Potarazu also said, "It's up to the rest of
the distribution channel - our customers and
vendors - to deliver the service to the end user.
And it is their responsibility to be Y2K compliant.
We are concerned about international communications,
most of which is beyond our control."

Computer Currents

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 24, 1999

Answers

"According to Trujillo, a major reason INTELSAT is so confident that its equipment will be trouble-free is due to the fact that satellites operate by referencing the sun and typically do not contemplate time and dates. New Year's Eve will look and feel the same to the satellites as any other eve in space."

That is either tragically optimistic, pathetically naive, or stinkingly rich BS.

It's one thing to accept that *positioning* is relative to the Sun (and although he neglected to say anything, it's probably a safe bet to add the phrase, "and the Earth"). However, it's something *entirely* different to infer that *all* onboard metrics are Sol- based.

I don't for an *instant* accept the notion that there are *no* date/time-sensitive devices on those satellites.

Please, Mr. Trujillo, don't insult our collective intelligence by implying that all *onboard* maintenance, reporting, and *other* interval-related tasks are *completely* devoid of *any* RTC-based data.

Is there an RTC-based interval timer that manages sun coning operations? Is there an interval timer that manages battery charging? Or log data transmission schedules? Or... or... or...?

And presuming there *is* at least *one* RTC-driven task onboard -- either known, or forgotten, what will it do -- or NOT do -- on That Magic Moment?

Something tells me that Mr. Trujillo either doesn't *know*, or isn't *saying*.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 24, 1999.

Four gyroscope positioning systems had to be replaced in the hubbell-- that says it all.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 24, 1999.