It's not exactly the dreaded Y2K problem, but the way computers and other electronic devices handle dates and times could soon be a source of headaches again.
When most Canadian businesses set their clocks back an hour on Sunday, Oct. 29, it will be the last time they make the change to standard time in late October.
Last year, the United States passed the U.S. Energy Policy Act, which aims to save energy by extending daylight saving time by four weeks.
Next spring, daylight saving will start on the second Sunday in March rather than the first Sunday in April and will end the first weekend in November rather than the last weekend in October.
All Canadian provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, which has not announced its plans, and Saskatchewan, which does not observe daylight savings time, have officially decided to follow suit.
It sounds simple enough: Spring forward three weeks earlier, fall back one week later. But many electronic devices aren't that smart.
Computers, servers and gadgets with internal clocks usually make the switch to daylight saving time automatically, on preset dates. Unless they are adjusted, next spring those machines will be three weeks behind the rest of the country.
The implications of an incorrect time change range from trivial to fairly serious.
Many businesses automate processes to increase efficiency and program their computers to control things like delivery schedules and financial trading systems. Inconsistent system clocks could cause problems with automated scheduling for almost any business.
Companies that must make time-sensitive shipments to customers, or whose call centres route or schedule calls based on automated systems, could have serious hassles, says Carmi Levy, senior research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ont.
There are also compliance and auditing concerns, he adds — e-mails that are incorrectly time-stamped or security logs that are an hour out of whack could come back to haunt companies in a later audit or investigation.
Fortunately, some manufacturers are addressing the problem.
Newer computers will handle the coming changes smoothly. Microsoft Corp. says its Windows Vista operating system will ship with date fixes already set. Microsoft will release an update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 and the Windows Server 2003 software for computer servers used in business.
An Apple Computer Inc. spokesman says Apple has already updated its Macintosh Operating System (Mac OS) X.
However, the news isn't so good for those whose systems aren't quite so up-to-date. Microsoft won't provide updates for Windows XP Service Pack 1 or for older operating systems such as Windows 2000.
Microsoft offers instructions on its website for adjusting older Windows versions, but Mr. Levy says most users aren't comfortable doing such adjustments and will probably resort to resetting the time manually.
Apple declined to comment on the update situation for earlier versions of Mac OS.
Businesses running the open-source Linux operating system will need to check with their software supplier, Mr. Levy suggests. "It's very fractured because there are so many distributions."
Most software takes date and time information from the operating system, Mr. Levy says, but there are exceptions and those may need updates. If in doubt, he advises, ask the software vendor.
But while equipment that keeps corporate networks humming will keep doing its job, the new time change could cause network administrators some headaches, says Daniel Therrien, market manager for products and technology at Cisco Systems Canada Co.
Switches, routers and other network devices provide time-stamped reports of their activities, which network managers in most larger businesses use to help administer their networks, and if their internal clocks aren't synchronized, those reports could be confusing.
Mr. Therrien says Cisco has issued an update for the software that runs its network devices so network managers can alter the dates on which their clocks reset.
If the update hasn't been installed, he says, they can also reset the time manually or by writing a script to update multiple devices at once.
Mr. Levy advises corporate technology managers to check every device on their networks.
The fixes will be simpler than at the turn of the century, he says, but certainly the lessons of Y2K can be applied here.
Special to The Globe and Mail
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