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July 28, 1999
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Inventorying building systems with embedded chips and assessing them for year 2000 readiness is complete on all Indiana University campuses, according to Sonja Johnson, director of the IU Bureau of Facilities Programming and Utilization. Johnson is the IU year 2000 project coordinator for facilities issues.
The facilities inventory included computing hardware and software and building systems with embedded chips such as fire alarms. Each inventory has been prioritized for date sensitivity and criticality to core functions. All high priority items have been assessed for compliance.
A critical part of analyzing IU building systems was to identify where all date-dependent systems and embedded chips were found. Embedded chips are components or microprocessors found in some computers and other electronic systems. Such chips may be in fire alarms, elevators, scientific equipment, heating and air conditioning units, telephone systems, vehicles and other equipment.
"At the Bloomington campus, we are now in the renovation and remediation phase," said Hank Hewetson, executive associate director of the IU Bloomington physical plant. Hewetson also heads a special facility committee within the IU Bloomington Y2K Task Force. The committee has been focusing on three key areas of year 2000 readiness: building systems, embedded chips and contingency planning.
After analyzing all building systems with embedded chips, the next step is to upgrade or replace old equipment or software. "We are over 90 percent finished with the remediation of critical systems," according to Hewetson. "In many cases, we found that functionality was not impaired by faulty date recognition; rather, reporting and diagnostic functions were affected.
"In all cases, however, we are upgrading or replacing problem equipment. The next phase will involve testing and verification, which we plan to finish by the end of October," Hewetson said. "We have also been coordinating what we do with the city of Bloomington, Monroe County, our utility providers, and University Information Technology Services to ensure a smooth path into the year 2000."
For more information about the IU year 2000 project and its challenges, go to the IU Year 2000 Web site at http://www.indiana.edu/~year2000/
(George Vlahakis, 812-855-0846, gvlahaki@indiana.edu or Hank Hewetson, 812-855-5495, hhewtso@indiana.edu)