TECHNOLOGY-BRAZIL: Technicians Battle-Ready for Y2K Bug

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 29 1999 (IPS) - Brazil’s Defence Ministry has prepared a veritable war plan to confront the gamut of possible problems arising from potential computer failures at midnight Friday, Dec 31 as the nation greets the year 2000 (Y2K).

The last test, performed Wednesday, permitted government officials to emphasise that chances for the much-feared collapses in electrical, telephone, banking, health or transportation services are “minimimal.”

Nearly 4,000 people – 30 percent being military personnel – will be mobilised by the Contingency Plan General Co-ordinating Centre (CGC), set up by the Defence Ministry in Brasilia connecting 155 stations throughout the country, will monitor the status of Brazil’s computer systems from Dec 31 to Jan 5.

The CGC estimates there will be another 70,000 people throughout Brazil watching over computer systems in the private sector and in state and local governments.

The “millenium bug” or “Y2K problem” is the name given to the possible computer failures arising from the fact that most systems use a two-digit date field to designate the year. If a computer system interprets “00” as the year 1900, not 2000, it might either crash or malfunction at midnight, Dec 31.

Brazil will attempt to take maximum advantage of being located in the western hemisphere. Its embassies and other offices in Asia and Oceania – where the new year will arrive first, according to time zones – will be Brazil’s 89 outposts for information about what happens to computer systems.

The countries in the first time zones will serve as guinea pigs. New Zealand, 14 hours ahead of Brasilia, will be Brazil’s first site for observing the 1999 to 2000 transition.

If they are able to detect potential computer defects ahead of time, technicians hope to be able to prevent them from occurring in Brazil, as they will have several hours to make corrections.

Three years ago, Brazil began its Year 2000 Programme for preventing mishaps resulting from the millenium bug, costing the federal government nearly 550 million dollars, according to Solon Lemos Pinto, programme co-ordinator.

The chance that any Y2K-related problems will occur is two percent at the most, Lemos Pinto assured.

Electrical energy distribution is one of the areas sparking most concern. But there is no risk of power supplies being cut, says Firmino Sampaio, president of Eletrobrás, the government-run company that generates and transmits electricity.

The entire system has been tested and, on the night of Dec 31 to Jan 1, total electricity demand will be 40 percent less than during normal days, he explained.

A potentially negative situation could occur, however, if a large portion of the population decides to turn off lights and electrical appliances and then turn them on again at the same time, because this would overcharge the system, admitted Sampaio.

The Y2K issue especially worries Mauro Arce, Energy secretary for Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous and most industrialised state.

An abrupt reduction in electrical consumption as a consequence, of the deactivation of industrial equipment, for example, could lead to excess tension in transmission lines and infrastructural damage, warned Arce.

The Sao Paulo state government has already invested 137 million dollars in a Y2K problem prevention programme. In these days before and after the year-end transition, it will have 35,000 technicians ready to handle any surprise situations.

Officials from the telecommunications sector, privatised in July 1998, and banking have assured they are prepared for 1999-2000 switch-over.

The Central Bank and other financial institutions, both public and private, have implemented internationally recognised security measures, maintained Antonio Gustavo Matos, the financial sector’s representative in the Contingency Plan efforts.

But 12 of Brazil’s 27 states have not reported to the Defence Ministry on their plans for confronting the “bug,” known by the English name in this Portuguese-speaking nation.

Other fears for the date-change involve hospitals that have life- support equipment operating with older computer chips, which could quit functioning as their internal clocks reach the year 2000. There are nearly 6,000 hospital units throughout the country and the government cannot monitor all of them, acknowledged Lemos Pinto.

As far as air transportation, the Civil Aviation Department (DAC), a divison of the Aeronautics Ministry, recommended suspending flights scheduled for the night of Dec 31 in order to reduce risks of any flight control mishaps.

Of the 462 regularly scheduled flights in Brazil, 174 have already been canceled, reported brigadier Adenir Siqueira Viana, who assured complete safety for the remaining flights. The DAC grounded 378 air-taxi companies because they had not implemented any safety measures to prevent problems caused by the Y2K bug.