April 24, 2006

Next Year, Daylight Savings Time Will Be Different. Do Your Computers Know?

Next Year daylight savings time will be extended by 4 weeks. 3 weeks earlier and 1 week later. Unfortunately your computer was not notified about this date change so you'll have to manually change the dates on your computers (and other devices) or install software patches for the operating systems you are using to ensure the date changes smoothly.

SearchSMB.com writes When clocks are moved forward an hour on the second Sunday in March 2007 -- instead of the first Sunday in April, as they have been for more than 20 years -- companies will have to change their fleets of laptops and PCs, as well as systems that are heavily dependent on schedules, such as payroll and applications that manage and track transactions. Computers and applications are programmed to automatically handle DST based on the current schedule mandated by U.S. lawmakers since 1987.

In an attempt to conserve energy, the federal government passed the Energy Policy Act in August 2005. The act will create more hours of daylight, saving the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day, according to legislators who backed the change.

But like Y2K, nobody really knows what will happen if businesses fail to adjust their servers to meet the DST requirement.

Although some vendors have suggested that compliance regulations could be put in jeopardy if the clocks are not updated, compliance expert French Caldwell at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said it isn't likely to be any worse than the confusion in Outlook that everyone will be experiencing this coming weekend. "You'll have more missed meetings," Caldwell said. "But as for SOX or privacy compliance, who cares? I don't see any broad implications."

This is the PERFECT job for your local solution provider to handle. Ask them to make sure that next year when daylight savings time occurs, your systems will still run smooth.Email this article to someone

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