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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: flatsville who wrote (3523)	1/31/1999 8:30:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

flatsville, I hope Alastair downloaded that link to send to the sewage & water treatment plants he's built over past 30 year! Good find. Cheryl _______________________________________________________________ If these systems are not capable of handling the date January 1, 2000, the system may fail - and the failure mode may shut the plant down, or could cause UNSAFE WATER to be distributed to the system. Likewise, the distribution system is controlled by AUTOMATIC VALVES, level or pressure sensors, etc., and all of these systems are potential sources of failure.

To: flatsville who wrote (3523)	1/31/1999 10:01:00 PM
From: Alastair McIntosh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

flatsville, I think that the problem is very much overstated on the section that you cut from the AWWA site. Water and wastewater treatment systems are definitely not likely to be "overwhelmed by the number of embedded systems (ES) that may be found in their system." The flow controllers, level measuring systems, chemical monitors automatic valves etc. do not reference nor are they controlled by a calendar system. The problem is only likely to be in PLCs or PCs where a reference to the year may cause a problem. If the system is a small stand alone system with no outside references the remedy may be as simple as resetting the clock on the PLC or PC. I referenced an article in my professional journal last month: Message 6807806 As this journal isn't on the web I can't post a link. Another clue to the writer's knowledge of the problem is this statement contained in the article: Cars and trucks are said to have up to 50 processors throughout the vehicle. I can't speak for other jurisdictions but here in Ontario I am not concerned about sewage and water systems for the following reasons: 1. Ontario Hydro is essentially Y2K ready. 2. Ontario sewage and water plants have standby power. 3. If embedded systems were a problem the plants could be run manually although processes would not be optimized. In general, embedded systems are being found to be much less of a problem than anticipated although the costs of verifying this are in some cases considerable. Al

To: flatsville who wrote (3523)	2/2/1999 11:15:00 PM
From: Ken Salaets	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

I hear you re your worries. I have four kids, not to mention my extended family. It is perfectly rational to take this issue seriously and prepare just in case. Same reason that I check my smoke alarms now and then, and fasten my seatbelt before driving somewhere, and take out extra homeowners insurance to cover liability, etc. I hope that, in the end, the pollyandys are right and we are the ones eating crow, but I am certainly not going to bet my nor my family's welfare on their worldview. Totally irrational! Ken