Meeting notes for the Y2K SIG meeting held on 16 October
1997.
While a lot of attention and time has been
devoted to the centralised IT applications relatively less visibility
has been given to the Embedded systems. Unfortunately these systems
are less visible to users and hence are more likely to fall through
crack in any Y2K assessment.
In the last SIG meeting, Le Neuyen of CMPS&F
gave a very interesting and enlightening presentation on the subject
of Embedded systems. A summary of his presentation is provided
in the following paragraphs.
POTENTIAL Y2K PROBLEMS WITH REALTIME & EMBEDDED SYSTEMS
CMPS&F is one of the largest engineering consultancy in Australia with a wide ranging expertise and experience in Information Technology & Telecommunications. CMPS&F specialises in real-time/embedded systems used in control/telemetry/telecommunications applications. CMPS&F is providing significant year-2000 impact assessment work on these systems, over a wide range of industries, from high voltage power systems, water/sewage treatment plants & networks through to broadcasting and satellite installations.
The treatment of real-time/embedded systems (often
called non-IT systems) is radically different from normal IT systems
and requires specific skills and methodology. The difference
stems from a number of critical facts: embedded systems speak
to machinery; documentation and knowledge of the software code
is generally non-existent; the systems are generally mission critical
and cannot be taken off-line for verification/testing/correction.
The Y2K conversion of non-IT systems therefore requires a different
approach from commercial system conversion. CMPS&F's standard
methodology consists of five main steps: inventory, impact assessment,
identification/correction planning & costing, testing of high
impact systems, and system conversion. The methodology is being
successfully applied to resolve year-2000 problems for a large
number of utility and industrial clients around Australia.
Next SIG meeting
Date, time & venue: 20 November 1997 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. At DMR Consulting Group, level 6, 155 George st.
Topic of the session: Nikki Waters and Dinsha Palkhiwala have agreed to run a workshop session. The subject matter of the session will be "Year 2000 Risks - How much risk is acceptable for organisation".
Who should attend: This workshop will mainly be of interest to the organisations embarking on their Y2K program. However, it can also be useful for those organisations who have already embarked on the Y2K program but do not have a formal risk assessment and management strategy in place.
Being a "hands on" workshop we will be able to accommodate only a limited number of participants and hence booking for the session is essential. If you are interested please fax or ring Nikki or Dinsha to register your interest. Fax no. (02) 9251 2706 Tel Nikki or Dinsha (02) 9295 0600.