Page 52: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 1998)

Y2K Problem

When the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999, many date-dependent devices could fail to recognize the year 2000. Even long before that, some systems will already be in difficulties. The problem is quite unique in that it has a totally immovable deadline: every company will need to ensure that its systems are corrected and operating by that time.

The problem is hardly a new one for any- one in business, and many progressive, for- ward-thinking organizations have surely started addressing the matter. Many com- puters and software applications in use today, around the world and in all indus- tries, will report date information incor- rectly from January 1, 2000.

The problem is quite extensive in scope and can be present at any level within a system, e.g., hardware.; built-in operating system (BIOS) in PCs, with machine date; operating system; development tools and languages; application software; third party packages and development; data interfaces; and embedded chips.

Inmarsat Takes Action

The management and staff at Inmarsat are all well aware of the pending problem, and it is a problem that may not only affect the functions within Inmarsat, but much more seriously, the ability to communicate and to utilize the more than 100,000

Inmarsat terminals that are in use world- wide — at sea, on land and in the air.

Considering that several Inmarsat systems form major elements in the Global

Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), the issue may easily also become a matter of life and death for those depen- dent on the services provided.

The initial steps to handle this major issue were taken in late 1996 and in April 1997, Inmarsat established a project with the objective of ensuring that all its key systems are compliant with the Year 2000 date change. The main purpose is to ensure that all systems are able to handle date information before, during and after

January 1, 2000, including, but not limited to, accepting date input and performing cal- culations on dates or portions of dates.

All systems must function accurately and without interruption before, during and after January 1, 2000 without changes in operation associated with the advent of the new century;

They shall respond to two-digit year date input in a way that resolves the ambiguity as to the century in a disclosed, defined and pre-determined manner; and

They shall store and provide output of date information in ways that are unam- biguous as to century. They will also man-

Success Model

As part of the Year 2000 Project,

Inmarsat is using the following 5-Level

Compliance Matrix to help determine overall compliance of both internally-pro- duced products and services as well as those supplied by third-parties:

Level 5

All business critical systems are compli- ant. They have been tested and compli- ance can be demonstrated.

Test: Show me a list of your business critical systems and I'll choose some for you to demonstrate to me.

Level 4

All business critical believed to be compliant. systems are

They have been partially tested but compliance cannot yet be demonstrated.

Note: Even if an organization's appli- cations are fully compliant, if the underly- ing hardware/software is non-compliant it cannot be demonstrated.

Test: Must show Level 3 compliance plus application test results.

Level 3

All business critical systems are being made compliant and a detailed plan showing that no business critical systems will fail on or before 1/1/2000 is avail- able for review.

Test: Let us review/audit your plans.

Level 2

All business critical systems have been identified and plans are being produced to make them compliant.

Test: You should be able to show us the results of your audit and first-cut plans.

You should have a budgetary estimate of compliance costs exclusive of legal recov- ery.

Level 1

Business critical systems have not been identified.

Test: Not at level 2 or higher.

Two years ago, with a couple of col- leagues, Lars Brodje formed Satpool in

Gothenburg, Sweden. Satpool is a leading provider of maritime communication and

IT-solutions to the international shipping industry. Tel:+46 31 709 15 50. Fax+46 31 709 40 02. • SAILOR

SALES AND SERVICE AGENTS

ANTILLES (NETHERLANDS)

Radio-Holland Caribbean N V Curacao N.A

Phone: +599 94 612577 • Fax: +599 94 612723

ARGENTINA

SEN S.R.L. Buenos Aires

Phone: +541 361 1496 Fax: +541 361 2606

AUSTRALIA

Rubin Marine Artarmon NSW

Phone: +61 2 94392333 Fax: .61 2 94392278 a.m.i. sales O'Connor, Western Australia

Phone: +61 89 337 3266 Fax: +61 89 314 2929

BAHRAIN

Aeradio Technical Services Mina Salman Port

Phone: +973 727790 Fax: +973 727811

BANGLADESH

Graphics Communications Lid. Dhaka

Phone: +880 2 89 2440 Fax: +880 2 883627

BELGIUM

Antwerp Marine Radio Company N.V. • Antwerp

Phone: +32 3 202 0499 Fax: +32 3 202 0493

BRAZIL

O.L. Naval Ltda. - Rio de Janeiro

Phone: +55 21 509 8667 Fax: +55 21 242 7934

BULGARIA international Marine Technologies Ltd. Rousse

Phone: +359 82 228216 Fax: +359 82 822230

CANADA

Radio Holland (Canada) Ltd. North Vancouver

Phone: +1 604 293 2900 Fax: +1 604 293 2930

CHILE

Serprotec Ltda. Valparadiso (Deep Sea)

Phone: +56 32 232780 Fax: +56 32 212215

Simrad S A Santiago (Fishing)

Phone: +56 2 235 1 068 Fax: +56 2 235 8732

COLOMBIA

Eiectr6nica Maritimar Ltda. Cartagena

Phone: .575 663 3789 Fax: +575 663 3643

CROATIA

BELAM-Zastupstvo i Servis Rijeka

Phone: +385 51 672343 Fax: +385 51 672179

CYPRUS

A. P. Hadjipieros Ltd. Limassol

Phone: +357 5 345972 Fax: +357 5 345973

ECUADOR

Nautical del Ecuador Manta

Phone: +593 5 628900 Fax: +593 5 628910

EGYPT

Suez Electronics Free Zone S.A.E. Alexandria

Phone: +20 3 4806899 Fax: +20 3 4804196

Suez Electronics Engineering & Trading Ltd. Cairo

Phone: +20 2 2742911 Fax: +20 2 2745219

ESTONIA

A/S RSTA Tallinn

Phone: +372 6 312082 Fax: +372 6 312082

FAROE ISLANDS

S.P Radio A/S Denmark

Phone: +45 96 34 61 00 Fax: +45 96 34 61 01 (for further information)

FINLAND

ASPO Systems Oy Espoo

Phone: +358 9 422155 Fax: +358 9 422908

Navidec Oy - Helsinki

Phone: +358 9 7001 7780 Fax: +358 9 179 830

FRANCE

Geolink Roquevaire

Phone: +33 4 42 32 99 00 Fax: +33 4 42 32 94 95

SDM Electronique Sartrouville Cedex

Phone: +33 1 39 146833 Fax: +33 1 39133022

GERMANY

Elna GmbH Rellingen/Hamburg

Phone: +49 4101 30100 Fax: +49 4101 301214

GIBRALTAR

Electro Med Manna Bay

Phone: +350 77077 • Fax: +350 72051

GREECE

Marac Electronics S.A. Perama - Piraeus

Phone: +30 1 43 14361 Fax: +30 1 43 14234

GREENLAND

S.P. Radio A/S Denmark

Phone: .45 96 34 61 00 Fax: +45 96 34 61 01 (for further information)

HOLLAND

Radio-Holland Marine B.V. Rotterdam

Phone: +31 10 4283344 Fax: +31 10 4281498

Sailtron B.V. • Utrecht

Phone: +31 30 2944741 Fax: +31 30 2937642

HONG KONG

Radio Holland B.V. Kwai Chung N T.

Phone: +852 24239007 Fax: +852 24805898

Hoi Tung Communication & Navigation Co. Ltd

Phone: +852 25421262 Fax: +852 25431137

ICELAND Radiomidun Ltd. - Reykjavik

Phone: +354 511 1010 • Fax: +354 511 1020

INDIA

Elcome Marine Services Pvt. Ltd. • New Bombay

Phone: +91 22 763 23 48 Fax: +91 22 763 23 51

INDONESIA

PT Panorama Timur Jaya • Jakarta

Phone: +62 21 475 6788 Fax: +62 21 475 1 688

IRAN

Kaman Hormozgan Marine Engineering Tehran

Phone: +98 21 222 8020 Fax: +98 21 222 4502

ISRAEL

Alhout-Yam Ltd. - Haila

Phone: +972 4 86 20804 Fax: +972 4 8627404

ITALY

Compagnia Generate Telemar - Roma

Phone: +39 6 3221800 Fax: +39 6 3240148

Generalmare est S.R.L • Chiavari

Phone: +39 185 32 33 56 Fax: +39 185 32 27 31

IVORY COAST

Optim Afrique - Abidjan

Phone: +225 251843 Fax: +225 257937

Nautical Afrique • Abidjan

Phone: +225 250136 Fax: +225 250137

JAPAN

Kaigai Gijyutsu K.K. Yokohama

Phone: +81 45 6647318 Fax: +81 45 6647320

KOREA

Samyang Radio Co. Ltd.. Pusan

Phone: +82 51 413 5000 • Fax: +82 51 413 5002

KUWAIT

Elcome International Safat

Phone: +965 2406822 Fax: +965 2406833

Commercial Co-Ordination Centre W.L.L. Safat

Phone: +965 2462347 Fax: +965 2454350

LATVIA/ LITHUANIA

Transas Ballia Riga

Phone: +371 7286585 • Fax: +371 7821202

MALTA Medcomms Ltd. • Gzira

Phone: +356335521 Fax: +356310820

MEXICO

Nautica, S.A. de C.v. • Mexico D.F.

Phone: +52 5 6519740 Fax: +52 5 6512825

MOROCCO

Soremar - Casablanca

Phone: +212 2 442802 Fax: +212 2 305385

NEW ZEALAND

Electronic Navigation Ltd. • Auckland

Phone: +64 9 3735595 • Fax: +64 9 3795655

Wrights Ltd.. Wellington

Phone: +64 4 568 8975 • Fax: +64 4 568 8361

NIGERIA

Netarcomms Nigeria Ltd. - Lagos State

Phone: +234 1 871662 • Fax: +234 1 264 6083

NORWAY

AEG Norge A/S Oslo

Phone: +47 22 89 78 00 Fax: +47 22 89 78 04

PAKISTAN

International Aeradio Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. • Karachi

Phone: +92 21 5837800 Fax: +92 21 5870331

REPUBLIC OF PANAMA

Proveedora Tecnica, S.A. • Panama

Phone: +507 227 3533 Fax: +507 227 1 053

POLAND

EPA Ltd. • Szczecin

Phone: +48 914 874 885 Fax: +48 914 875 014

PORTUGAL

Nautel - Electronica Maritima. Lda. • Lisbon

Phone: +351 1 39 20 940 Fax: +351 1 39 20 949 0ATAR

Eastern Technical Services Co.. Doha

Phone: +974 477412 Fax: +974 478282

RUMANIA

Imsat Maritime SA Constanta • Constanta

Phone: +40 41 639038 • Fax: +40 41 674356

RUSSIA

Transas Marine Ltd.. St. Petersburg

Phone: +7 812 567 2090 Fax: +7 812 567 1 901

Moretron Ltd - Murmansk

Phone: +47 85 10144 Fax: +47 85 10144

SAUDI ARABIA

Key Communication Development Ltd. • Dammam

Phone: +966 3 8336940 - Fax: +966 3 8330728

SENEGAL

Optim Senegal. Dakar

Phone: +221 8234930 • Fax: +221 8229676

SINGAPORE

Radio Holland Singapore. Singapore

Phone: +65 8622218 Fax: +65 8622430

SOUTH AFRICA

Cape Maritime Electronics (Pty.) Ltd. • Cape Town

Phone: +27 21 551 3204 Fax: +27 21 551 3206

Radio Holland Group - Paarden Eiland (Cape Town)

Phone: +27 21 511 0864 Fax: +27 21 511 7577

SPAIN

Nautical - San Sebastian de los Reyes (Madrid)

Phone: +34 91 6549411 • Fax: +34 91 6549600

SWEDEN

Vingtor Marine AB • Askim/Goteborg

Phone: +46 31 668400 • Fax: +46 31 683660

Litton Marine Systems B.V. • Vastra Frolunda (Gote- borg)

Phone: +46 31 292100 • Fax: +46 31 292109

TAIWAN R.O.C.

Unimax Electric 8i Co.. Ltd. Kaohsiung

Phone: +886 7 815 9775 Fax: +886 7 815 1775

TUNISIA

Alcatel Tunisie Tunis Cedex

Phone: +2161 717177 • Fax: +216 1 719888

TURKEY

Eiektro-Deniz Ltd.. Istanbul

Phone: +90 216 392 77 29 • Fax: +90 216 392 80 18

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Elcome International L.L.C. • Dubai

Phone: +971 4 342333 • Fax: +971 4 342465

UNITED KINGDOM

Ships Electronic Services Ltd. Rochester (Kent)

Phone: +44 1634 295500 Fax: +44 1634 295536

URUGUAY

Eiectromaritima Uruguaya Ltda.. Montevideo

Phone: +598 2 924 77 89 Fax: +598 2 924 71 38

USA

Radio- Holland USA, B.V. • Houston (Texas)

Phone: +1 713 943 3325 • Fax: +1 713 943 3802 52 Circle 201 on Reader Service Card 52