Wednesday, September 8, 1999
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B U S I N E S S | Wednesday, September 8, 1999 |
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Y2K: a billion-dollar avoidable
mistake HAMBURG, Sept 7 — “Memory in computers was expensive and scarce during the sixties and seventies” is the standard response when experts are asked about the cause of the Y2K problem. But a look into the computer history books reveals that the Y2K problem was already known in the late seventies. India biggest under-achiever: The Economist NEW DELHI, Sept 7 — India cannot become a world economic power unless it concentrates on achieving 7-8 per cent growth and rapid globalisation, about which political parties have paid scant attention in their manifestos. |
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 NEW YORK : Peter Gold, left, swings through the air as he reaches out to catch Arturo Babilla at the "P.T. Barnum Amazing and Unusual Talent Search and Side Show Festival" in New York's Washington Square Park on Monday — AP/PTI |
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Matiz given ‘best small
car’ ranking Montari
creditor scan recover dues Maars
Soft to issue 1:1 bonus Nickle
price hike hits forging units |
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Y2K: a billion-dollar avoidable mistake HAMBURG, Sept 7 (DPA) — “Memory in computers was expensive and scarce during the sixties and seventies” is the standard response when experts are asked about the cause of the Y2K problem. But a look into the computer history books reveals that the Y2K problem was already known in the late seventies. At the same time, computers that would not encounter problems with the new date began appearing. Thus the computer industry must respond to the accusation that it knowingly created a gigantic problem over the course of many years. According to U.S.-based magazine Information Week, fixing the Y2K problem will cost as much as $ 600 billion worldwide. “We may not have understood everything, but we certainly knew that the century was nearing its end,” commented British science fiction writer Douglas Adams. It’s true that the first programmers did have compelling reasons to save memory space. In response to the scarce space, they dropped the first two digits of the year — 1970 became 70, for example. This also made it easier to enter data, which at the time was accomplished with punched cards rather than a keyboard. A card only held 80 digits, making the two ‘’saved’’ digits significant. But not all developers were that careless in dealing with the date. In 1978, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) - now a part of Compaq - introduced the mini-computer known as VAX-11. The computer was capable of determining the date beyond the year 2000. The DEC engineers decided to use the zero value of the Smithsonian calendar, November 17 1858 at 12 a.m., as the basis for time calculations. The VAX-11 can work with all dates that do not exceed the digits of a 64 bit number. Based on its 100 nanosecond clock rate, the VAX-11 can count time up to 30,744,573,456 minutes with 64 bits (two to the 64th power). That corresponds to 58,494 years. Thus the VAX-11 will not encounter a problem with dates until the year 60,352 (58,494 plus 1858). “Since the early eighties, it has become the industry standard to represent the date with a 64 bit number, with which an algorithm determines the actual date for a given culture,” says electronic data processing specialist Dietmar Hildebrand. But the data recognition ability of the “oldie” VAX-11 was not incorporated into the first personal computers in the early eighties. In fact, the first PCs did not have any time keeping feature at all. Battery-powered clocks were only introduced into the PC in 1986. The calendar of a PC begins on January 1, 1980, and only supports the Gregorian calendar. “All PCs built after 1986 shouldn’t have a problem with the year 2000, and the older systems didn’t have a clock,” writes Y2K expert Hildebrand. Nonetheless, PCs can encounter problems caused by software. Owners of Apple Macintosh computers don’t have to worry about Y2K at all because Apple’s engineers had enough foresight to know that the Y2K problem would exist. Software is at the heart of the Y2K problem. The programming language Cobol, popular during the seventies and eighties, contributed to the problem’s spread, since Cobol supports dates only in the two-digit format. This could, for example, cause a billing computer in a telephone company to determine the length of a telephone call initiated a few minutes before midnight on December 31st 1999 to be 99 years, as 2000 is confused with 1900. “The Y2K problem is not caused by technical limitations. We simply forgot to think of the problem,” says Hasso Plattner, CEO with the German software firm SAP. Plattner recalls his own horror story with Y2K: “During an important presentation, the computer system suddenly crashed when the customer tried to project something beyond the year 2000. I later examined the problem in detail and found the mistake in our software.” Plattner’s story
represents just one example of how companies in the
computer industry are themselves impacted by the problem.
Initially, SAP registered increasing profits as customers
were seeking Y2K solutions. But as the year 2000
approaches, the Y2K problem is increasingly paralysing
the activities of potential SAP clients. |
India biggest under-achiever: The Economist NEW DELHI, Sept 7 (PTI) — India cannot become a world economic power unless it concentrates on achieving 7-8 per cent growth and rapid globalisation, about which political parties have paid scant attention in their manifestos. Major economic issues have been addressed but in terms of opening up the economy, what is needed most in the Indian case is the issue of privatisation, deregulation and chopping subsidies, and parties have shown little stomach for all these, The Economist has said. “Globalisation involves not just opening an economy but equipping it to take full advantage of opportunities in the world markets; India needs to cash in on the parameters to emerge as an world economic power,” the weekly said in its latest issue. The kind of influence India aspires for in world affairs, will only come from being an economic power to be reckoned with,” The Economist said. “A country with a billion people and a nuclear bomb, India does count for much in the world, its trade accounts for a scant 0.7 per cent of the world total and it gets about one tenth of the foreign direct investment that China attracts,” it said. To add to the scars, the news magazine said, it has no permanent seat in the UN Security Council and on the parameters of geo-strategic future, it has remained the world’s biggest under-achiever. “The country has done well out of the first phase of economic reforms. The ‘Hindu Rate of Growth’ is now no longer 3 per cent but 5.6 per cent, the terms of trade with the world has been improved with a world class software industry, and lot more opportunities are present in remote services, but more contingent problems are still lying unsolved”, it said. The economic liberalisation process has dramatically improved the terms of trade, “much has been achieved in India, but the tragedy is that so much more should have been and could have been....” It has commented on the promises like “education for all” and “universal access to drinking water” which reveal that parties understand what is required to percolate the benefits of growth, but they have not shown much understanding of what actually it takes to make these happen. India did change during the 1990s and came out of is isolation from the rest of the world, but things have only bettered and not gone good enough, for its has a lot more to achieve. A third of India’s
population is poor and just a fifth can be classified, on
a loose definition as middle class, 40 per cent are
illiterate, infrastructure demands a lot and the next
incumbent has a task out, it said. |
M & M website for old vehicles NEW DELHI, Sept 7 — In an attempt to give an organised form to the used vehicle market in India, Mahindra Network Services (MNS), today unveiled an online used vehicle website in the capital. The website — www.automartindia.com — intends to provide a network of products and services relevant to the used car business so as to offer a single transaction point. Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Limited and Kotak Mahindra Primus Limited, is part of the network to provide financing options on the internet. The Chairman of Mahindra Information Technology Services (MITS), Mr Anand Mahindra said that additional services planned include insurance,warranty,valuation and RTO registrations. As of now the site has inventory of 2000 used vehicles nationwide out of which 700 vehicles are registered in Delhi alone. Mr Mahindra said that second hand car market in India is growing at a much faster pace than the new car market and it is important that the market is given an organised form. The site launched by
Mahindra will eventually be an one-stop shop for both
buyers and sellers containing all relevant information
including services being offered like financing,
insurance and auto accessories, he added. |
Matiz given ‘best small car’ ranking NEW DELHI, Sept 7 (PTI) — Daewoo Motors Matiz has emerged as the best small car in the country on various parameters including fuel-efficiency, engine performance and ride-and-handling, a study by an auto magazine said. “Matiz comes across the strongest in the performance aspect and can handle all manner of road surfaces equally well,” Overdrive, an automobile magazine said in its first anniversary issue. Matiz has been rated as the number one among the small cars which include petrol engined Maruti 800, Zen, Santro, Indica and Uno as well as the diesel models of Indica and Uno. These cars were tested by the magazine over a 700 km course on selected roads from smooth tarmac with wide radius corners to long straight stretches to mountain terrains. However, it said all these small cars would be city bound for most of their time and their worth will be defined more by price and fuel economy than sheer straight line speed. On Maruti’s models, the magazine said that the Zen and 800 cc were on the stiffer side where Zen converts its slightly harder ride into good cornering capabilities, the 800 remains a bit twitchy with limitations to the liberties one can take when pushing hard. Regarding Santro, Overdrive was of the opinion that the light touch clutch and excellent gearshift quality added “immeasurably” to the driving experience. While for Indica, it said that the car from the Tata fold was quick and exploited its capacity advantage well but its long term reliability remained a question mark. For Fiat Uno, the
magazine said the car credentials could not be questioned
when it was a question of reliability and engine life. |
Montari creditor scan recover dues NEW DELHI, Sept 7 (UNI) — The Appellate Authority for Financial and Industrial Reconstruction (AAFIR) has directed the BIFR to change the management of Montari Industries Limited (MIL) in case the company fails to pay Rs 17.36 crore as its share of the 1995 rights issue. In a significant ruling affecting the revival of the sick company, AAFIR has given creditors a free hand to invoke and enforce the personal guarantees of the promoters, the Bhai Manjit Singh group, to recover their dues. AAFIR ordered that the BIFR should set a deadline for the promoters to bring in their “own funds’’ to subscribe fully to their share in the January, 1995, rights issue alongwith interest of 20 per cent compounded annually up to the date of payment. “If the promoters fail to fulfil this obligation, there should be a change in the management of mil,’’ an AAFIR Bench comprising Acting Chairman M S Dayal and member J K Bagchi observed in a recent order. These directions were given to the BIFR “to prevent the fraud on public, shareholders, creditors and MIL by promoters by trying to wriggle out of their obligations to subscribe fully to their share in the rights issue.’’ Mr Vivek Sibal, legal counsel for the Ispat group company Mudra Ispat Limited, had complained to AAFIR that MIL had defaulted in its payments even though the agro-chemicals company had raised Rs 17.50 crore from its rights issue with the stated objective of reducing high cost borrowings. BIFR has formed a prima facie opinion to wind up Premier Tubes Limited as the sick company cannot be revived on a long term basis. The BIFR proposed that
the company should be wound up as there is no viable and
agreed rehabilitation scheme with means of finance fully
tied up for consideration despite sufficient
opportunities allowed to all parties concerned. |
Maars Soft to issue 1:1 bonus Maars Software International has announced a 1:1 bonus issue for its shareholders. The bonus issue will expand the paid-up capital of the company to Rs 14.38 crore. The Board has also approved an employee stock option scheme. It discussed and approved the setting up of joint ventures in Europe that would focus on product marketing, project management and the emerging areas of electronic business. Pentafour Software and Exports has been given “in-principle” permission by the Finance Ministry to mop up $60 million through American Depository Receipts (ADRs) or Global Depository Receipts (GDRs), official sources told PTI here. Pentafour is the third major (IT) giant after Infosys and Satyam to get clearance to mop up funds from the overseas market. HCL Infosystems Ltd has announced an alliance with Bunka Orient India, a part of the Japan-based Bunka Orient group, to market and implement an electronic customer relationship management software, pivotal relationship, developed by Canada-based Pivotal Inc. Through this alliance, HCL will utilise its pool of personnel in the professional services and enterprise services organisations to design, implement and support end-to-end ECRM solutions for its large and medium-sized customers. Bunka Orient will strengthen this relationship through its pivotal CRM software capabilities. BSL Limited, a Bhilwara
group company, has recorded more than 300 per cent growth
in its net profit at Rs 3.73 crore during 1998-99 against
the previous year’s Rs 0.91 crore.— Agencies |
Nickle price hike hits forging
units LUDHIANA, Sept 7 — The unprecedented hike in the prices of nickle, (a vital raw material for the cycle industry) and furnace oil has made the forging industry, rolling industry and furnace industry unviable. While the prices of nickle has soared from Rs 220 per kg to Rs 425 per kg, the prices of furnace oil has gone up from Rs 6 per litre to Rs 9 per litre. This, in spite of the fact that the international rates of furnace oil have recorded a downward trend. The chamber of
industrial and commercial undertakings has approached the
Union Finance Minister and the Union Minister for
Petroleum to arrange for the easy supply of both the
items by reducing the import duty of nickle and reviewing
the distribution system of furnace oil. But so far no
remedial action has been taken by the Centre. |
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