Campus is Y2K ready

UW–Madison is Y2K ready, but campus officials also plan several precautionary measures to handle any glitches that may arise with the New Year’s holiday.

Those measures include steps taken by:

Division of Information Technology: DoIT information-processing infrastructure is ready for the year 2000 rollover. Central hardware platforms, operating systems, networks, and physical plant facilities all have been examined for Y2K compliance and upgraded as necessary.

The “3270” system was shut down Wednesday, Dec. 29, and will be back online Monday, Jan. 3 at 7 a.m., 2000. Technicians are completing some critical payroll and accounting processes before performing the crossover into the new year. The shutdown provides leeway if unexpected problems are encountered.

DoIT staff will be monitoring the crossover to the new year around the clock through the New Year’s weekend. Staff urge campus employees not to assume that some Y2K-related glitch is the cause of problems encountered with information technology services during and after this period. For more information, contact Brian Rust, (608) 263-9484.

UW-Madison Physical Plant: The plant will have about 20 employees on site from 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 31, to 2 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 1. But with all of the university’s mechanical systems Y2K compliant, “We really don’t anticipate any issues,” says John Harrod, director of the physical plant.

Electricity to campus is provided by Madison Gas and Electric and the university’s 9.8 megawatt generator. Should an electrical outage occur, the university will activate emergency generators as necessary. Heat to university buildings, meanwhile, is provided through steam generated at the campus’ two power plants. The Charter Street plant burns a combination of coal, natural gas, paper pellets, tires and fuel oil. The Walnut Street plant burns natural gas and fuel oil.

The Physical Plant has also encouraged campus facility managers to check that specialized departmental equipment and laboratory devices are Y2K compliant, and to monitor their performance on Saturday. For more information now and on New Year’s Eve, contact Kurtis Johnson, the Physical Plant’s Y2K coordinator, (608) 263-3333.

UW Police Department: Although Chief Susan Riseling doesn’t expect any problems, the department has scheduled additional officers on campus New Year’s Eve and will set up a command post at the police department, 1429 Monroe St. The police department has also set up an emergency reporting form at http://www.uwpd.wisc.edu if phones become inoperable or are busy. The site will be monitored from 6:30 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

In addition, UWPD will participate with other Dane County law enforcement agencies and help staff a public safety command post in downtown Madison. For more information now and on New Year’s Eve, contact Riseling through the UWPD dispatch center at (608) 262-4524 or Capt. Dale Burke by pager at (608) 278-3888.

UW Hospital and Clinics: No major problems are anticipated, according to hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette. Nevertheless, the hospital will staff about 30 employees in various locations on New Year’s Eve to handle any problems that may develop. Brunette adds that for the past two years, a hospital-wide committee has been reviewing Y2K compliance with its medical equipment and information systems. For more information now and on New Year’s Eve, contact Brunette by pager at (608) 275-5027.

University Housing, Wisconsin Union: Most residence halls are closed until Wednesday, Jan. 19. Memorial Union and Union South, are closed until Sunday, Jan. 2.