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


To: R. Bond who wrote (21742)8/5/1998 7:55:00 PM
From: Hands Off  Respond to of 31646
 
Y2k on National Public Radio - All Things Considered

Just heard a nice in-depth discussion on Y2k on NPR. The lead in was Johns Hopkins Hospital talking about their Y2k efforts - mostly relating to medical devices. The lawyer and Y2k project manager mentioned that they had just sent out over 1000 letters to manufactures requesting documentation on their Y2k testing procedures so that the Hospital could repeat the tests. No doom & gloom; just a serious, intelligent discussion about the necessity of testing and checking.

Other speakers included Mr. Cook from IBM who talked about the remediation process. Even though IBM does not remediate embedded systems (I don't think, and I use to work at their Y2k factory in Endicott, NY), he talked a lot about them. In fact a lot of the program was about embedded system issues.

The Y2k Manager from Chrysler was interviewed. Again, no Armageddon, but he did mention that they had tested most of their factories and that the robots and paint sprayers and dryers, etc., did seem to work with one of the biggest problems being security - letting workers in the building. (A fellow from the Office of Management and Budget also mentioned security and access to restricted areas.) The Chrysler fellow did mention that the problem may not show up exactly on 1/1/00. A lot of the automated equipment does logging of self diagnostics and maintenance and if the machine can't find the previous record it will shut itself down.

Rick Cowles was also interviewed - no mention of Tava. He talked about an Electric Utility in the midwest that set the clock forward and virtually shut down when the different computers systems got out of sync. He also talked about logging of preventative maintenance and self testing - he specifically mentioned a vibration test - where the equipment would shut down if it could not find the last test - stored in date/time order.

Their was more. The FAA Director spoke - 24,000,000 lines of code to fix. There was a part about the legal issues. All-in-all a nice, unemotional segment, with a heavy dose on imbedded chips. I would recommend that all interested obtain a copy of this presentation - although they did not give out the phone number to call. I think the cost is around $15.00.

I don't post much but in real-life I am a computer programmer working directly on this issue. I have worked in a code remediation factory. I know this is not Tava related so I wont say more; but the problem is real and much of it won't be apparent at the stoke of midnight.

Some of you have chosen to compliment the shorts. But I am not so kind. One of them may be able to read a balance sheet; but that same person told us he worked in the medical area and their is no problem or that the problem is overstated. I just heard Johns Hopkins Hospital tell me there is a problem and they sent out a 1000 letters to start checking. For me the issue is one of perception. Investors are not sure how this problem will benefit Tava - or for that matter any of the other Y2k solution providers I track - after the year 2000. That is a legitimte concern that only Tava management can address. Time will tell. For the moment I am sticking.

Marshall