obsolete
programming languages.
"The first microprocessor-controlled elevators were
installed in 1978 and 1979," he said. "Making changes
to the existing controller probably will not be
cost-effective, so we will just replace the head," he
said, referring to the control unit.
He said research has not turned up any problem that
will be prohibitively costly to fix. He said replacing
the controller unit would cost about $15,000, while a
thorough elevator renovation, which a controller
replacement would be likely to trigger, is about
$100,000 per car.
He said many tenants were aware of the 2000 problem.
"Our clients are putting the onus on us," he said.
"They say: 'You are the property manager. What are your
going to do about it?' "
millennia-bcs.com
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