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

To: Sawtooth who wrote (597)	12/22/1998 9:41:00 PM
From: Ron	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 618

Fascinating Y2k embedded chip problem from current Biz Week mag: THE YEAR 2000 BUG is making for weird contradictions at one big Midwestern utility. Alliant Energy, owner of Wisconsin Power & Light, is advising some customers to buy their own power generators if they want to be sure the lights stay on in 2000. Yet Alliant is also asking regulators for a $16.1 million rate hike to help inoculate it against the dreaded Y2K bug. Alliant isn't trying to get something for nothing. To its credit, it is diligently preparing for 2000 by doing widespread debugging of its system. But it admits there may still be some power outages because thousands of embedded computer chips in power-regulating devices--its own and others'--cannot recognize year 2000. With 176,000 pieces of equipment and 6,000 vendors and suppliers, the utility won't be able to fix every one before Dec. 31, 1999. So Alliant is telling many rural and corporate clients to make their own power. ''For some people, an outage for a half-hour in the dead of winter could be very serious,'' says spokesman David Giroux, ''so buying a generator might be a good idea.'' That may not be what consumers want to hear. But at least they'll be prepared. By Marcia Stepanek EDITED BY ROBERT McNATT WHO ARE THE BIG MAKERS OF THESE EMBEDDED CHIPS..and WON'T THEY BE SELLING A BUNCH OF THEM IN THE COMING YEAR? Ron