Is Your Laboratory Ready for the Year 2000?

Problems associated with the year 2000 will probably present one of the biggest challenges ever to confront your laboratory. Many date-dependent laboratory applications such as LIMS, shelf life stability and instrument controller systems are currently unable to handle dates beyond December 31, 1999 properly. This article offers an overview of what HP and its Chemical Analysis Group are doing to help you deal with this critical issue.

What your laboratory faces is a failure of the standard date format: MM/DD/YY. To save storage space in older computer systems, only two digits were allocated to a year. 1996, for example, is stored as 96. To calculate the year, most software adds the value 1900 to the 2-digit code. This means that in the year 2000 the date will appear as 1900. Some software, such as MS-DOS, uses a different base year but has the same basic problem.

HP's Response
Most active Hewlett-Packard chemical-analysis systems have already been assessed for date dependencies in hardware date clocks, operating systems, applications and middleware, database date functions, spreadsheet date calculations, and date data interchange between system components.

YEAR-2000 ON THE WEB

Concerns over Year-2000 compliance are growing exponentially in analytical laboratories everywhere. Lingering doubts over exactly what is involved and what the needed elements of compliance might be culminate in the increasingly urgent question: "Will my analytical operation be ready?" The answers are still being worked out and, as far as details are concerned, will be for some time in the immediate future. At Hewlett-Packard, a truly unique alliance of competencies in the fields of measurement, computing, and communications is at work on the Year-2000 challenges. Although analytical instrumentation presently shipped to customers is Year-2000-compliant, many operational details need yet to be determined, and HP shares the answers it isolates with the analytical community on a continuous basis on its website. For some of the answers to your questions as they are being developed, visit http://www.agilent.com/chem and click on "Year 2000".

HP's Commitment to its Customers
To enable customers to achieve their Year-2000 compliance, HP is making the following commitments regarding Year-2000 compliance for its chemical-analysis products:

• With few exceptions, HP chemical analysis products shipped currently or in the future are Year-2000 compliant.

• The compliance status for HP chemical-analysis products that are no longer in production but are still eligible for HP support as of January 1, 2000, is being determined. For some of these older products, a simple "workaround" solution (such as a manual reset) may be identified. For other products, an upgrade path will be identified by the end of October 1998. For obsolete standard HP software products that are determined to be noncompliant, HP will make an update or fix available at no cost. Customers must verify that their software is a supported version. The update or fix will not include additional hardware, software, or services that may be required. For example, PC hardware, memory or operating software, and configuration or installation services would not be included.

• HP chemical-analysis products that are obsolete and are no longer eligible for HP customer support will not be brought into compliance by upgrades or modifications. In some cases, products may not be affected because there are no date processing requirements. HP will recommend replacement products for those noncompliant products that have exceeded their support life.

HP has made every effort to insure the accuracy of the information it provides. However, because customers' operational environments differ from HP's laboratory environment, it is the customer's responsibility to validate the Year-2000 readiness of products in their own laboratories.

HP AND YEAR-2000 COMPLIANCE

HP's competencies in measurement, computing and communications uniquely position it to understand the breadth, importance and complexity of comprehensively delivering hardware and software products that are Year-2000 compliant. HP's understanding of compliance is clear and comprehensive. Year-2000 compliant means that if the product processes date information, it will do so accurately from, into, and between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including leap year calculations. To achieve accurate date processing, the customer must ensure that the product is used in accordance with the product documentation and that any other products used in combination (e.g., hardware, software, firmware) properly exchange data with it. HP also has a central program for internal Year-2000 activities, guided by a group of senior HP project-management consultants. They have established a methodology that is being used by information-technology professionals throughout HP to ensure Year-2000 readiness of internal applications. For more information, visit our Year-2000 website at www.agilent.com/chem or contact one of the following HP representatives: Region Contact Person Telephone North America Kevin Tucker (302) 633-8680 Europe Michael Kraft (+49-7243) 602-549 Latin America José Castillo (+1-302) 633-8502 Asia/Pacific Curt Novak (+65) 290-6574 Japan Miki Abe (81-422) 56-9393