Enterprise Networks: Year 2000 Problems Are Out There - routers, bridges and other networking hardware devices with embedded operating systems make ne

When certifying their information systems for Year 2000 compliance, many enterprises sometimes overlook crucial, but unseen, components of their IT infrastructure: the hubs, routers and switches that serve as the backbone of mission critical networks. Add to this the fact that leading networking vendors are hedging on their support for older hardware devices, and the potential for trouble Jan. 1, 2000, increases.

Because most routers and switches employ real-time embedded operating systems or embedded date-time functionality, many are as susceptible to Year 2000 problems as visible hardware server systems or software applications. And when the clock rolls over to Jan. 1, 2000, no one can adequately predict how these network devices will behave.

Analysts expect misbehaving routers, switches and hubs to disrupt the execution of time-sensitive network management tools as well as network-centric applications that rely on time-stamping or scheduling.It's a case of just not having sufficient resources to go back in and analyze the software and firmware that's on [older] devices and make the necessary corrections," Enderle explains, adding that the typically high turnover rate among the developers employed by these vendors could be a factor as well. "For these devices that are no longer in production, and haven't been in some time, the people who wrote the code are no longer with the company. So the cost to go in and develop the updates with new people is itself probably prohibitive."

Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. indicates that it will not test products that it won't be selling or supporting after 1999. Nortel Networks' (www.nortelnetworks.com) Year 2000 policy is even more explicit. The company indicates that it will no longer test or certify products for compliance that were manufactured or sold prior to Jan. 1, 1997. 3Com Corp. has discontinued entire product lines as well as specific products within other product lines. None of these discontinued products will be tested or certified for Year 2000 compliance.

While networking vendors have discontinued older products potentially fraught with Year 2000 liabilities en masse, these vendors also maintain that newer products will require only software updates or microcode patches to ensure reliable operation after Jan. 1, 2000. And while vendors are abandoning older systems, they aren't hanging the users of "legacy" network devices out to dry. Most of the big networking players have trade-in or incentive programs to facilitate customer upgrades to newer, Year 2000-compliant routers, switches and hubs