Daylight Saving Time change in 2007
Daylight Saving Time will occur on different dates starting in 2007. This may not seem like a big deal but it will affect alot of electronic devices that keep time. If you just look around your house most electronics have a clock and alot of them adjust the time automatically for daylight saving. Furthermore and more to the point of this article are the effects this will have on computer systems. The most concerning issue for most people will be the impact on their electronic calendars. A typical business solution is to have an Exchange server with clients connecting with Outlook and some users syncing to pdas. In order to prepare for this change all of these systems need to be updated or everything during the shifted time change dates will be off by one hour. Microsoft has prepared for this and is working on updates to resolve the issue. However you do need to actually apply the updates to avoid any problems. See link below for a complete description from Microsoft.
In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changes the dates of both the start and end of daylight saving time (DST). When this law goes into effect in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (2:00 A.M. on the first Sunday in November) than what had traditionally occurred.
The change in DST will have an affect on many automated and technology reliant products. Individual consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises may be affected by the new change in time. Computer-system related issues include, for example:
• Calendar / scheduling applications • Date / time calculations (current and historical) • Transaction logging (UTC vs. Local Time) • Tariff billing applications In many cases, making the necessary changes to accommodate the new DST legislation will be a relatively minor task. Users may need to manually adjust the time on their devices when the change occurs.
In other cases, more substantial efforts may be required. In some cases, systems and applications may need to be updated directly, while in others, the application may simply inherit or “read” the date and time information from the underlying system that it resides on so the changes need only be made to that underlying system. Given the broad range of technology in use today-and the integration of systems between customers, vendors, and partners-business and IT managers should determine what actions should be taken to mitigate the affects of DST 2007 on their organizations.
Complete Article here
Applications, Networking, News, Tech News | pniebler | 
February 2, 2007 2:23 pm
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