north shore news BUSINESS micH Tec “ Wednesday, December 2. 1998 — North Shore News ~ 49 4 NV City set to squash year 2001 Michael Becker Nens Editor michaclénsnews.com SHOULD we worry about a year 2000 computer disaster or should- n’t we? Last week a private seater Year 20002 Task Force atdvied jittery: tederal parliamentarians that Canada’s infrastructure is prepared to withstand potential discuption when the mul fennium com ter bug comes crawling. The thar as proposed is simple. Computer programmers used two digits instead of tour to identity the sear in’ dates. Come the vear 2000, the internal docks of aftlicted computer sustoms may mistake: the year as 00, 1900 of a random date. The confision could result in a number of responses, If the processor fil to recognize the “O0" as an actual value, they may be stuck in an endless loop, searching for a viable value. Systems may recognize the value as 1900 or some other earlier date, confining electronic billing and time management svsems. Eapert opinion is all over the map. Optimists predict 2 non-event. Doomwatchers present asision of global economic collapse as most of the world’s computers either shut down or begin te issue bad data. Regardless the spin. one chooses to live With, scary business is afoot, The ROMP have reportedly cancelled all \ ication and leave dur ing carly January in 2000, The Canadian arn: is abo preparing in ease Y2K-rehted failures bring civil unrest. In a wenario called Operation Abacus, troops will provide recanan aid and guard Canada’s enitical intrastructure in’ the wake of an event such as a power blackout. Cautious prudence will likely win the day. Cindy Turner, director of | North Vancouver Cin’s computer services depart- ment, is working to prepare her municipality for the Y2K challenge. City council recently approved the com- puter reserve expenditure of $102,000 for Year 2000 costs. The money will go to software upgrades for next vear. The city actually started to plan for the problem in 1992 when Turner took on her Job, “Twas very fortunate to have worked 20 years tor a company (Finning Ltd thar had a fot of smart computer people there. They ree- ognized that they needed to prepare tor the year 2000. “We started working on that 20° years ago,” said Tumer. She brought her knowledge with her to North Vancouver City. AMONG the many systems that may be affected from the Year 2000 com- puter bug: @ air conditioning and heating systems; Bauromobiles and automobile diagnos- te equipment; New Parts SPECIALS item Brand Modems: 33.6 Fax /Modern Comstar Comstar Acet/Liteon Acer/Liteon TVM 4Dc TvM AS6S ESS Yamaha Asound Sound Blaster CD-ROM 40x Monitors: 14” Monttor 17° Monitor Sound Cards: 16 bn Sound Card 16 bit Sound Card 16 bit Sound Card AWE Sound Card #.0.D.: Fuyitsu Fujitsu Samsung Samsung, 33 $3/Trident alt ALLIN-WONDER FRO AGP 8M 3D RAGE tt AGP W/4MB All XPERT XL AGP2X RAGEPRO 4MB ECO __ ATI Pooking at the cin’s Computer svstems, planers tound that some things were attceted more entically than other. “For example if sour report reports in the wrong date order it may not be wgniticant,” An interest rate calculation would be more entical to the cit. “00 minus 97 unfortunate: W when vou subtract ona computer it doesn't equal three. it equals 97. 40 it would be 97 sears of interest or something like thar,” she said. ‘The city updated its accounting stem Last sear, The bylaw and pavroil systems are being implemented now “Fhe at's tuel dispensing sytent (for city vehicles and tire trucks) has just been updated. “In terms of our major applications sys tems, we're very contident theyll be up to date.” said “Turner. It'S one thing to make an organization bul let-proot, How does one prepare for the Y2K inadequacies of suppliers of kev services and manutacturers of equipment used by the cin? Last vear Turner sketched in apis. vith the imohement of the municipality’s various departments. “We reviewed all the equipment and build: ing services. We've writen a compliance letter. A good percentage of them have replied that thes re either Year 2000 complianc or there's a software patch available or there is no issue with it.” The city has also written to CanOxy. Said Turner, “Obviously if they had a spill ofsome sort it would impact the city and cir residents pretty significant.” BC Hydro has asked ail major manufictur- ing plants to shut down on fan. 1, 2000, and bring their systems back up slow “The use or power will be far tess, but also if there are any issues with their systems they van bring them up one ata dime and test them,” she said. The city hay abo contacted fire alarm com- panies. “Although the fire hall might be able to handic 1.000 calls January 1 (2000) it sure would be berer if all these alarms dide't start ringing. fr could upset a let ot people,” Lurser said “People shouldn't be frightened about the year 2000 but they should look at what thev have.” ‘Tamer advises businesses to prepare con: tingeney plans and get legal advice in the event that computer systems fail The North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce has Year 2000 kits available for sale by calling 987-4488. Among the items included in the kits: a computer crisis book and video; date analyst software, Y2K project planning software: a Y2K document kit with templates; a Y2K pro- ject workbook. B calculators; B cellular phones; NORTH Vancouver City computer services de ing to make the city safe from the dreaded y ear 2000 cam NEWS photo Terry Peters partment director Cindy Turner is work- puter glitch. The city’s vari- ous systems are being closely examined and updated. Bi dispatch systems; §§ clevators; @ tax machines; Expert at Play 4M VIDEO CARD XPERT 98 agp 2X 8MB SDRAM XPERTS8@p!ay SMBAGP XPERT 98 Ct 8MB 12 MB 3D BLASTER vooDo02 (VOODOG RUSH} Productiva G100 AGP 8M (6100) Millenium G200 8MB OEM 30 PC! 52 VIRGE DX W/2MB S3PCt 53 VIRGE DX W/4MB Video Card V3000/$M AGP SGRAM w/TV CUT Graphic Blaster RIVA TNT 16MB AGP Mother Boards: Super 7/100mhz Bus Super 7/100mhz Bus Super 7 100 MHZ AGP ATX {P5A 8} w/soundch Super 7 100 MHZ AGP AT (P54-8) w/ sound Pentium BX Mother Boatd Pentium tf BX W/SCSI maindoart Pentium I 440EX AGP Baby-AT Qual Pentcam It Mainnoara Pentrar I! LX CGIPSET ATX Mother Board Qual Pentiam It mainboard W/SCSI B clectronically controlled clocks; @ fire alarms; B lighting systems; medical equipment; & pagers; B photocopiers; & security access control systems; TX Mother Board at size TX W/DIM/SIM ATX Mother Board Pentium Intef 4301X /512K Mother Board Shuttie Pentium VIA VPX AT MB Shuttle HOT 591P aT Vid MvP3 CHIPSET MBD ‘Shuttle Pentium VIA ¥P3 ATX Mamnboars Shuttie Pentium {1 440 Ly AT. MR Shuttle 641 BX ATX Mand. - « Shuttle 662 BX ATA Mainboard Keyboards Video Card F.D.D. Sound Card Modern Card CDRom Monitor 14° Hard Drive Cru M/B with CPU Speaker Software Microphone Scanner Cotor Network Card 1/0 Card net Used Items (ali working with warranty) ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS ASUS from 5.00 Asst from 5.00 Asst from 10.00 Asst from 10.00 Assi from 10.00 from 25.00 trom 59.00 from 5.00 from 1.00 trom 29.00 from 5.00 from 2.00 from 10.00 from 119.00 from 10.00 from 5.00 Sst n't count on your calculator in 200¢ Bi sprinkling svstems: Brelephones; B time locks; BW traffic control systems; MVCRs; ME water and sewage control systems. Video Camera Asst from 250.00 Cases Asst Intel Pentium Pro 200 w/MB Asst UPS Ass't Monitor 17° Asst Printer (Dot Matrix) Ass't Printer (Laser) Asst 486sx33/4/210 Asstt Eaternal Modem Asst Lap Tops: 486sx25/4/210 Color 485sx25/8/800/Built in Panter 4860X66/8/340 B/W 486DX75/ 4/380 Color P75/16/800 P90/16/1.2GB from 15.00 295.00 350.00 350.00 559.00 950.00 1,095.00 180.00 80.00 100.00 Compaq Canon Winbook 18M Toshiba Texas Ins Many more laptops in stock & extemal CD-rom (parallelePC) Part PCMCIA 28.8 MegHerz PCMCIA 33.6 MegHerz F @ are ne STORE