The Year-2000 Problem: What’s it All About?

By now, you surely have heard about the “Year-2000 problem.” The primary concern surrounding “the Year 2000” is centered on systems that use date information as a basis for their operation. Many systems store the date in a 2-digit format. When a system displays a date on a report as “00,” it may not be a big problem. However, problems can be quite serious when systems assume that “00” is equal to “1900,” instead of “2000.”

Here are some examples of what may go wrong:

• A maintenance schedule may register as “past due” and cause automatic shutdown
• Orders are not prioritized properly
• A company’s orders for year “00” could be rejected as errors
• A production line may shut down, because parts were not received
• Maintenance contracts may appear to have expired

Information technologists of HP’s Chemical Analysis Group have a program in place to address Year-2000 issues for internal business systems and applications. Hewlett-Packard considers the Year-2000 issue a business problem, not just an IT problem. It will be important to evaluate processes, business partners and equipment throughout any site.

The Year-2000 problem can affect the products we purchase and those we manufacture. A program is already in progress to evaluate all analytical products for their compliance status. Although there are some exceptions, the HP policy states that all currently active Hewlett-Packard products must be certified Year-2000-Compliant.