HP has stop short of going the way of ITAA or other sort of certification.
The CALENDAR intrinsic is SAFE until the year 2027. However, HP is rolling
out a new version of MPE by 1997 that will complete all Year2000
enhancements.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Year 2000 with the HP 3000 and MPE/iX
Year 2000 Product Plans
Updated: August 20, 1996
HP has assessed the MPE/iX operating system and its related subsystems
to determine all Year 2000 issues. HP has a plan in place to address
these issues, and by the end of 1997 HP expects to release a version of
MPE/iX that will support the Year 2000 and beyond. This version of
MPE/iX, like all previous versions, will be backwards compatible on all
HP 3000 PA-RISC servers, providing investment protection so customers
can quickly and easily take advantage of the new features of the
operating system without having to upgrade to a newer HP 3000 server.
Below are the highlights of some of the user interface changes that
are planned for MPE/iX.
MPE/iX Intrinsics
-----------------
The CALENDAR intrinsic is the most widely used intrinsic for
retrieving dates.
No changes are currently planned to the CALENDAR intrinsic since it is
safe until the Year 2027.
The following intrinsics accept/return dates in CALENDAR format:
ALMANAC
CALENDAR
DBINFO
FFILEINFO
FLABELINFO
FMTCALENDAR
FMTDATE
JOBINFO
NLFMTCALENDAR
POSIX date routines
The NLINFO intrinsic supports the ISO 8601:1988 standard (YYYY-MM-DD)
date display format.
NLS intrinsics which currently return a 2 digit year will continue
to return a 2 digit year in the Year 2000 and beyond (i.e., 00 =
2000).
CI Commands
-----------
The following CI commands will be enhanced to handle a 4 digit year:
:STREAM ; DATE=mm/dd/yy
:FILE ; LABEL=expirationdate
:SETCLOCK date-spec
:LISTSPF/SPOOLF ; SELEQ=[date=mm/dd/yy] :STORE/RESTORE/VSTORE ;
DATE=mm/dd/yy[yy]
Two digit year fields will be interpreted using the YY:Split method
(i.e., 00 .. 49 = 2000 .. 2049 and 50 .. 99 = 1950 .. 1999).
Commands that currently display 2 digit years will continue to display
2 digit years in the Year 2000 and beyond.
CI Variables
------------
HPYEAR will continue to return a 2 digit year in the Year 2000 and
beyond (i.e., 00 = 2000).
HPDATEF and HPINTRODATE both use FMTCALENDAR, which is Year 2027 safe.
VPLUS
-----
Two new intrinsics called VGETYYYYMMDD and VPUTYYYYMMDD will be
created to handle 4 digit years.
A new ARB data type called YYYYMD will be created.
Date output will be formatted with 4 digit years if the target field
is wide enough to receive the date, and the application specifies this
action using a new JCW called VSETNEXTCENTURY.
If the VSETNEXTCENTURY JCW is set appropriately, two digit years will
be interpreted using the YY:Split method (i.e., 00 .. 49 = 2000 ..
2049 and 50 .. 99 = 1950 .. 1999).
By default, VPLUS will continue to output dates in the Year 2000 and
beyond as they are output today.
**Customers** must also begin to assess their own applications and
databases, and create a plan to address the Year 2000 issue.
Database tool vendors such as Adager, Bradmark (DBGENERAL and
Flexibase), and Robelle (SUPRTOOL) are enhancing their products to
assist customers with transforming their data so that Year 2000 dates
can be stored correctly. Note, there are no plans to enhance HP
DBChange Plus to address the Year 2000 issue.
Over the coming months, the HP Advisor will provide customers with
valuable information to help ease the Year 2000 transition.
.......................................................................
TO: [log in to unmask]
CC: KOK_MUN-SING/HP-Singapore_om1@hpsgm31
To: HP3000-L @ RAVEN.UTC.EDU @ SMTP
cc:
From: alfredo @ ADAGER.COM ("F. Alfredo Rego") @ SMTP
Sent: Sun 10/06/96 02:33:50 PM EDT
Subject: Re: Year 2000 certification
I received this message from a friend:
>I don't know if you're already monitoring the Year 2000 list, but, if not,
>I thought you find the following of interest.
>
>Since Adager seems so far ahead of the rest of the HP3000 vendor community,
>have you considered obtaining certification? Do you expect HP to obtain it
>for the 3000?
>====================================================================
>Subject: Certification: Year2000 and the AS/400
>
>From: Brian Gross
>AS/400 Marketing Specialist-NEA2
>590 Madison Avenue, 8/243-3175 (212-745-3175)
>Subject: (U) Year2000 and the AS/400
>
>Here is some information regarding the AS/400 and the YEAR2000.
>The software partners need to do some work on their code but this
>is the case for every single piece of application code from
>PCs to mainframes. From the operating system point of view we
>are YEAR2000 certified TODAY-possible years ahead of other vendors.
>*******************************************************************
>
>Year 2000 Certification Received
>
>Oct. 1, 1996
>
>The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) today
>announced it has awarded its first Year 2000 Certification to IBM's
>AS/400 platform running Operating System/400 Version 3 Release 2
>and Version 3 Release 7.
>
>AS/400 participated in a pilot program developed by ITAA, which will
>now offer certification on an industry-wide basis.
>
>According to ITAA, certification means a product is Year 2000 ready if
>it is capable of correctly processing, providing and/or receiving data
>within and between the year 1999 and through the twenty-first century.
>
>"We're pleased AS/400 has received ITAA*2000 certification," said
>Barbara McDuffie, director of IBM's Year 2000 initiative. "We recognize
>this is a significant step. As more companies follow suit, ITAA*2000
>will go a long way toward giving consumers confidence that the products
>and services they buy will be able to perform date-related computations
>correctly. The Year 2000 represents a major challenge for the entire
>industry, and it will take the entire industry, starting now and working
>together, to solve it. Receipt of the first certification issued by
>ITAA demonstrates just how sharply focused IBM is on the importance of
>the Year 2000."
I checked out the web page for the ITAA certificate:
http://www.itaa.org/certabt.htm
It appears that they are more interested in solutions for the APPLICATIONS
side of things. Adager, so far, is concentrating only on the database side
of things. In other words, we don't convert anything that has to do with
application programs, jobstreams, scripts, UDCs, command files, and so on.
Adager examines and converts database structures (data items, datasets and
fields, for example) as well as the information that resides in such
IMAGE/3000, TurboIMAGE, or IMAGE/SQL database structures.
So, I am going to refer the info to several software suppliers and
consultants that concern themselves with applications. In fact, I guess
the easiest way to convey the information is for me to do a posting to
HP3000-L on the subject.
I sincerely hope HP pursues the certification process. And I sincerely
hope that, as applications providers and consultants pursue the
certification process, Adager will work closely with them to help them out
from the database perspective.
I would love to see a memo from HP soon, with this:
Subject: Certification: Year2000 and the HP3000
What do you say?
_______________
| |
| |
| r | Alfredo [log in to unmask]
| e | http://www.adager.com
| g | F. Alfredo Rego Tel 208 726-9100
| a | Manager, Theoretical Group Fax 208 726-2822
| d | Adager Corporation
| A | Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000 U.S.A.
| |
|_______________|
|
