The widespread use of YYMMDD as the date format of choice in information systems caused worldwide anxiety at the turn of the millennium, costing untold billions of dollars in remediation to ensure that systems would continue to function. Once this particular data format choice was selected, the need for remediation was inevitable. However, were the rationales for selecting this particular format ever valid?

This presentation will use Time-of-Year formats as a microcosm of the issues which need to be considered when deciding on architectural and data structuring, format, and representation. Time-of-Year formats have been an ongoing source of such problems. Issues which should be considered when making architectural decisions will be highlighted, and their implications discussed.

This is the closing presentation of a three-presentation visit to Los Alamos by Mr. Gezelter. On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, Mr. Gezelter will be making presentations on network security issues at the Mesa Public Library and the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce. Please see his www site at http://www.rlgsc.com/upcoming.html for details about the other US Engineer’s Week presentations hosted by the Los Alamos Northern New Mexico chapter of the IEEE Computer Society.

Speaker:	Our speaker will be Robert Gezelter, a Senior Member of IEEE and a member of the IEEE Computer Society’s Distinguished Visitors Program. Mr. Gezelter holds BA and MS degrees in Computer Science from New York University. He is a contributor to the Computer Security Handbook (2002) and the Handbook of Information Security (2005). He has spoken and written extensively on operating systems, networks, performance, security, tools, and similar areas. Mr. Gezelter is in private practice, and maintains his offices in Flushing, New York. He can be contacted via his firm’s www site at http://www.rlgsc.com.
Sponsors:	IEEE Los Alamos Section and Computer Society
Venue:	Los Alamos National Laboratory MST-Division Building MST-STC Room
Date:	Thursday, February 23, 2006
Time:	8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Session Notes:	(Available after the session)