https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

content


Watch out for Y2K

Watch out for Y2K

We're not going to tell you again: Jan. 1, 2000, is looming around the corner. Agencies and companies not actively fixing their systems should be making
  • Written by Urgent Communications Administrator
  • 1st July 1999

We’re not going to tell you again: Jan. 1, 2000, is looming around the corner. Agencies and companies not actively fixing their systems should be making contingency plans. The FCC finds medium-sized public safety entities and service providers are most at risk.

January 1, 2000, is inexorably approaching. While the public is wondering if it will have electricity or enough drinking water (or which party to go to), the FCC is wondering if the wireless telecommunications industry will be ready for Y2K. With only five months to go, agencies and companies that have not reached compliance yet (and especially those that don’t even have a plan yet) should be preparing contingency plans. Even an agency close to 100% Y2K compliance should not overlook contingencies. The magnitude of the problem (more than 25 billion equipment-embedded chips in the United States alone) makes some system breakdowns likely.

“Emergency services are crucial to the life and safety of Americans, and the Year 2000 problem poses a real and palpable threat to the continued operation of these services,” said FCC Commissioner Michael K. Powell on April 29 before the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.

The FCC has decided that the wireless communications sector, commercial and emergency, is at risk, “given the uncertainty of its efforts at this time.”

Y2K communications sector report The FCC’s efforts to identify risks posed to communications systems is documented in the Y2K Communications Sector Report, issued in conjunction with the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC) on March 30. NRIC is a broad-based federal advisory group that was chartered to advise the commission on network reliability issues, including Y2K.

The FCC conducted a survey that targeted a random sample of 300 commercial wireless entities, including licensees in the cellular service, personal communications services, SMRs and paging services. Thirty-one percent of all carriers responded to the survey. In 1997, however, there were about 108 million commercial wireless subscribers, so the responses received represented less than 40% of the entire wireless customer base.

The FCC said that it was encouraged by the progress being made by larger companies to prepare and was “cautiously optimistic” about the ability of the companies to withstand unforeseen problems with minimal disruptions to services. The FCC expressed concern about the smaller companies, however. Many of the small- and medium-sized companies that have adopted a systematic approach to addressing Y2K have completion deadlines dangerously close to the dreaded date, which leaves scant time for delays from vendors or remediation of problems discovered during systems testing. Many small companies have not even adopted systematic approaches to addressing Y2K.

The report did not assess Y2K readiness in the private wireless community, which represents more than 16 million users, except in its discusssion of emergency services (about 10% of private wireless). Because of concerns about the Y2K readiness of all wireless entities, the FCC is undertaking another survey to assess the status of non-commercial wireless licensees. Despite the FCC’s lack of private wireless documentation, sources within that sector express confidence in general preparedness.

“Because private wireless systems promote productivity, few companies are anxious to provide detailed information on their Y2K compliance, which might be used against them by their competitors,” said J. Sharpe Smith, communications and public affairs manager for the Industrial Telecommunications Association (ITA). “We have been assured by the major radio system manufacturers that the lion’s share of the land mobile communications equipment out there will not be affected when the calendar flips over to Jan. 1, 2000, or one of the other crucial dates.”

“It is my sense that the major corporations in the United States have moved forward on this issue and are correcting any problems in their computer systems, including their private wireless systems,” Smith said. “For example, Federal Express is already using its second generation of Y2K-compliant equipment in its mobile data terminals. Now that’s proactive.

“It looks like users of older analog dispatch systems will be unaffected. This means that smaller companies, which don’t have the staff to reprogram their radio systems, won’t lose communications due to this computer bug. It is, perhaps, the mid-size companies with more complex networks that need to be the most careful,” Smith said.

Commercial services The FCC’s survey of wireless carriers revealed a preparedness gap between the large and small wireless companies. Only about half of the operators serving less than a half-million customers have implemented a remedial plan or process, while large operators have completed almost 60% of their fixes.

The survey did reveal that 54% of total respondents (representing about 23 million pops) have implemented a Y2K remediation plan or process. All of the responding carriers should have a remediation plan complete before December 1999. Because of the low response rate and the late completion date forecasted, however, the FCC said that greater effort should be devoted to contingency or backup plans.

The backup backup plan About 42% of the FCC’s survey total respondents have begun contingency planning: 64% of large carriers and 40% of small carriers. The large carriers average less than 50% completion, however; and small carriers average 70% completion of probability of risk assessment for all items.

The impact of Y2K problems is hard to measure at this point, but the potential for disaster looms. Cellular, PCS and paging providers could lose revenue, customers and reputation for reliability. These risks incite some kind of preparatory action, with large carriers doing just that. However, as the survey showed, only about half of the other operators serving less than a half-million customer have implemented such a plan.

Emergency services The FCC noted the importance of dispatch centers or Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to emergency service call processing. Local communities own these systems and must take the necessary steps to prepare these systems for Y2K.

Costis Toregas, president of Public Technology, Washington, wrote in American City & County magazine in May 1999, that in fact, multiple areas of local government, from water serv-ices to public safety functions and emergency systems, needed to be Y2K complaint. “Y2K also affects functions as diverse as the operation of doors in jails and sophisticated medical devices in county hospitals,” Toregas wrote.

The FCC stated that the challenge to emergency communications was that several systems must interoperate seamlessly to ensure timely response by emergency personnel.

“Virtually every link in the emergency chain involves complex interrelated processes, and everywhere there are time-date stamps,” said Robert Miller, technical issues director of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), at the “Year 2000: Maintaining Emergency Response Communications” forum.

A concern lies with the call processing at the PSAP. Such telecommunications equipment is not under the direct jurisdiction of the FCC nor within its area of expertise. The assessment of the readiness of the PSAPs is difficult because of the disaggregated nature of the control and ownership of this equipment, Powell said. NRIC estimates that there are 6,739 PSAPs in the territory of the eight largest telephone companies and that they have service contracts with 81% of those, or 5,456 PSAPs. Of those, 35% have been remediated for E9-1-1 call processing. These numbers do not account for small PSAPs, which the FCC doesn’t know about.

Dispatch remediation The third element in emergency communication involves dispatching emergency response teams. Manufacturers report that analog and digital radio systems operating in unencrypted, conventional mode (non-trunked mode not involving computer switching) are not date-sensitive and therefore are not typically at direct risk for Y2K failure.

For radio systems using computerized trunking, encryption, gateway and other advanced computerized features that are at higher risk for Y2K failure, manufacturers report that they are engaged in active user notification and remediation assistance programs. The major manufacturers controlling 90% to 95% of the public safety equipment market have reported that all new equipment now being sold is Y2K ready, and upgrades or remediation packages for all legacy equipment are now or will shortly be available.

Computer-assisted dispatch (CAD) may be at greater risk for Y2K failure. Replacing CAD systems may also take more than one year, so non-compliant CAD systems might not able to be replaced by 2000 (see sidebar on page 43).

Accountability for failure The risks stretch beyond equipment failure, however. Companies and governments could face lawsuits. The volume of legal claims from Y2K is projected to total as much as $1 trillion. Citizens could claim damages for personal injury resulting when a city’s E9-1-1 emergency dispatch system is slow or non-operational, delaying the arrival of an ambulance or police.

It is too late to start planning for Y2K. If a company, carrier or agency does not have a remediation plan in place, contingency planning is a must.

Tags: content

Most Recent


  • Watch out for Y2K
    Newscan: Securing the Internet of Things is quite a challenge
    Also: EWA requests dismissal of 900 MHz applications; TIA names tech and policy priorities for 2014; IJIS Institute names Shumate Award winner; App makes bus waits more tolerable; a Blackberry comeback may be in the offing.
  • Watch out for Y2K
    Newscan: FCC certifies Carlson Wireless's white-space radio
    Also: Congress looks to revamp telecom law; Obama to place some restraints on surveillance; IEEE to study spectrum-occupancy sensing for white-spaces broadband; Major Swedish transport operator opts for Sepura TETRA radios; RFMD to partner on $70 million next-generation power grid project; NENA opens registratiuon for "911 Goes to Washington."
  • Watch out for Y2K
    Newscan: A look at the critical job of 911 dispatchers
    Also: NYC launches website for tracking 911 response times; Oregon implements 911 on pre-paid cell phones; LightSquared wants to keep spectrum assets; Harris receives multiple government orders; FCC extends rebanding financial reconciliation deadline; Zetron gear at core of communications system upgrade; Ritron debuts wireless access control system; EWA seeks policy review of VHF vehicular repeater system deployments.
  • Watch out for Y2K
    Newscan: Average peak data rates of 144 MB/s average realized in tests with CAT 4 LTE device
    Also: Verizon, T-Mobile to swap unused spectrum to improve coverage; Internet giants oppose surveillance--but only when the government does it; FCC Chairman says incentive auction will be delayed until middle of 2015; FCC chair announces staff appointments; Alcatel-Lucent names Tim Krause as chief marketing officer; New Jersey county deploys TriTech CAD system; Toronto airport deploys 26-position Zetron console system;

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • RugGear: Contributing to the future of mission-critical broadband communication review and market vision
  • Photo gallery: 2014 Communications Marketing Conference (CMC) in Tucson
  • Watch out for Y2K
    Top 5 Stories - Week of Sept. 22
  • Watch out for Y2K
    RCA plans to expand this year's Technical Symposium

Commentary


Updated: How ‘sidelink’ peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations

  • 1
27th February 2023

NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation

24th February 2023

How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

House members introduce $15 billion NG911 funding bill dlvr.it/SlS0Lr

25th March 2023
UrgentComm

ADRF: Sun Kim discusses company’s new hybrid in-building wireless solution dlvr.it/SlRtSQ

25th March 2023
UrgentComm

U.S. cell towers and small cells: By the numbers dlvr.it/SlRn6N

25th March 2023
UrgentComm

Verizon, NTT among service providers narrowing private 5G focus dlvr.it/SlQjJH

24th March 2023
UrgentComm

Report: Technology is encouraging unprecedented collaboration in local-government organizations dlvr.it/SlQZT1

24th March 2023
UrgentComm

Insurance challenges to partial-autonomous-vehicle safety dlvr.it/SlQTHS

24th March 2023
UrgentComm

Whatever happened to the Hyperloop? dlvr.it/SlQQTL

24th March 2023
UrgentComm

Siyata to showcase new PTT device with body camera during IWCE 2023 dlvr.it/SlL0mS

23rd March 2023

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.