The man who solved the Rubiks Cube puzzle, has solved what is probably the biggest business puzzle of the 20th Century - how to detect where the Millennium Bug will strike.
Patrick Bossert was just 12 years old when he wrote a best-selling book about how to solve the Rubiks Cube. Today, he is Technical Director of WSP Business Technology and at age 30 has developed the Delta-T Probe, a kit designed to help companies stamp out the Millennium Bug.
Sainsbury's is the first organisation in the UK to use the Delta-T Probe and has just completed initial checks for the Millennium Bug at its test supermarket in Exebridge, Devon. The Delta-T Probe was used to check equipment including refrigeration, heating, lighting, ventilation and alarm systems at the store.
The Delta-T Probe works by electronically "X-raying" equipment, to identify embedded computer chips that process date and time, by attaching to the chips and displaying the results on a screen. This test for the Millennium Bug is performed by Sainsbury's engineers, who send the results back for analysis by IT specialists who can then tell which pieces of equipment may fail. Further tests are then performed by taking the equipment forward in time to the next Millennium to see if they will still work.
The inventor of the Delta-T Probe, Patrick Bossert, said: "Only a small percentage of systems will fail to recognise the next millennium, but finding out which ones might go wrong is a huge and costly process. I saw this problem as an enormous challenge and developed the Delta-T Probe to rapidly diagnose problems, create huge savings and increase certainty in the process".
According to embedded systems expert Patrick Bossert, there are hundreds of millions of embedded chips in various pieces of equipment in the UK and of these, he expects one in 500 embedded systems will take equipment back in time to 1st January 1900, causing the system to critically fail. For this reason, his advice is to test all business-critical equipment.
Trevor Hales, Sainsbury's Director of Retail Systems and Innovations, said: "We have been working on the Millennium Bug since 1995, and thanks to the Delta-T Probe, we have confirmed that the work we have done on equipment with embedded chips has been spot on."
"Like Doctor Who, we have travelled forward in time and fortunately we have found no nasty surprises. We have been able to determine exactly what will happen to various pieces of equipment as we go through the date change and Leap Year, and we are confident that everything possible is being done in conducting these tests to help us ensure that it will be business as usual at Sainsbury's."
Gwynneth Flower, Managing Director of Action 2000 said: "Checking all systems for embedded chips is essential. Most companies have thought about the obvious (computers), but if they don't check the embedded chips in other equipment, they could find themselves e-mailing in offices without heat or light. I would encourage other organisations to follow Sainsbury's fine example in addressing the Millennium Bug problem."
NOTES TO EDITORS
Sainsbury's has invested £340m in tackling the Millennium Bug problem.
Sainsbury's Exebridge store closed on 30 November 1998 and a new store opened at Alphington.
When computers were initially developed, in order to save memory, the date was identified by two digits so that 1988 became 88. Unfortunately, this now means that computer equipment will not recognise the year 2000 as 00 but will think it is 1900.
Sainsburys recently received an award from the CBI in recognition of the work it has undertaken in tackling the Millennium Bug. The company is currently sharing its findings with other retailers who use similar in-store equipment.
Information on Sainsbury's is available on the Internet: www.sainsburys.co.uk
For information on Action 2000, ring:
| Karen Keaney |
Action 2000 Press Office |
0171-497 2000 |
For information on the Delta T Probe, ring:
| Patrick Brossert/Paul Scott |
WSP Business Technology |
0171-314 5000 |
| Miranda Bellord |
WSP Group PR |
0171-314 5000 |
| Chris Carter/Josie Dobrin |
Luther Pendragon |
0171-353 1500 |
